Music

Intent

The vision of music at Tewkesbury C of E Primary School is that music is fully embedded in every aspect of school life and our aspiration is that every child adopts a lifelong love of music and become real musicians. Through playing, singing, creating and performing, children will develop confidence, communication skills, thinking and creative skills and improve their emotional well-being. Children will find that music is enjoyable and relaxing. We promote enjoyment and foster interest of music through regular singing practice, musical workshops, and other extra-curricular opportunities such as the school choir and drama. We provide a progressive and enjoyable curriculum that enables each pupil to grow and flourish musically at their own pace, to develop the ability to express ideas, thoughts and feelings through music and fosters a passion for music in children of all abilities.  We also strive to offer a variety of opportunities for children to celebrate their talents, both within school and the community therefore deepening their participation and love for music in a wider context.

Implementation
The music curriculum ensures students sing, listen, play, perform and evaluate. This includes the weekly singing assemblies, various concerts and performances and the learning of instruments. The elements of music are taught in the classroom lessons so that children are able to use some of the language of music to dissect it, and understand how it is made, played, appreciated and analysed. Pupils are taught the different principle of creating notes, as well as how to read basic music notation. They also learn how to compose, focussing on different dimensions of music, which in turn feeds their understanding when listening, playing, or analysing music. Composing or performing using body percussion and vocal sounds is also part of the curriculum, which develops the understanding of musical elements without the added complexity of an instrument.  Our music curriculum aims to provide all pupils with a high quality music education which engages and inspires children to develop a life-long love of music, increases their self-confidence, creativity and imagination, and provides opportunities for self-expression and a sense of personal achievement.

Children at Tewkesbury C of E participate in weekly music lessons.

Every year group will build upon the learning from prior year groups therefore developing depth of understanding and progression of skills. This serves as a base to aid and enhance our teaching, but is not intended to be rigidly adhered to. Teachers should make professional judgements about when to adapt, miss out or add additional materials where this would benefit learning.

• Lessons provide opportunities for children to develop practical skills and progress by listening and appraising, singing, playing, composing, and performing.

• As well as music lessons in class, children are encouraged to learn a range of instruments through peripatetic teachers.

• Pupils are given the opportunity to listen to a range of music through various in and out of school opportunities

• Music skills and skills progression are monitored, as is the delivery of music.

•  Resources: We have a range of music equipment and resources that can easily be moved around the school.

• There are some glockenspiels and other tuned instruments including: Keyboard, tambourines, drums, bells and more.

• The school class set of iPads have music apps installed.

• Our song books are kept on the ‘drive’. The CD collection will be extended as funding allows.

·       Music lessons are lively and interactive and aim to foster a passion for music in children of all abilities.

·       Singing is a highly important part of our music curriculum. Weekly singing assemblies take place to teach children how to sing with a sense of pitch and melody. They are taught how to warm up their voices, sing in rounds and harmony, and build up a repertoire of songs. We have a school choir which meet each week.

Impact

Children are able to enjoy music in as many ways as they choose- either as a listener, creator or performer. They can dissect music and comprehend its parts. They can sing and feel a pulse. They have an understanding of how to further develop skills less known to them, should they ever develop an interest in their lives. Those children with a particular interest or aptitude in music will be given the opportunity to extend their education in a variety of ways, for example, orchestral groups, singing club, instrumental performances in assembly. Our Music curriculum will hopefully foster a love and increasing enthusiasm for the subject amongst our children, and a potential for life- long musical study.

"We know good music happens in our school when…”

1.     We see ourselves as Musicians.

2.    We are excited when we hear music.

3.    We are excited when we see people playing an instrument.

4.    Our lessons are engaging and carefully sequenced to allow us all to have the opportunity to achieve and make progress in music.

5.    We are encouraged to play an instrument.

6.    We can make connections between instruments today and instruments from a long time ago (links to History).

"Music is a world within itself, with a language we all understand." Stevie Wonder

"Music is powerful. As people listen to it, they can be affected. They respond." Ray Charles

"Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything." Plato