Music

Subject Leader: Miss Matthews

“Music acts like a magic key, to which the most tightly closed heart opens.”  – Maria Augusta Von Trapp

At Allanson Street Primary School, we aim to provide our children with the highest quality music education, one which is designed to inspire and ignite a life-long curiosity and fascination about different historical periods of music, music styles, music traditions and musical genres. It is our hope that this fascination will inspire our children to not only explore and respect music but find their voices as singers and composers and as performers.

We want our children to have no limits to what their ambitions are and grow up wanting to be composers, to play in a band or to become song writers or producers. We want our children to remember their music lessons in our school, to cherish these memories and embrace the wide range of opportunities they are presented with.

What will our children learn and why?

At Allanson Street Primary School, we shape our music curriculum to ensure it is fully inclusive to every child. Our aims are to fulfil the requirements of the National Curriculum for music by: providing a broad and balanced curriculum; ensuring the progressive development of musical concepts, knowledge and skills and for the children to develop a love for music.

Our music curriculum ensures children sing, listen, improvise, compose, play, perform and evaluate. This is embedded in classroom activities as well as in weekly singing assemblies, various concerts and performances, the learning of instruments, and the joining of the choir. The elements of music are taught throughout these musical opportunities as well as in classroom lessons so that children are able to use the language of music to discuss music, and understand how it is made, played, appreciated and analysed. In the classroom, our children learn how to play various un-tuned and tuned instruments and in Year 4, the flute. In doing so, they understand the different principles of creating notes, as well as how to devise and read their own musical scores and basic music notation.

Our children also learn how to compose, focusing on the inter-related dimensions of music, which in turn feeds their understanding when listening, playing or analysing music. Composing or performing, using body percussion, vocal sounds and technology is also part of the curriculum, which develops the understanding of musical elements without the added complexity of an instrument.

We are committed to ensuring that children 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.

How will we ensure that our children leave us equipped with the knowledge and skills needed to flourish in the next stage of their learning journey and beyond?

Our music curriculum has been mapped from EYFS to Year 6 to ensure that every child receives a broad, balanced, and progressive curriculum.

Music is an essential part of learning in EYFS as it is incorporated in everyday learning through Expressive Arts and Design. The musical aspects of the children’s work relate to the objectives set out in the Development Matters framework.

In Key Stages One and Two, music is taught as an independent subject, once a week across three half terms. It is planned to ensure a rich education in which children develop a depth of understanding and a broad range of knowledge and skills. Each music lesson, across both key stages, is delivered primarily using the progressive Charanga scheme of work (in line with the Model Music Curriculum) which allows us to fulfil the requirements of the National Curriculum for music. Charanga follows a repetition-based approach to learning to enable a more secure, deeper learning and mastery of musical skills. Charanga lessons are planned in sequences to provide children with the opportunities to review, remember, deepen, and apply their understanding.

Our knowledge organisers are used to support the learning of the current music unit and set out in detail, the essential information that children should know and understand by the end of the unit. They also act as a tool to support children in retaining and retrieving knowledge for life-long learning.

All children have the opportunity to participate in school performances during the school year. We participate in large-scale events when opportunities arise, such as Young Voices. There are multiple performance opportunities throughout the year including Christmas productions, assemblies and end of year performances. We also value the opportunity to perform in our local community such as at local care homes and hospices.

How will our Music curriculum make a difference for our children?

Music has shaped cultures and societies around the world, passed down from generation to generation. It has the power to alter one’s mood, change perceptions, and inspire change. During their time at Allanson Street, as well as developing musical knowledge, skills and understanding, we believe our children will:

• Gain confidence and develop an enormous sense of pride as well as an enjoyment of music.
• Develop resilience when approaching challenging musical skills, concepts and performances.
• Show courage and develop self-esteem during performances within school and out in the community.
• Thoroughly enjoy learning about music, therefore encouraging them to undertake new life experiences both now and in the future.
• Develop the musical knowledge, skills and vocabulary to help them to confidently express well-balanced opinions about music, both in and out of school.
• Develop progressively as they move through the school, not only to enable them to meet the requirements of the National Curriculum but to prepare them to become competent musicians in secondary education and for life as an adult in the wider world.
• Develop teamwork skills through composing, improvising and performing, which will prepare them for future team events.

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