Music

Intent

At Farcet C of E Primary School, we believe that Music is a universal language that embodies one of the highest forms of creativity. A high-quality Music education will engage and inspire children to develop a love of music and their talent as musicians, and so increase their self-confidence, creativity and sense of achievement. Our Music curriculum is designed to engage, inspire and challenge pupils, equipping them with the knowledge and skills to appreciate, critique and compose music. 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.

 Our curriculum is designed 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.

We aim to make sure the subject matter is broad and includes culturally and ethnically diverse musicians. This is because our children need to understand that music is composed by all sorts of people, in a variety of ways, and should feel represented by the music and musicians they are exposed to. They should also know how music both reflect and shape our history, and contribute to the culture, creativity and wealth of our nation.

The skills pupils acquire are applied to their cross-curricular topics, allowing them to use their music skills to reflect on and explore topics in greater depth; for example, by exploring the history of music, by designing, making and evaluating their own musical instruments or using music as a medium to express emotion and thought to enhance their personal, social and emotional development. Music and Literacy are closely linked with children learning the skills of playing or singing with increasing accuracy, fluency, control and expression which supports their writing and increases their aural memory.

Many areas of music support with the raising of self-esteem; for example when performing in solo and ensemble contexts. It is paramount that music be purposeful; be this as a means of expression or to experience performance and learn the skills of critiquing oneself as well as others. Pupils should be clear what the intended outcomes are and have a means to measure their own work against this.

In Music, children are expected to be reflective and evaluate their work, thinking about how they can make changes and keep improving. This should be meaningful and continuous throughout the process, with evidence of age-related verbal and written refection. Children are encouraged to take risks and experiment and then reflect on why some ideas and compositions are successful or not for a particular project.

Such is our belief in the value of music we offer a weekly drumming club for KS1 children, a singing club for Years1-6 and children on the Pupil Premium register are able to access recorder, piano or keyboard lesson by an independent peripatetic teacher. Parents are able to access individual lessons by our peripatetic teacher for their children.

Implementation:

Teachers plan the following based on a carefully planned progression document and a long-term subject overview and includes the use of the commercial scheme Charanga:

Farcet Music Progression Document

Farcet Music Curriculum Overview 2021-22

Farcet Music Curriculum Overview 2022-2023

Impact:

Our Music curriculum is high quality, knowledge-based, well-sequenced and is planned to demonstrate progression.  If our pupils have understood and retained knowledge from the carefully sequenced curriculum we have taught, we know that they are where they should be.

At Farcet C of E Primary School we ensure that children are equipped with music skills and knowledge that will enable them to be ready for the curriculum at Key Stage 3 and for life as an adult in the wider world.

We want the children to have thoroughly enjoyed learning about music, therefore encouraging them to undertake new life experiences now and in the future.