Helpful documents:
Music subject overview curriculum map
Introduction
Music is a very important part of our daily school life. In addition to weekly class music lessons, over a third of our pupils have music lessons with our visiting music teachers, learning musical notation and to play a variety of instruments – piano, drums, saxophone, ukelele, classical and electric guitar, violin and voice. We have a school choir, who perform at our termly concerts and at other events for the school and wider community. Our musicians thoroughly enjoy performing to a large audience at our termly concerts.
Our intent
The intent of Sheriffhales’ music curriculum is first and foremost to help children to feel that they are musical and to develop a life-long love of music. We focus on developing the skills, knowledge and understanding that children need in order to become confident performers, composers and listeners. Our curriculum introduces children to music from all around the world and across generations – teaching children to respect and appreciate the music of all traditions and communities.
Children will develop the musical skills of singing, playing tuned and untuned instruments, improvising and composing music, and listening and responding to music. They will develop an understanding of the history and cultural context of the music that they listen to and learn how music can be written down. Through music, our curriculum helps children develop transferrable skills such a team-working, leadership, creative thinking, problem solving, decision making and performance skills. Whilst obtaining these skills, children will use our values of striving, trying together, achieving and respecting. These skills are vital to children’s development as learners and have a wider application in their general lives outside and beyond school.
Our curriculum enables pupils to meet the end of key stage attainment targets outlined in the National Curriculum.
Our implementation
At Sheriffhales, we take a holistic approach to music in which the interrelated dimensions of music (pulse, rhythm, pitch, tempo, dynamics, timbre, texture, structure and notation) are woven together to create engaging and enriching learning experiences. Music is taught weekly in six units of work. Each unit is comprised of the strands of musical learning set out in the National Curriculum: listening and appraising, musical activities and performing. Lessons follow a repetition-based approach to learning. Learning about the same musical concept through different musical activities enables a more secure, deeper learning and mastery of musical skills.
Within the musical activities element of sessions, children use games to embed understanding of the interrelated dimensions. They then move through singing, playing, improvising and composing activities to apply their knowledge.
In each lesson, pupils will actively participate in musical activities drawn from a range of styles and traditions: developing their musical skills and their understanding of how music works. Lessons incorporate a range of teaching strategies from independent tasks, paired and group work as well as improvisation and teacher-led performances. Lessons are ‘hands-on’ and incorporate movement elements, as well as making cross-curricular links with other areas of learning.
Sheriffhales follows the spiral curriculum model where previous knowledge and skills are returned to and built upon. Children progress in terms of developing understanding and knowledge of the history of music, staff and other musical notations as well as the interrelated dimensions of music and more.
Alongside timetabled music lessons, many children also receive music tuition from peripatetic teachers with Loudhall Music. Children can choose which instrument to play and receive weekly sessions. Many children also take part in the school choir with regular rehearsals and end of term performances.
Our impact
The impact of music at Sheriffhales is clear in the children’s love of and enthusiasm for music. Through our music curriculum, children will:
• show an appreciation and respect for a wide range of musical styles from around the world and will understand how music is influenced by the wider cultural, social and historical contexts in which it is developed
• be able to articulate their enthusiasm and identify their own personal musical preferences
• be confident performers, composers and listeners and will be able to express themselves musically at and beyond school
• understand the ways in which music can be written down to support performing and composing
• meet the end of key stage expectation outlined in the national curriculum for music.
In addition to this evidence teachers use a plan, do, check, review approach to assessment in order to assess formal elements of the curriculum. Teachers will use end of unit assessments to track children’s progress evidenced in their books and in their ability to explain their understanding using the appropriate vocabulary. Vocabulary is explicitly taught and returned to throughout the learning topic and in cross curricular contexts. School leaders will monitor the assessment held on the school’s data tracking recording. Parents will be informed of progress throughout the year.
Our music development plan:
what-the-national-plan-for-music-education-means-for-children-and-young-people