Music

Music is a bit like magic. We are all musicians even before we were born: the first sound each of us every heard - the first rhythm we every moved to - was the beating of our mother’s heart.

Music is not something you can see but it is very powerful. It can make us want to move or change the way we feel; it can tell a story or bring the past to life; it can unite people or scare people; it can paint pictures in our minds’ it can convince us to buy something or change our opinions on important topics; it can motivate us and energize us, or lull us to sleep, and it can console us when we are in difficult times.

It's in our voices and bodies, in our computers and phones or films, our places of worship and entertainment; it’s in our elections, our wars, our ceremonies; it’s in in our schools and homes, our radio stations, stadiums and concert halls, our shops and cars; it’s in the news and in our children’s toys; and we find it in the nature that surrounds us. It’s in every country and every culture. It’s part of our identity.

Wherever we are, music is too.

And yet, it is also somehow something more than us, remaining something of a beautiful mystery, just like magic.‘

Intent

Our Music Curriculum goes beyond the National Curriculum and challenges children as composers and performers. Furthermore, we have incorporated non-statutory guidance from the Model Music Curriculum. To support us in the delivery of our music curriculum, we use the software Churanga. This has resulted in the creation of a progressive model from Nursery to Year 6, centered around vertical concepts, which provide a concrete lens through which to study and explore music, as well as teaching in small steps to help pupils grow in confidence to express themselves.

Vertical Concepts

Listening and Appraising

How does the music make you feel? What is the tempo and tonality of the music? What links does the music have socially, historically or geographically?

Singing

How do we support our voices in the correct way? What power do our voices have? What are the different effects when changing our voices?

Composing

How can we improvise using our voices and instruments? How can we reflect the emotion or message of the music in our compositions? How can we record our compositions through notation?

Performing

How can we develop learners who can confidently sing or play a musical instrument, either solo or as part of a group?

Our curriculum is designed in way which creates excitement for music, that inspires a curiosity to learn more about various musical genres, ethnicities, and communities globally. It provides opportunities for all children to see themselves reflected in the curriculum and others who they may not ordinarily encounter through our review of content and composers to ensure it is truly inclusive and diverse. To ensure this, learning is organised into six social themes which are delivered annually resulting in a learning being progressive with children knowing and remembering more.

Implementation

Early Years is the first opportunity to develop our children’s curiosity for Music. We implement our music curriculum by following the interests of the children through the Early Years Foundation Stage Statutory Framework which aims to guide children to make sense of their own feelings and emotions and how to express them. Children in early years are immersed in music through the singing of nursery rhymes, moving to music and exploring body percussion. Pupils are introduced to musical language as they explore how music makes them feel and effects those around them.

Throughout Key Stage One and Key Stage Two, our children will be taught through the sequential curriculum Churanga. This music curriculum ensures children sing, listen, play, perform and evaluate different genres of music. We also aim to ensure that all children participate in concerts and performances where musical talents are celebrated.   

The elements of music; singing, listening and appraising, composing and performing, are taught in the classroom lessons so that children can understand how music is made, played, appreciated and analysed. In EYFS children develop their listening skills by experimenting how to make sounds with different tuned and un-tuned percussion instruments, which closely links with learning Phonics. In KS1 children are taught music through carefully planned sequence of lessons based on Charanga involving singing and the use of tuned and untuned percussion instruments. This is built upon in KS2 where, in addition to classroom music lessons based on Charanga, Year 4 have professional tuition in learning how to play the Ukulele delivered by the Staffordshire Music Hub.

Impact

Through the child’s journey at Silverdale Primary Academy, their musical skills and understanding are built on each year, from singing simple songs from memory and performing simple rhythm patterns in KS1, to more advanced techniques skills, and understanding in lower KS2, further developing in upper KS2 where the children can have an experience of playing an instrument and can read and follow a simple musical score. Throughout this, the child’s enjoyment of music is a key element, running alongside the ‘taught’ musical skills and objectives. 

We build on children’s cultural capital by ensuring that throughout their musical education they can experience listening to and performing a wide variety of genres from different cultures. These include reggae, classical, jazz, rock, blues, pop, folk, hip-hop, ballads and many more. Each genre stems from a different part of the world and builds children’s knowledge and understanding of these places. We further enhance our curriculum by organising musical workshops, performances and professional tuition.