Music

Intent

At Spring Lane we aim to offer a high-quality music education in line with the National Curriculum.

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 Spring Lane  the intention is that children gain a firm understanding of what music is through learning about the interrelated dimensions of music- pulse, rhythm, pitch, dynamics, tempo, timbre, structure, texture and notation. Our objective at Spring Lane is to develop a curiosity for the subject, as well as an understanding and acceptance of the validity and importance of all types of music, along with respect for the role that music may play in a person’s life. We are committed to ensuring 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.

The progression document below shows the key knowledge and skills children are expected to have acquired for each year group.

Implementation

Our Music curriculum, while covering the National Curriculum, aims to excite the children and allow them to develop their own skills as musicians.  Charanga Musical School Units of Work enable children to understand musical concepts through 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. Children are taught in whole class groups for 1 lesson per week. Music is also integrated into assemblies and other curriculum areas where relevant (ie- through Geography when learning about music from different countries)

We follow the Charanga scheme of learning for music, which breaks learning down into the following:

• Listening and Appraising
• Musical Activities
  • Warm-up Games
  • Optional Flexible Games
  • Singing
  • Playing instruments
  • Improvisation
  • Composition

• Performing

Assessment

Assessment of music is conducted using teacher assessment of how children engage and perform within lessons. This assessment is regular and informs planning for future lessons.