Music
Subject Leader: Mrs K Gorman
At Lowerplace Primary School, it is our intent to make music an enjoyable learning experience. Our pupils will learn that music is a universal language that embodies one of the highest forms of creativity. Our unique curriculum will inspire and engage them. Through these experiences, children will develop a love of music and develop their talent as musicians, and in turn increase their self-confidence, creativity and sense of achievement. As pupils progress, they will develop a critical engagement with music, allowing them to compose, and to listen with discrimination to the best in the musical canon.
Our music curriculum is designed to excite the children and allow them to develop their own skills as musicians. We encourage regular reference to a wide range of music and composers and have identified key musical vocabulary that children learn and use throughout their time at Lowerplace.
Our music curriculum develops the children’s skills and knowledge in the following areas
- Singing
- Listening
- Composing - both improvisation and formal
- Instrumental performance
- Reading Notation
At Lowerplace, we use the Music Express scheme of work in Early Years, Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 to support the teaching of music. Key learning has been identified for each half term and this guides the unit of work being taught. The published scheme allows pupils to be exposed to different genres of music, with lots of practical opportunities to explore and develop as musicians and singers. This is an online scheme which includes lesson plans, resources and some background knowledge for teachers to ensure they are fully equipped to lead a successful music lesson.
Lowerplace also benefits with working closely with the Rochdale Music Service (RMS) who deliver whole class instrumental projects and curriculum teaching. Children in Years 2, 3 and 6 are taught how to play a specific musical instrument, whereas Years 4 and 5 benefit from whole class teaching sessions delivered by specialist staff from RMS. These lessons incorporate the music objectives from the National Curriculum and opportunities are provided to perform in class, in whole school assemblies and also to parents and the wider community.
In EYFS, children learn to:
- sing a few familiar songs and build up a repertoire of songs and dances
- imitate movement in response to music
- tap out simple repeated rhythms
- explore and learn how sounds can be changed
In Key Stage 1, children learn 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.
In Key Stage 2, children learn 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.
Resources
There are a range of resources available on Music Express Online including a song bank, vocabulary terminology, interactive musical instruments, warm up activities and specific skill building activities with a focus on beat, rhythm and pitch. Teachers and pupils at Lowerplace also have access to a variety of musical instruments that are stored in both buildings.
Rochdale Music Service make use of their own musical instruments to enhance both their instrumental sessions as well as their teaching sessions.
Teachers make use of the online resource ‘Sing Up’ when leading weekly singing assemblies.