Music
At Westgate Primary School all children, including SEN and disadvantaged pupils, learn the following musical concepts through studying different topics throughout the school.
Intent
Music is a universal language that embodies an important form of creativity. A high-quality Music education engages and inspires pupils to develop a love of music and their talent as musicians and so increases their self-confidence, creativity and sense of achievement.
At Westgate Primary School, our Music curriculum aims to equip children with essential skills for becoming confident and creative musicians with the ability to compose music, sing and perform confidently, as well as listen to and evaluate a variety of music with a critical ear.
We have devised our own Music scheme of work which includes all the requirements of the National Curriculum. Weekly progressive lessons are taught using engaging and exciting interactive resources, alongside a whole school weekly Singing Assembly. We also encourage confidence in performance, as well as perseverance and self-belief, by teaching a tuned instrument in Key Stage 2 and encouraging all pupils to be part of our Westgate Choir.
Our pupils 'musical journey' begins in EYFS, where we teach Music through everyday teaching techniques, including daily routines, in skills focused lessons and within the continuous provision.
Concepts
- Exploring sounds
- Beat
- Pitch
- Performance
- Composition
- Structure
- Notation
- Listening
British Values
By connecting our British Values through the teaching of Music, we explore skills such as performance, composition and listening to and appreciating music from around the world. These help to build character and help to embed British Values such as mutual respect and active participation.
Exploring Media and Materials
We begin by introducing enjoyable dancing and ring games for the children join in with, encouraging them to move rhythmically. As the songs become more familiar, we provide opportunities for the children to sing and imitate movement in response to music through the provision of musical instruments, a performance area, CD player and microphones.
Here, the children are encouraged to tap out simple repeated rhythms, exploring and learning how sounds can be changed. As the year progresses, we aim for the children to build a repertoire of songs and dances and to explore the different sounds of instruments by introducing them to a wide selection. By the end of the EYFS, we aim for the children to be able to sing songs, make music, dance, and experiment with ways of changing them confidently.
Being Imaginative
In the EYFS, we also focus on the children’s independent creativity in Music. The children will begin by developing preferences for their own forms of expression through opportunities given during child initiated sessions. They are shown and encouraged how to use movement to express their feelings and to create movement in response to music.
As they build their confidence we expect to hear the children singing to themselves and making up simple songs and rhythms, using the instruments and musical equipment we provide. Towards the end of the EYFS, the children will have been taught and given the opportunity to capture experiences and respond with a range of media, such as music and dance. This will then allow them to represent their own ideas, thoughts and feelings through music.
Key Stage 1
As we move into Key Stage 1 and the National Curriculum, the children begin to use their voices more expressively and creatively by singing songs and speaking chants and rhymes. They play tuned and untuned instruments musically and listen with concentration and understanding to a range of high-quality live and recorded music. They begin to experiment with, create, select and combine sounds using the inter-related dimensions of music.
Key Stage 2
Key stage 2 pupils are then taught to sing and play musically with increasing confidence and control. They are taught how to develop an understanding of musical composition, organising and manipulating ideas within musical
structures and reproducing sounds from aural memory. They are provided with opportunities to play and perform in solo and ensemble contexts, using their voices and playing musical instruments with increasing accuracy, fluency,
control and expression.
The children improvise and compose music for a range of purposes using the inter-related dimensions of music and listen with attention to detail and recall sounds with increasing aural memory. We teach
how to use and understand staff and other musical notations. They are given the opportunity to appreciate and understand a wide range of high-quality live and recorded music drawn from different traditions and from great composers and musicians, including the development an understanding of the history of music.
