Music at Saint John Southworth RC Primary School

 

At SJS Music is...to listen, appraise, compose and perform.

 

The Intent, Implementation and Impact of our Curriculum  

 

Intent

 

The National Curriculum for music aims to ensure that all children:

  • perform, listen to, review and evaluate music
  • be taught to sing, create and compose music
  • understand and explore how music is created, produced and communicated

At St John Southworth, children gain a firm understanding of what music is through listening, singing, playing, evaluating, analysing, and composing across a wide variety of historical periods, styles, traditions, and musical genres. We are committed to developing a curiosity for the subject, as well as an understanding and acceptance of the strength and importance of all types of music, and an unbiased respect for the role that music may wish to be expressed in any person’s life. We are committed to ensuring children understand the value and importance of music in the wider community and are able to use their musical skills, knowledge, and experiences to involve themselves in music, in a variety of different contexts.

 

Implementation

 

The music curriculum ensures children sing, listen, play, perform and evaluate. This is embedded in the classroom activities as well as the weekly hymn practises, the learning of instruments, and the joining together during our class and school collective worships. The elements of music are taught in the classroom lessons so that children are able to use some of the language of music to analyse it, and understand how it is made, played and appreciated. In the classroom, children learn how to play an instrument, from three of the four main instrument groups of wind, strings and percussion. In doing so, the children begin to understand the different principle of each method of creating notes, as well as how to read basic music notation. They also learn how to compose, focusing on different dimensions of music, which nourishes their understanding when listening, playing, or analysing music.

 

Impact

 

The integral nature of music and the learner creates an enormously rich palette from which a child 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 children individually, as well as ethnicities from across the world. Children are able to enjoy music in as many ways as they choose – either as listener, creator or performer. They can analyse 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.