Music

"Anything human can be felt through music, which means that there is no limit to the creating that can be done with music."

Nina Simone

Intent

“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.” (National Curriculum, DFE).

At St James, our aim is to provide a curriculum that will enable children to reach their full potential in music. Children gain a firm understanding of what music is through listening, singing, playing, evaluating and composing across a wide variety of historical periods, styles, traditions, and musical genres. We are committed to ensuring children understand the value and importance of music to their own lives, others’ lives and the role music plays in the wider community. Music has the power to spark curiosity, inspire creativity, and improve well being. We recognise music is a language that speaks to all, regardless of ethnicity, language skills or background, and all children are actively encouraged to participate in the subject as fully as they are able.

Implementation

St James follows the Charanga Musical School Units of Work, This scheme enables children to understand musical concepts through a repetition-based approach to learning. Learning about the same musical concept through different musical activities enables a more secure, deeper learning and mastery of musical skills.

In EYFS, the Charanga scheme provides opportunities for children to sing songs, make music and learn rhymes and counting songs with simple words and tunes. KS1 use the Charanga scheme to cover basic skills such as pulse, rhythm, pitch and tempo. They have the opportunity to being exploring pitched and non-pitched instruments. In KS2, children continue to follow the Charanga scheme and begin to access music confidently, whilst having the ability to read and follow a simple musical or graphical score..

A steady progression plan has been built into Charanga, both within each year and from one year to the next, ensuring consistent musical development. By using Charanga as the basis of a scheme of work, we can ensure that they are fulfilling the aims for musical learning stated in the National Curriculum. Charanga provides many examples of music styles and genres from different times and celebrates music from around the world. These are explored through the language of music via active listening, performing and composing activities, which enable understanding of the context and genre.

Alongside this, the school works in partnership Haringey Music Service. Year 4 children are taught music through learning the ukulele with a specialist teacher. Throughout all of this the child’s enjoyment of music is a key element, running alongside the ‘taught’ musical skills and objectives.

We encourage singing and listening to music for all children across KS1 and KS2, as well as in EYFS during our daily Collective Worship. We sing a variety of songs during Collective Worship, with an emphasis on children’s spiritual and moral development. All children are given the opportunity to perform to their peers and families throughout their time at St James. At Christmas, EYFS sing Christmas songs and KS1 perform a Nativity play. Year 6 put on an end of year production. Class assemblies for parents allow the children to understand the importance of preparing for performance and promotes self-confidence and sense of achievement.

Impact

The integral nature of music and the learner creates an enormously rich palette from which a student may access fundamental abilities such as: achievement, self-confidence, interaction with and awareness of others, and self-reflection. Music will also develop an understanding of culture and history, both in relation to students individually, as well as ethnicities from across the world. Children are able to enjoy music, in as many ways as they choose- as either 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.