Music

Intent

At St Mary’s Catholic Primary School, our music curriculum intends to deliver a high-quality music education which engages and inspires all pupils to develop a love of music, to identify and nurture their talent as musicians, and so increase their self-confidence, creativity and sense of achievement. The music curriculum ensures students sing, listen, play, perform and evaluate. Music is a foundation subject in the National Curriculum.

The fundamental skills, knowledge and concepts of the subject are set out in National Curriculum 2014: Key stage 1 Pupils should be taught to: Use their voices expressively and creatively by singing songs and speaking chants and rhymes play tuned and untuned instruments musically. Listen with concentration and understanding to a range of high-quality live and recorded music. Experiment with, create, select and combine sounds using the inter-related dimensions of music.

Key stage 2 Pupils should be taught to sing and play musically with increasing confidence and control. They should develop an understanding of musical composition, organising and manipulating ideas within musical structures and reproducing sounds from aural memory. Pupils should be taught to: Play and perform in solo and ensemble contexts, using their voices and playing musical instruments with increasing accuracy, fluency, control and expression. Improvise and compose music for a range of purposes using the inter-related dimensions of music Listen with attention to detail and recall sounds with increasing aural memory use and understand staff and other musical notations Appreciate and understand a wide range of high-quality live and recorded music drawn from different traditions and from great composers and musicians develop an understanding of the history of music.

Implementation

St Mary’s Catholic Primary School follow the Charanga Original Scheme of learning which is delivered by class teachers/ teaching assistants on a weekly basis. All staff have completed the introduction to Charanga course with updated training available on the charanga website. Three units from each year group are taught, allowing time for concert/ performance rehearsal and preparation within each term. The elements of music are taught in classroom lessons so that the children are able to use the language of music to discuss it and to understand how it is made, played and appreciated.

Differentiation is achieved by resource, task, support and outcome through teachers’ delivery of the Charanga planning. All pupils are encouraged to participate in and enjoy music lessons regardless of race, culture, gender, ability or physical limitations. During music lessons pupils will be expected to work collaboratively in groups, as a whole class, in pairs and individually. Groups are chosen (by the teacher or pupils) appropriate to the task set. Children who demonstrate a talent for music through musical skills beyond their age will be given extra challenges through differentiated work.

Music runs through the heart of St Mary’s. Each class (Rec to Year 6) receives music lessons weekly. In EYFS and KS1, the children use a range of untuned instruments and are introduced to glockenspiels in Year 2. In KS2, each class is exposed to learning a different instrument, with the view that they will find one they most enjoy and be directed to their local music service/ provider. (eg More Music/ Morecambe Brass Band Academy) Year 3 – recorder course Year 4 – wider opportunities brass (cornet, trumpet, baritone) Year 5 – ukulele (glocks) Year 6 – glockenspiels Whole school performances are carried out at least twice a year, with every class performing with their instrument in the Christmas production and again in the summer term at the St. Mary’s Fringe Festival (usually held outside) In addition, the school come together every week to sing, learning a range of songs in Hymn Practice and at other times during the week during collective worship and key stage liturgies. Charanga, Sing up, Kevin Meyhew CDs and other music providers are used for a variety of song choice.

At St Mary’s we also have a KS2 choir who share their love of singing with the school and local community at various times of the year including a local Christmas street party and residential homes during the festive period. Year 5 also take part in the Lancaster and District Schools singing Festival and we have good links with More Music who have provided workshops over the year. All children have a music book in which to record some of their music lesson content to show progression and development of their musical knowledge. Music lessons are also recorded on Ipads and stored in shared files at the beginning, middle and end of a unit to evidence the progression made.

Impact

We know the impact of regular singing has an immense effect on morale and well – being. This is evident when the children at St Mary’s are still singing as they leave our weekly hymn practice, in their classrooms and around school. Through our music curriculum, children are able to enjoy music, in as many ways as they choose - either as listener, creator or performer. They can discuss music and comprehend its parts. They can sing, feel a pulse, add rhythms and create melodies in a group and they can further develop these skills in the future and continue to enjoy and embrace music in their lives