Music
"To engage and inspire all pupils to develop a love of a range of music; creating passionate and confident musicians."
Intent
Music is a universal language that embodies one of the highest forms of creativity. As children 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. (The National Curriculum)
Music teaching at Chestnuts Primary School aims to follow the specifications of the National Curriculum; providing a broad, balanced and differentiated curriculum and ensuring the progressive development of musical concepts, knowledge and skills. At Chestnuts we believe that music plays an integral role in helping children to feel part of a community, therefore we provide opportunities for all children to create, play, perform and enjoy music both in class and to an audience. Through assemblies and key stage performances, children showcase their talent and their understanding of performing with awareness of others.
Lessons enable children to develop their skills, appreciate a wide variety of music and begin to appraise a range of musical genres.
The aims of our Music curriculum are to develop children who:
- Enjoy and have an appreciation for music.
- Listen to, review and evaluate music across a range of historical periods, genres, cultures, styles and traditions.
- Can sing and use their voices to create different effects.
- Create and compose music, both on their own and with others.
- Use a range of musical language.
- Make judgements and express personal preferences about the quality and style of music.
- Take part in performances with an awareness of audience.
Implementation
Music teaching at Chestnuts delivers the requirements of the National Curriculum through use of the Charanga scheme of work. Music at Chestnuts is also enhanced through our links with Wigmore Hall, Rocksteady and Haringey Music Service. Music lessons are broken down into half-termly units and an emphasis is placed on musical vocabulary, allowing children to talk about pieces of music using the correct terminology.
Each unit of work has an on-going musical learning focus and lessons usually follow a specific learning sequence:
- Listen and Appraise
- Musical Activities (including pulse and rhythm)
- Singing and Voice
- Playing instruments
- Improvisation / Composition
- Perform and Share
Our progression model also follows the same learning sequence to ensure all interrelated elements of music are covered and implemented.
Within the EYFS setting, music is an integral part of children’s learning journey. Rhyme and rhythm are utilised throughout the learning of phonics, handwriting and mathematics. Children learn a wide range of songs and rhymes and develop skills for performing together. Singing and music making opportunities are used frequently to embed learning, develop musical awareness and to demonstrate how music can be used to express feelings.
Children in Year 4 benefit from whole class specialist teaching, delivered by a member of Haringey Music Services. These lessons allow children the opportunity to learn to play an instrument as part of an ensemble and to engender a love of music learning. Throughout the sessions the interrelated elements of music are developed.
Performance is at the heart of musical teaching and learning at Chestnuts and children participate in a range of performances during their school ‘career’. These include Rock Steady Y1-Y6, where children choose and join individual bands and select individual instruments. The children in Y4 also are given the opportunity to perform their learning of instruments. Parents are invited and welcomed to watch all of these performances whether at school or outside of school.
Alongside our curriculum provision for music, children also have the opportunity to participate in additional 1:1 music teaching by being offered the opportunity to learn a musical instrument with Haringey Music Service teachers. As part of our offer for PPG children, instrumental lessons are provided free of charge for the first twelve months.