Music

      “Music expresses that which cannot be put into words.”

Victor Hugo

Intent

The intention of the music curriculum at Mattersey Primary School is first and foremost to help children to feel that they are musical, and to develop a life-long love of music. We focus on developing the skills, knowledge and understanding that children need in order to become confident performers, composers and listeners. Our curriculum introduces children to music from all around the world and across generations, teaching children to respect and appreciate the music of all traditions and communities. Children will develop the musical skills of singing, playing tuned and untuned instruments, improvising and composing music, and listening and responding to music. They will develop an understanding of the history and cultural context of the music that they listen to and learn how music can be written down. Through music, our curriculum helps children develop transferable skills such as team-working, leadership, creative thinking, problem-solving, decision-making and presentation and performance skills. These skills are vital to children’s development as learners and have a wider application in their general lives outside and beyond school.

Implementation

Mattersey Primary School’s music scheme takes a holistic approach to music, in which the individual strands below are woven together to create engaging and enriching learning experiences:

• Performing
• Listening
• Composing
• The history of music
• The inter-related dimensions of music

Music lessons are centred around a cross-curricular topic designed to capture children’s imagination and encourage them to explore music enthusiastically. Children will be taught to sing fluently and expressively, and play tuned  and untuned instruments accurately and with control. They will learn to recognise and name the interrelated dimensions of music-pitch, duration, tempo, timbre, structure, texture and dynamics-and use these e4xpressively in their own improvisations and compositions.

In each lesson, pupils will participate in musical activities drawn from a range of styles and traditions, developing their musical skills and their understanding of how music works. Lessons incorporate a range of teaching strategies from independent tasks, paired and group work as well as improvisation and teacher-led performances. Lessons are ‘hands-on’ and incorporate movement and dance elements, as well as making cross curricular links with other areas of learning.

We are also a school who value the expressive arts and pupils will be given a range of opportunities to ‘perform’ and use their musical talents with drama and dance- such as working with specialist teachers and performing in annual musical productions.

Impact

After the implementation of our music scheme of work, pupils should leave primary school equipped with a range of skills to enable them to succeed in their secondary education and to be able to enjoy and appreciate music throughout their lives.

The expected impact of following the scheme of work is that children will:

• Be confident performers, composers and listeners and will be able to express themselves musically at and beyond school.
• Show an appreciation and respect for a wide range of musical styles from around the world and will understand how music is influenced by the wider cultural, social and historical contexts in which it is developed.
• Understand the ways in which music can be written down to support performing and composing activities.
• Demonstrate and articulate an enthusiasm for music and be able to identify their own personal musical preferences.
• Meet the end of key stage expectations outlined in the national curriculum for music.