Music Curriculum
Music Curriculum Statement
‘Music is a universal language that embodies one of the highest forms of creativity. A high quality music education should engage and inspire pupils to develop a love of music and their talent as musicians, and so increase their self-confidence, creativity and sense of achievement. As pupils progress, they should develop a critical engagement with music, allowing them to compose, and to listen with discrimination to the best in the musical canon’. National Curriculum
At St Clare’s Catholic Primary School we are committed to providing our pupils with rich and varied musical experiences. We want every child to be happy and enthusiastic learners of music and to be eager to achieve their very best in order to fulfil their God-given talents. Music provides a soundtrack to our lives and is universal. It bridges culture, language, religion and gender. Our principle aim is to develop a curiosity for the subject, as well as an understanding and acceptance of the validity and importance of all types of music.
Pupils will learn to sing and use their voices to perform and compose music. We participate in a wide range of opportunities to sing including weekly singing assemblies, school masses, Carol Services, performances and ‘Amasing’ projects.
Intent
The national curriculum for music aims to ensure that all pupils:
• perform, listen to, review and evaluate music
• be taught to sing, create and compose music
• understand and explore how music is created, produced and communicated.
This is embedded in the classroom activities as well as singing assemblies, a wide range of concerts and performances and the learning of musical instruments. At St Clare’s our intention is that pupils receive a wide range of happy and rich memories, formed through interesting and exciting experiences.
Our pupils learn to perform with confidence, listen carefully while identifying the musical elements and compose creatively. They experience a wide range of music from different historical and cultural contexts of different genres and style. We are committed to developing pupils’ curiosity and their enjoyment in preparation for a lifetime of music education. Opportunities will exist for all pupils of all ages to experience learning beyond the classroom. This will allow them to enrich their knowledge by attending live musical performances and participating in school productions as well as local initiatives.
We develop an understanding and acceptance of the validity and importance of all types of music, and an unbiased respect for how music may be expressed in any person’s life. We are committed to ensuring pupils understand the value and importance of music in the wider community and are able to use their musical skills, knowledge, and experiences to involve themselves in music, in a variety of different contexts.
Implementation
The music curriculum ensures pupils sing, listen, plan, perform and evaluate. This is embedded in the classroom activities along with weekly singing assemblies, performances and the learning of instruments.
The elements of music are taught in the classroom lessons so that pupils are able to use some of the language of music to dissect it, and understand how it is made, played, appreciated and analysed.
Pupils also learn how to compose, focusing on different dimensions of music, which in turn feeds their understanding when listening, playing or analysing music. Composing or performing using body percussion and vocal sounds is also part of the curriculum, which develops the understanding of musical elements without the added complexity of an instrument. Teachers plan inclusive lessons for all pupils, so they access the music curriculum through fun and engaging activities, which promote a love of learning. Throughout the school pupils have opportunities to learn a wide range of instruments to build upon their own prior musical knowledge.
Highly effective teaching of music develops not only musical skills for our pupils, but also subject specific vocabulary, through describing, reviewing and evaluating different pieces of music with appropriate challenges matched to the aims of the music curriculum.
Impact
• Lessons show progression of skills development within year groups, effectively implementing the resources available to enhance high level outcomes.
• Pupils show enthusiasm and engagement throughout music lessons and use vocabulary linked to the subject in their collaborative discussions.
• Pupil voice highlight a positive attitude to the learning in this subject area and engagement of extra and enrichment circular music activities such as ‘Young Voices’ impact positively upon attitude resulting in increased confidence of children.
• Whilst in school, pupils have access to a varied programme, which allows them to discover areas of strength, as well as areas they might like to improve upon.
• The integral nature of music and the learner creates an enormously rich palette from which a child may access fundamental abilities such as: achievement, self- confidence, interaction with and awareness of others, and self-reflection.
• Music will also develop and understanding of culture and history, both in relation to pupils individually, as well as ethnicities from across the world.
• Pupils are able to enjoy music in as many ways as they choose- either as a listener, creator or performer. They can dissect music and comprehend its parts. They can sing and feel a pulse.
• Pupils leave St Clare’s with musical skills, knowledge and inspiration to continue to further enrich their musical learning journey.