Music – curriculum information

Intent

At Rokeby Park Primary School, we believe that all of our pupils have the right to a creative, high-quality music education that engages and inspires pupils to develop a love of music and develop their musical talents. Our music curriculum helps our pupils to develop their knowledge and understanding about how music is created, produced and communicated and ensures that pupils have opportunities to perform, listen to and evaluate music from a range of historical periods, genres, styles and traditions. Through the curriculum pupils learn to sing and create and compose music and increase their self-confidence, creativity and sense of achievement. The music curriculum at Rokeby Park is progressive, builds upon prior learning and enables children to develop knowledge and skills that are transferable to others areas of the curriculum, and which promotes spiritual, moral, social and cultural development through gaining an insight into music from other cultures, eras and the meaning behind compositions and musical genres. Careful consideration is taken to ensure all pupils can access the curriculum, as well as using personalised learning strategies in line with our inclusion policy. We regard skills such as resilience, responsibility and respect as worthy and appropriate curriculum components that will support all children to achieve their full potential.

Music is, by nature, a creative subject, which develops an understanding of key concepts, knowledge and skills. We seek to inspire in children a curiosity and fascination about the world, including our immediate local area and city, and to promote the children’s interests and understanding of the diverse subject through our engaging and ambitious music curriculum.

By the end of EYFS, pupils will:

Have a good understanding of how to sing and make their own music representing their ideas, thoughts and feelings and experiment with ways of changing their compositions. The children will be able to confidently talk about their strengths, develop an understanding of their areas for improvement whilst being respectful to the others.

By the end of Key Stage 1, pupils will:

Build on learning in EYFS by being able to use their voices creatively and expressively, play tuned and un-tuned instruments musically, listen and appraise high-quality live and recorded music and create their own compositions using the inter-related dimensions of music. The children will feel confident in expressing themselves through music and speak confidently about their knowledge and how they have been inspired in their learning.

By the end of Key Stage 2, pupils will:

Have retained knowledge and skills pertinent to music with explicit connections to their locality. They will understand how to compose, perform and improvise and be able use and understand music notations along with understanding the history of music.

At Rokeby Park we are an inclusive school and we ensure that our ambitious curriculum meets the needs of all children. Our aim is to provide the same level of curiosity and understanding of music for all children including those who may come from a disadvantaged background or those who have SEND. Staff are committed to embedding our ambitious and creative curriculum into classroom activities as well as singing assemblies, concerts and performances throughout the school year.

Our music objectives are taken from the National Curriculum and are structured into key areas of learning. These include:

  • Singing (developing pitch, melody, rhythm and control individually and as a part of a group)
  • Listening (exploring feelings and emotions in response to music, giving opinions, identifying instruments, structure, music features)
  • Composing (improvising, composing, notating; representing sounds through symbols, standard and non-standard notation)
  • Performing (singing, playing instruments, individual and groups, practising, rehearsing, presenting, recording, evaluating)
  • Musicianship (understanding music: pulse/beat/metre, rhythm, pitch/melody, tempo, dynamics, timbre, texture, structure/form)

A typical teaching sequence through a unit of work in music will include the following elements:

  1. Listening and appraising activities
    1. Familiarisation with the piece or genre being studied
    2. Responding to the music and giving opinions
    3. Identifying key elements, features and vocabulary
    4. Identifying historical period and comparing / contrasting with other pieces
  2. Musical activities
    1. Warm up games
    2. Singing activities
    3. Playing instruments
    4. Improvisation
    5. Composition
  3. Performing
    1. Individual or group
    2. Rehearsal
    3. Performance

Implementation

At Rokeby we use the Charanga music scheme as a basis for music planning. The scheme follows the new music model curriculum and provides a wide range of songs, resources and high quality activities to ensure that children are stretched and challenged within their music lessons.

Music is taught progressively across the year groups so that children achieve depth in their learning. A music knowledge and skills progression document identifies the key knowledge and skills of each area of music taught at Rokeby and allows prior knowledge to be identified, consolidated and embedded. Resources endorsed by the Hull Music Hub are used to enhance our curriculum and allow all children, especially the disadvantaged, exposure to classical British composers as well as composers linked to our local area street names, and experience music that they may not encounter in day-to-day life. In addition, subject specific vocabulary is presented interactively in all classrooms allowing frequent repetition and practice throughout the year, both in verbal and written form.

A typical teaching sequence through a unit of work in music will include the following elements:

  1. Listening and appraising activities

    1. Familiarisation with the piece or genre being studied
    2. Responding to the music and giving opinions
    3. Identifying key elements, features and vocabulary
    4. Identifying historical period and comparing / contrasting with other pieces
  1. Musical activities

    1. Warm up games
    2. Singing activities
    3. Playing instruments
    4. Improvisation
    5. Composition
  2. Performing

    1. Individual or group
    2. Rehearsal
    3. Performance

At Rokeby, reading is at the core of the curriculum and enhances music further through high-quality songs and compositions, listening and appraising activities and reading sheet music. Where possible, meaningful cross-curricular outcomes are specifically planned for, with connections being made through a themed approach. The children are provided with the opportunity to deepen their acquisition of language and vocabulary, and to develop their speech and language skills. Teachers plan topics in relation to an overarching theme for each term. Consideration is given to extending children’s learning and how it will be demonstrated within each lesson, both theoretically and practically, as well how all learners will be supported in line with the school’s commitment to inclusion. Outcomes of work are regularly monitored to ensure they reflect a sound understanding of the progressive knowledge and skills through ‘3 Key Questions’. These, along with live performances, allow for assessment opportunities and to identify children’s understanding and interpretation of their learning.

EYFS follow the ‘Development Matters in the EYFS incorporating music in their continuous provision which aims for all children in Nursery and Reception to be confident and creative in ‘Expressive Arts and Design: Exploring and using media and materials and Being imaginative’

Impact

Outcomes in individual curriculum and whole-class creative curriculum books, along with video footage of practical lessons, evidence a broad and balanced music curriculum demonstrating the children’s acquisition of identified key knowledge, practical skills and vocabulary, reducing the vocabulary gap in disadvantaged children.

Evidence shows progression across the academic year and across year groups showing that prior knowledge has been embedded further. The children build on their knowledge each year through a well-structured curriculum, they develop the skills and confidence they need to overcome any barriers and grow in confidence.

The children know how music can impact their well-being, be used as a way of expressing themselves and are aware of how music can continue to inspire them beyond the classroom.

Further information

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