Music
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. (National Curriculum 2014)
Vision Statement
Our vision is to give children a music curriculum that ensures every child fulfils their musical potential. Music is embedded as a part of school life and our aspiration is that children have the opportunities to become real musicians. We provide a progressive and enjoyable curriculum that enables each pupil to grow and flourish musically at their own pace, to develop the ability to express ideas, thoughts and feelings through music and fosters a passion for music in children of all abilities. We also strive to offer a variety of opportunities for children to celebrate their talents, both within school and the community therefore deepening their participation and love for music in a wider context. We aim to expose our children to a variety of music styles and genres. We even provide opportunities for school excursions based on music such as our trip to the Royal Opera House in London - to experience opera first hand.
Intent
At Abbey Village Primary School, we aim to engage, motivate and inspire pupils to develop a love of music. We promote our children's talent as musicians increasing their self-confidence, creativity and sense of achievement.
Our curriculum for Music aims to ensure that all pupils can:
- perform, listen to, review and evaluate music across a range of historical periods, genres, styles and traditions, including the works of the great composers and musicians
- learn to sing and to use their voices, to create and compose music on their own and with others, have the opportunity to learn a musical instrument, use technology appropriately and have the opportunity to progress to the next level of musical excellence
- understand and explore how music is created, produced and communicated, including through the inter-related dimensions: pitch, duration, dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture, structure and appropriate musical notations.
We have eight key priorities at Abbey Village that underpin every subject area. We believe that by focusing on these key priorities our children will be ready to successfully meet the challenges of the next stage of their education and their lives.
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Implementation
At Abbey Village Primary School, we ensure that sufficient time is given to music in order to enable pupils to meet the expectations set out in the National Curriculum programme of study.
Our music curriculum is taught progressively through three interrelated pillars:
- Technical —
Competence in controlling sound (instrumental, vocal or with music technology).
Use of a communication system, such as staff notation or guitar tab.
- Constructive —
Knowledge of the musical elements/interrelated dimensions of music in performing, composition and listening/appraising.
Knowledge of the components of composition.
- Expressive —
Musical quality.
Musical creativity.
Knowledge of musical meanings across the world and time.
The pillars of music are developed through the curriculum which progressively builds the following key substantive concepts:
- Listening and appraising — exploring feelings and emotions in response to music, giving opinions, identifying instruments, structure and musical features.
- Performing (controlling sounds through singing and playing) — singing (developing pitch, melody, rhythm and control individually and as part of a group), playing instruments, practising, presenting, recording and evaluating.
- Composing and improvisation (creating a developing musical ideas) — notating, representing sounds through symbols, standard and non-standard notation.
- Musicianship — understanding and using the interrelated dimensions of music such as pulse/beat, rhythm, pitch, melody, tempo, dynamics, timbre, texture and structure.
Children make use of the knowledge and skills by also exploring the following disciplinary concepts:
- Chronology, continuity and change — the history of music and changes over time.
- Similarity and difference — comparing pieces of music, identifying common/different styles and techniques.
- Significance — significant composers/musicians, pieces of music and musical movements and periods.
- Communication — written, oral and creative expressions using musical technology, responding, performing, refining, describing, experimenting and exploring
Each unit of work has an on-going musical learning focus and a unit specific focus to enable previous musical skills to be embedded. Music lessons usually follow a specific learning sequence:
Listen and Appraise
Musical Activities (including pulse and rhythm)
Singing and Voice
Playing instruments
Composition
Perform and Share
Our progression model also follows the same learning sequence to ensure all interrelated elements of music are covered and implemented.
To further enhance musicianship and creativity, children take part in weekly singing assemblies, school choir club and concert experiences. They can further develop their understanding and capacity to enjoy music in making a contribution to any one of our internal school performances and attendance at our wider community performances. Through these activities they develop their vocal and instrumental skills, explore sounds and musical concepts, and use their imagination and skills to create musical ideas and compositions.
We truly recognise the value of music in both curricular and extra-curricular teaching and learning. Music provides children with an outlet to express themselves creatively, appreciate different styles of music, learn a new instrument or experiment with their voices.
At Abbey Village we offer:
- Weekly class music sessions
- A weekly ukulele lesson (Y2-Y6)
- Weekly whole school singing
- A well established and successful choir
- Guitar tuition
- Ukulele Tuition
Impact
We want our music provision to have a positive impact on our children. We want our children to become musical, creative pupils. Our children can:
- Sing and use their voices.
- Create and compose music on their own and with others.
- Use technology appropriately.
- Play a musical instrument.
- Understand and explore how music is created, produced and communicated.
- Understand the work of great composers and musicians.
- Enjoy and have an appreciation for music.
- Use musical language.
- Make judgements about the quality of music.
- Take part in performances.
- Perform and share a range of musical styles.
- Listen, review and evaluate music across a range of historical periods, genres, styles and traditions.
- Have opportunities to study a range of musical styles and genres, e.g. Jazz, Hip Hop, Pop, Rock etc.
We monitor the impact of our music provision through whole school pupil perceptions, lesson observations and monitoring of lesson outcomes.
What our pupils think of music at Abbey Village!
Our pupils are provided with rich experiences within Performing Arts across the year including our Annual Music Performances (ukulele and Choir) our Christmas and Summer performances; captivating parents and bringing together the local community and enriching our pupils’ experiences of cultural capital.
The personal progression of our pupils is at the forefront of our Creative Arts curriculum, along with the discovery and celebration of talent.
“I want to do it again; it was scary but exciting!!”
“My favourite part was performing with my friends!”
Not only are our pupils enriched by our music curriculum, so are our parents!
"This is why we chose Abbey Village. We want our children to take part and enjoy creative opportunities. This is what they will remember in years to come.”
Useful Links:
https://frontrow-music.com/im-a-student/