Music

Intent

The Nation Curriculum for music states that, “A high- quality music education should engage and inspire pupils to develop a love of music and their talent as musicians, and so increase their self-confidence, creativity and sense of achievement. As pupils progress, they should develop a critical engagement with music, allowing them to compose and to listen with discrimination to the best in the musical canon.”

We provide our children with knowledge and language rich lessons that follow a clear progression which allows them the opportunity to enjoy immersive experiences that build their cultural capital, and progress their substantive and discipline-specific knowledge.

The aspirational, yet practical, nature of our lessons means that musical knowledge gained will abide in the children’s long-term memory. It is recalled and retrieved on a regular basis due to the cyclical nature of the music curriculum.

Implementation

Music teaching within the school is built around the Kapow Music Scheme as this provides teachers with a secure structure to teach within, until they feel able to tailor their teaching to respond to the specific requirements of their pupils.

A musical education begins in Foundation Stage. The half-termly (6-step) focus-based approach supports teachers in engaging all young children with music. It includes a variety of adult-led and child-initiated activities delivered through planning and play, all the musical learning is focused around nursery rhymes and action songs. There are musical opportunities available all day every day for children to compose and improvise as they see fit.

Children of all ages are encouraged to listen and appraise, take part in musical activities and perform or share what they have been working on. These are the three sections that make up each lesson and mean that children are immersed in the interrelated dimensions of music every step of the way.

Music is taught both discreetly and as part of cross-curricular topics where it is taught alongside and to enhance the children’s understanding of other subjects. Children are taught to use their voices, to play tuned and un-tuned instruments, they are taught to listen to detail and recall sound with increasing accuracy, they develop an understanding of musical history and to listen critically to and appreciate a wide range of music from different traditions and composers. All this helps build connections in their long term memory, to aid recall and retrieval of music and other subject knowledge.

Impact

At Ash Tree we teach music to promote a lifelong enjoyment of listening to and creating music in its many and varied guises. We hope that every child leaves Ash Tree with a confidence and sense that they can, and a will to continue to, participate in music long after they leave us. The dedication and perseverance it takes to work towards a performance and the guts it takes to perform are all transferable skills that will provide a great foundation for our children’s futures. Working towards a goal, such as a performance also reinforces our Kippax Ash Tree school values of respect, cooperation and pride and our Brigshaw Learning Partnership-wide values of resilience, equality and integrity.