Music
Music Curriculum
Subject Leader for Music: Mrs Mahmood
“Music is the divine way to tell beautiful, poetic things to the heart."
Pablo Casals
Intent - What are we trying to achieve?
At St Michael & St Martin school, we aim for our pupils to leave our school with a wide range of happy and rich memories in music formed through interesting and exciting experiences driven by a high-quality music education.
Our high-quality music education will 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.
Pupils will meet the National Curriculum expectations in music, which will be taught by highly qualified staff who will support pupils to develop skills, which in turn will enable them to develop a deeper understanding of the subject.
All pupils will study music for 30 minutes per week. Pupils will develop self-confidence and teamwork skills through performance. They will have opportunities to sing as a class, in smaller groups and as a school community.
- Pupils will have the opportunity to learn to play a musical instrument during music lessons in Lower key stage 2.
- Pupils will be exposed to staff notation, increasing their understanding of rhythmic and melodic notation.
- Pupils will understand how Catholic virtues and British Values relate to music through a study of music from different faiths and cultures.
- Pupils will listen to, review and evaluate a range of music across a range of historical periods, genres, styles and traditions, including contemporary music and the works of the great composers and musicians using subject specific vocabulary relating to the musical elements; instrumentation, metre, rhythm, pitch, dynamics, tempo, texture, structure and melody.
Opportunities will exist for pupils of all ages to experience learning beyond the classroom. This will allow them to enrich their knowledge by, for example, attending performances by professional musicians and participating in school productions. Other opportunities might include visits to concerts, meeting musicians, professional musicians visiting schools to work with pupils.
Implementation - How is the curriculum being delivered?
The curriculum hours in music are non-negotiable and will be followed by all staff in the school. Fixed timetables will be set before the academic year and monitored by the Senior Leadership Team and the music co-ordinator of the school. Where necessary, staff will receive CPD training in music.
The subject leader for music will highlight staff training needs and meet all aspects of the job description. Carefully designed schemes of learning in music ensure consistency and progress of all learners. High quality teaching responds to the needs of children. Teachers will actively mark work in lessons in order to identify misconceptions early.
- Teachers will document their music lessons in a Year group Floor book including photos/comments from the children and work relating to their scheme that is being taught.
- High quality input from experts and educational resources complement the delivery of specialist learning excellently. Children understand how music is used in the wider world including careers.
Impact - What difference is the curriculum making?
Charanga Music scheme is followed and all teachers formatively assess pupils throughout each lesson as well as assessing all pupils on the end of key stage expectations at the end of each term.
We aim for our pupils to appreciate great musicians, composers and performers from across history from a variety of cultures, thereby improving their cultural capital. They will develop a range of musical vocabulary.
All pupils have the opportunity to 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. All pupils show an understanding of how music is created, produced and communicated, developing their technical knowledge and vocabulary. We also have a school choir (Years 3 to 6) so those with the enthusiasm and talent for signing have an opportunity for extra-curricular opportunities.
The choir regularly attend music festivals and school events. Music will promote the pupil’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development by allowing pupils to reflect upon different styles of music, show respect and appreciation for a variety of music within different cultures, develop socially through collaboration with others and explore the emotional impact of music and its spiritual importance.
Music will promote British Values by developing pupils’ tolerance of other cultures and beliefs through the study of different genres of music and encouraging individual liberty through freedom of expression. Music will help pupils develop a Growth Mindset by encouraging pupils to engage with unfamiliar musical styles and instruments and allowing pupils to share with others and develop each other’s musical understanding.
If you visited a music lesson at St Michael & St. Martin, you would see:
• Enthusiasm and passion about music
• Children using specialist musical vocabulary and terminology confidently
• Practical lessons, with children engaged in listening, singing, composing or performing throughout.
• Children given the opportunity to perform, both individually and in groups.
• Children using appropriate musical instruments.
• Lessons taking place with our confident teachers
Pupil Voice (quotes across both KS1 and KS2)
Year 1: “We have been learning different types of songs to sing. I enjoy singing and dancing to the songs we learn”.
Year 2: “We are learning about pulse and rhythm. We like the beat and we dance to it by following the beat to the music”.
Year 3: “We are doing Ukulele instruments. We are learning how to play the notes we follow the writers notes and then we play the song. It is so fun I really enjoy playing it”.
Year 4: “We have been exploring different types of music. I like classical music”.
Year 5: “We have been playing the Glockenspiel. I like that we are focusing on the pitch of the instrument from high to low. I find the high pitch difficult but each week I am getting better”.
Year 6: “We have been learning complex notes for music. It has a four by four beat”.
Cultural Capital
Opportunities will exist for all pupils to experience learning beyond the classroom; this will allow them to enrich their knowledge. For example, pupils will experience the following opportunities:
- Meeting and talking to musicians
- Concert performances both in and out of school
- Playing a range of musical instruments
- Playing in a band
- Singing in the choir
- Learn about key figures from Music history
- Performing at large venues such as the O2 with other choirs
- Singing in church or during school concerts and productions
- Charity fundraising events and singing for the local community care homes at Christmas time.
How do the pupils at St Michael and St Martin Catholic Primary School develop the school ‘STRIVE’ values through Music?
Our children strive to:
- connect spiritually with our community through music performances of hymns during religious services and within the community such as school choir performances
- deepen their thinking about when to engage prior knowledge
- be resilient when faced with new learning experiences
- demonstrate independence when using resources and instruments
- value the ideas and opinions of others when working collaboratively
- empathise with others by being understanding and supportive of their achievements