"Love one another as I have loved you."

Characteristics of a Musician

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At St Joseph’s Primary School, we value Music. Music is a universal language that embodies one of the highest forms of creativity. A high quality music education should 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. As pupils 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.

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Intent

The National Curriculum for music aims to ensure that all pupils:

• Perform, listen to, review and evaluate music

• Be taught to sing, create and compose music

• Understand and explore how music is created, produced and communicated.

At St Joseph’s, the intention is that children gain a firm understanding of what music is through listening, singing, playing, evaluating, analysing, and composing across a wide variety of historical periods, styles, traditions, and musical genres.

We have designed our Music Curriculum with the intent that our children will:

• Develop a curiosity for the subject, as well as an understanding and acceptance of the validity and importance of all types of music, and an unbiased respect for the role that music may wish to be expressed in any person’s life.

• Be reflective and expressive, developing their own appreciation of music with the opportunities we provide as a school.

• Receive musical opportunities in school, including weekly singing assemblies as well as whole class teaching of instruments with the visiting peripatetic staff:

  • Year 5 – Ukulele

• Understand the value and importance of music in the wider community. They will be able to use their musical skills, knowledge, and experiences to involve themselves in music, in a variety of different contexts.  For example, performing at Magna as part of The Big String with schools across the Borough and carol singing in the local community.

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Implementation

The music curriculum ensures students sing, listen, play, perform and evaluate. This is embedded in the classroom activities as well as the weekly singing assemblies, various concerts and performances and through the learning of an instrument in Year 5.

Our teaching focuses on developing the children’s ability to sing in tune and with other people. Through singing songs, children learn about the structure and organisation of music. We teach them to listen and to appreciate different forms of music. Children develop descriptive skills in music lessons when learning about how music can represent feelings and emotions. We teach them the disciplined skills of recognising pulse and pitch. We teach the children how to work with others to compose music and perform for an audience. Children begin to learn music theory and how to interpret music in different genres.

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Impact

Whilst in school, children have access to a varied programme, which allows students to discover areas of strength, as well as areas they might like to improve upon.

The integral nature of music and the learner creates an enormously rich palette from which a student may access fundamental abilities such as: achievement, self-confidence, interaction with and awareness of others, and self-reflection.

Music will also develop an understanding of culture and history, both in relation to students individually, as well as ethnicities from across the world.

Children are able to enjoy music, in as many ways as they choose- either as listener, creator or performer.

They can dissect music and comprehend its parts. They can sing and feel a pulse. They understand how to further develop skills less known to them, should they wish to develop their interest in the future.

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Charanga Model Music Curriculum Documents

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Year 1 - Year 6 Knowledge and skills progression