Music
Music and the performing arts are an important part of life at Grangetown. The children have the opportunity to enjoy musical experiences through listening, singing, movement and dance and by playing a range of instruments. The children are able to explore the emotional impact of music, and they learn how to use musical vocabulary to talk about and appraise aspects of music. They also learn about the historical and cultural significance of music. We employ specialist teachers for music, singing and drama, and the children have opportunities to take part in performances and shows. We provide instrumental tuition in violin, cello and keyboard. Our Choir performs in school and in the local community.
Intent, Implementation, Impact
Intent
Music provides the children with the opportunities to be expressive, creative and to explore their feelings and emotions. Our music curriculum aims to enable children to become proficient in singing, listening, composing and performing. The children will learn about the development of music, about influential musicians, and they will gain an understanding of the historical and cultural significance of Music.
Implementation
Every class has a weekly music lesson with a specialist Music teacher, and we have access to a wide range of instruments including keyboards, ukuleles, djembe drums and glockenspiels - this enables us to provide a high quality musical experience for every child. Recently, we have carried out a review of our curriculum and produced an up to date curriculum overview to show progression across the school. In doing this we looked at the knowledge that we wanted the children to have and the skills which we would teach in order to achieve this. The music curriculum is often linked to the themes covered in class. All children in KS1 are encouraged to explore a variety of musical genres through listening, singing and composing. Progressing into KS2, the children will expand their performing, composing and listening abilities - they will develop skills to use and understand musical notation, look at the history of music and appreciate context when listening.
Impact
Through having fun and engaging Music lessons, our children show a positive attitude towards their learning in this subject and talk with excitement about the pieces they have created and performed. As a school we measure the impact of Music through the children’s ability to demonstrate the skills they have learned and to talk about their knowledge of music and about their experiences in terms of performing and participating. We also show the children’s developing creativity and performing skills through regular performances for both the school and wider community.
Our Music Policy
Our policy for Music is here.
Curriculum Map for Music
Our Music Subject Map provides an overview of what we teach across EYFS, Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2.
Long Term Planning
Our Long Term Planning for Music is here.
Medium Term Planning
In music, we follow the Charanga scheme of learning throughout school, from Year 1 to Year 6. Charanga is an award-winning music scheme that meets and exceeds the national curriculum for music. Learning is integrated, meaning that in every lesson, children learn skills and knowledge based around listening to music, singing, playing instruments, composing/improvising and performing.
For each year group, each half term follows a theme; such as 'How does music tell stories about the past?' or 'How can music make a difference to our lives?' These themes teach children not only the skills and knowledge associated with music but also how music is applied to and enriches the world around them. This makes a cross-curricular link to our Personal, Health and Social Education (PHSE) curriculum.
Each half term, children learn to sing a number of increasingly complex songs; exploring their time signatures, styles and arrangements. Children also use our wide range of musical instruments to build skills based around keeping to a beat, rhythm variation, chords and melodies. As well as playing to existing musical compositions, children have plenty of time in music lessons to express themselves, via their own compositions and improvisations.
The final piece of the musical jigsaw at Grangetown is performance. Children have the opportunity to build their own self confidence by performing their musical creations and masterpieces.
A typical lesson consists of warm up activities based around finding and keeping the beat of a piece of music, exploring the musical style and lyrical content of an existing song, singing or playing instruments and performing as a whole group; often with some children performing percussion while others play instruments, with some taking on singing duties.
