Intent
What are our aims?
- To foster a love of Music throughout the school.
- To deliver the National Curriculum in Music for FS, KS1 and KS2.
- To ensure progression of skills at all levels and all abilities.
- To enable children to plan and carry out music activities, using equipment and instruments correctly.
- To know and understand how composers can achieve effects by using and combining musical elements.
- To know and understand the elements of music: dynamics, pitch, structure, tempo, timbre, texture and duration.
- To know about the history of music, including changes in instruments and technology.
- To further the child’s understanding of how sounds can be changed, explored and notated.
- To appreciate the contribution that music can make to society at a personal, national and global level.
- To appreciate that learning in music contributes to personal development in terms of self-confidence, self-expression and co-operation.
- To develop the child’s imagination, emotions and confidence.
- To enable children to work together to reach satisfactory conclusions.
- To make informed comments having listened to the work of known composers and that of other children.
Implementation
How will we achieve our aims?
Children will be taught through our 4 Key drivers:
Active Learning:
To provide the children with frequent opportunities for singing, listening, composing and performing skills.
EYFS
Children in EYFS are immersed in music through songs, rhymes, and movement. The focus in the Early Years is on building the children's confidence to:
- Hearing and listening
- Exploring and playing
- Moving and dancing
- Vocalizing and singing
- Responding and expressing themselves
Key Stage 1 and 2
At Crowland Primary, our Music curriculum is split into 4 strands. These strands are taught in each year group across the year to develop skills and knowledge progressively throughout the school.
- Singing
- Listening and appraising
- Composing
- Performing/Instrumental Performance
Music is taught weekly in Key Stage 1 and 2 in whole class lessons by either the class teacher or music specialists. The children actively sing together, learn about composers, composition and notation, use different instruments from our class sets of percussion, glockenspiels and xylophones, and play together as an ensemble.
Children in KS2 have a 30-minute weekly singing assembly, where they sing as an ensemble, learn about good practice in singing, and learn songs for enjoyment and performance.
Children are also encouraged to assess their own and other’s learning through practising being an active audience member, talking about performances and giving constructive feedback.
The whole school are involved in musical performances throughout the year including Christmas Concerts, Mother’s Day celebration, Harvest celebrations, Black History, Spring Concert, Crowlands Got talent and other important festivals throughout the year.
Excellent Communication:
- Teachers communicate clearly with the children, confidently using a wide range of appropriate musical vocabulary.
- Children given opportunities to develop their confidence in using appropriate musical language when discussing their views on various styles of music.
- Children are given opportunities to develop their ability to work as part of a team.
- Children are given various opportunities to compose and evaluate their own music.
Taking Care of Self and Others:
Helping the children to understand that music can have a significant impact on their self-care and that of others. Children are taught that music helps in the following areas:
- Health and Wellbeing
- Speaking and Listening skills
- Memory
- Musical ability
- Improves your vocabulary
- Improves mathematical retention
- Improves retention all other areas of the curriculum
- Aids with confidence
- Most importantly- it is FUN!
Global Awareness and Responsibility:
- Children are given various opportunities to learn about music from around the world.
- They are taught that music is a way for one to visualize life and instigate profound memories. In a cultural context, music is an intrinsic part of gatherings, festivals, and belief systems which is why we mark various festivals throughout the year. They understand that sound and rhythm patterns give a particular perspective into an individual’s opinions of the culture, subcultures and social issues of the times.
- Children learn that cultural diversity is recognised across nations with regional distinctions in values and virtues, which makes it difficult for people to truly empathise with another’s culture, therein being an obstacle in gaining accurate understanding of the other. Listening to music about others’ stories and feelings bridges through differences and misunderstanding among people, communities and nations.
Impact
How will this impact on the children?
Children at Crowland are expected:
- To be excited by the variety of genres and cultures.
- To demonstrate a natural inquisitiveness and curiosity about the world of music.
- To demonstrate the ability to work co-operatively with others as part of a team.
- To ask questions and begin to create their own musical compositions. They then evaluate it and work on how to improve
- To show a developing ability to use correct musical terminology to explain various aspects of music.
- To embrace several opportunities to perform in front of small and large audiences.
- To know and understand how composers can achieve effects by using and combining musical elements.
- To know and understand the elements of music: dynamics, pitch, structure, tempo, timbre, texture and duration.
- To know about the history of music, including changes in instruments and technology.
- To further the children's understanding of how sounds can be changed, explored and notated.
- To appreciate the contribution that music can make to society at a personal, national and global level.
- To appreciate that learning in music contributes to personal development in terms of self-confidence, self-expression and co-operation.
- To develop imagination, emotions and confidence.
