Music - our intent
At Iveson Primary School, our vision is that our children use music as a means of exploration and expression, whilst developing the musical knowledge and skills to create and enjoy music in all its forms.
It is our aim that, through their music lessons, our children develop a life-long passion for music and foster a sense of community through song; the learning of instruments; composition and the appraisal of live and recorded music.
Our music curriculum will reflect and celebrate the many diverse cultures within our school community. Children will be exposed to musical styles from around the world and be able to confidently use musical terminology to express their opinions on what they hear and create themselves.
Through a strong focus on singing, listening, and critically evaluating music, it is our aspiration that our children can develop a sense of their own musical preferences and the ability to explore and articulate these with growing confidence.
Singing and listening to music is embedded throughout the school day. In addition, children are given opportunities to sing in weekly singing assemblies, where they learn to sing in an ensemble with increasing awareness of pitch, melody and volume. As well as learning the importance of warming up their voices and bodies through exercises and games, our children build up a repertoire of songs throughout their time at Iveson Primary School.
We passionately believe that children should have access to musical tuition and so in Year 3 and Year 5, children become real musicians, participating in whole-class tuition in tuned percussion and djembe respectively, with a specialist music teacher. In years 4 and 6, children also learn the ukulele. All children learn body percussion and have access to both tuned and untuned percussion instruments throughout the year.
Through the sharing of their musical skills, our children become more confident performers. This could take place in small groups in class, or to the wider school community. Children who already play instruments are encouraged to share these talents in class or in assemblies and this celebration of their skills inspires their peers.
We are committed to developing the musical knowledge of our teachers through staff training. They will follow the music long-term plan and use Knowledge Organisers to plan their music lessons.
Teachers will use the Skills Progression Document in order to assess and monitor progress throughout the year.
Through the sharing of their musical skills, our children become more confident performers. This could take place in small groups in class, or to the wider school community.
Iveson Primary School
Music, Dance and Drama in the Early Years Foundation Stage
Expressive Arts and Design
The development of children’s artistic and cultural awareness supports their imagination and creativity. It is important that children have regular opportunities to engage with the arts, enabling them to explore and play with a wide range of media and materials. The quality and variety of what children see, hear and participate in is crucial for developing their understanding, self-expression, vocabulary and ability to communicate through the arts. The frequency, repetition and depth of their experiences are fundamental to their progress in interpreting and appreciating what they hear, respond to and observe.
Early Learning Goals
ELG: Being Imaginative and Expressive
Children at the expected level of development will: – Invent, adapt and recount narratives and stories with peers and their teacher; – Sing a range of well-known nursery rhymes and songs; Perform songs, rhymes, poems and stories with others, and – when appropriate – try to move in time with music.
Purpose of study
Music is a universal language that embodies one of the highest forms of creativity. 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.
Aims
The national curriculum for music aims to ensure that all pupils:
- perform, listen to, review and evaluate music across a range of historical periods, genres, styles and traditions, including the works of the great composers and musicians
- learn to sing and to use their voices, to create and compose music on their own and with others, have the opportunity to learn a musical instrument, use technology appropriately and have the opportunity to progress to the next level of musical excellence
- understand and explore how music is created, produced and communicated, including through the inter-related dimensions: pitch, duration, dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture, structure and appropriate musical notations.
Attainment targets
By the end of each key stage, pupils are expected to know, apply and understand the matters, skills and processes specified in the relevant programme of study.
Subject content
Key stage 1
Pupils should be taught to:
- use their voices expressively and creatively by singing songs and speaking chants and rhymes
- play tuned and untuned instruments musically
- listen with concentration and understanding to a range of high-quality live and recorded music
- experiment with, create, select and combine sounds using the inter-related dimensions of music.
Key stage 2
Pupils should be taught to sing and play musically with increasing confidence and control. They should develop an understanding of musical composition, organising and manipulating ideas within musical structures and reproducing sounds from aural memory.
Pupils should be taught to:
- play and perform in solo and ensemble contexts, using their voices and playing musical instruments with increasing accuracy, fluency, control and expression
- improvise and compose music for a range of purposes using the inter-related dimensions of music
- listen with attention to detail and recall sounds with increasing aural memory
- use and understand staff and other musical notations
- appreciate and understand a wide range of high-quality live and recorded music drawn from different traditions and from great composers and musicians
- develop an understanding of the history of music.
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EYFS
“We play instruments really loud and really quiet!”
Year 1
“I like fruit and vegetables songs!” Vincent
Year 2
“We sing lots of songs in music. I like it!” – Lionel
Year 3
“We are learning tuned percussion with Mr. S. We learn lots of songs. We can even play Baby Shark!” Francesca
Year 4
“We do singing assemblies and I go to choir at lunchtime. We have to warm up our bodies and our voices before we sing-just like you warm your body up for P.E. If you stand properly, you can get more air in when you take a deep breath. I like learning new songs and thinking about what they mean.” Fern
Year 5
“We’re learning the djembe this year. I can do slap tones and bass tones. I think it’s cool that you can get so many sounds out of one drum. The vibrations from the drum really spread out! Our teacher, Mr. S, is a really good drummer and he’s making us good at it, too.”- Erin
Year 6
I really enjoy playing the tuned percussion instruments that we have at school. I’m getting pretty good at reading music now. It is hard, but we’re practising.”
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