Becoming Musicians
…speaking to one another with psalms, hymns and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord…
Ephesians 5:19
Music at Whitegate CE Primary School
Intent:
At Whitegate CE Primary School, we aim to nurture restless curiosity, appreciation and passion for music.
Through playing, singing, creating and performing, children develop confidence, wisdom, communication and creative skills and improve their emotional well-being. These activities use both sides of the brain; it fosters connections, which improve memory and coordination. Music allows children to explore faith and develop thankfulness for different elements of the world we live in, in a range of ways.
The skills involved in playing and listening to music also help learners develop skills and ideas, both independently and cooperatively.
All children, especially in the EYFS (Early Years Foundation Stage), learn music through exploring exciting challenges and by using a range of media and materials.
The aims of teaching music in our school are:
- To 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
- To 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
- To 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 notation.
What our pupils say about Music:
“We have experience playing different instruments.”
“It’s nice to learn about music from all around the world.”
“We get to make our own music!”
“I like music because of all the different songs we learn.”
“I enjoy listening to music.”
Websites we recommend to explore:
BBC Teach: https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/bring-the-noise
BBC Bitesize: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zw2ntv4/resources/1
Myleene’s Music Klass: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQh2wgJ5tOrixYBn6jFXsXQ
If you have any questions about our Music curriculum, please contact Mrs Savage (subject lead) via the school office.
Thank you
Our Music year group curriculum overview:
|
|
Autumn Term |
Spring Term |
Summer Term |
|
Acorns Reception |
Exploring sound
Exploring how to use our voice and bodies to make sounds, experimenting with tempo and dynamic when playing instruments and identifying sounds in the environment.
Celebration music
Learning about the music from a range of cultural and religious celebrations, including Diwali, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and Christmas.
|
Music and Movement
Creating simple actions to songs, learning how to move to a beat and expressing feelings and emotions through movement to music.
Musical stories
A unit based on traditional childrens’ tales and songs, where pupils learn that music and instruments can be used to convey moods or represent characters. |
Transport
Using their voices, bodies and instruments to explore different types of transport, identify and mimic transport sounds and interpret and perform a simple score.
Big Band
Learning about the four different groups of musical instruments, following a beat using an untuned instrument and performing a practised song to a small audience.
|
|
Rowan |
Journeys
Tempo – Snail and Mouse. Children use bodies and instruments to listen and respond to pieces of music with fast and slow speeds; learn and perform a rhyme and a song focussing on fast and slow. Link to The Naughty Bus journey. |
Shopping
Pitch – Superheroes. Children learn how to identify high and low notes and to compose a simple tune to represent a superhero. |
Castles
Sound Patterns – Fairy tales. Using fairy tales to introduce children to the concept of sound patterns (rhythms). They explore clapping along to repeated words and phrases, creating rhythmic patterns to tell a familiar fairy tale.
|
|
Birch |
Why do we remember?
Instruments – Musical Story telling. Children learn how events, actions and feelings within stories can be represented by pitch, dynamics and tempo. |
Fascinating Flight
Whole class recorder teaching. The children will learn how to look after, play and practice with an instrument of their own. They will learn about musical notations and how to play simple melodies on the recorder. |
Beside the Seaside
Singing – On this island. Children learn folk songs and create sounds to represent three contrasting landscapes: seaside, countryside and city.
|
|
Elder |
Local Area Study
Changes in pitch, tempo and dynamics (Theme: Rivers). Learning to listen to changes in pitch, tempo and dynamics and relate it to something tangible and familiar. Linking to their geography learning, the pupils represent different stages of the river through vocal and percussive ostinatos.
|
Ancient Greeks
Whole class ukulele teaching. The children will learn how to look after, play and practice with an instrument of their own. They will learn about musical notations and how to play simple melodies on the ukulele. |
Industrial Revolution Music and performance. The children will look back at the 2020 London Olympics opening ceremony which incorporates music and movement within the theme of the industrial revolution. They will combine their understanding of musicality to develop and perform their own routine. |
|
Hawthorn Year 4/5 |
Slavery
Blues. In this unit the children will look at key features of blues music and how to use vocal expression to convey meaning. The children will learn to play 12 bar blues and develop their own improvisation.
The children will also learn Amazing Grace as a class. |
Anglo Saxons and mountains
Looping and Remixing. In this unit the children will combine their computing objectives by using technology to create loops and melodies linked to their main focus learning areas.
The children will also be taking part in Northwich Sings event.
|
Vikings
Whole class ukulele teaching. The children will build on prior learning to add more complex melodies and rhythms. |