Music is at the heart of our school and we believe it is key in promoting pupils spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. At SMSP, through the teaching of music, we provide opportunities for all pupils to express ideas and feelings by performing, listening to, appraising and composing music.
By linking Music with all areas of the National Curriculum from the earliest stages in Reception, through to the end of Key Stage 2, pupils develop their confidence, creativity and expand their understanding of different cultures and traditions.
The elements of music (tempo, texture, timbre, structure, pitch, dynamics and rhythm) as outlined in the National Curriculum are taught throughout each academic year over three terms as follows:
Topics Covered in each Year
EYFS
Term 1 Exploring Music through Play and Dance (Texture, Timbre, Dynamics, Pitch)
Term 2 Learning through Rhymes and Song (Structure, Pitch)
Term 3 Singing Together (Performance Skills)
Year 1
Term 1 Instrument Families (Timbre, Pitch, Texture, Dynamics)
Term 2 Moody Music (How does music make us feel?)
Term 3What Does Music Look Like? (Graphic Notation)
Year 2
Term 1 How Long? (Pulse and Rhythm)
Term 2 How Loud?! (Dynamics, Texture)
Term 3 Making our own Music (Composition)
Year 3
Term 1 A Classical Spectacular (Exploring the ‘elements’ through classical music)
Term 2 A Journey Round the World (Context and tradition)
Term 3 Exploring Descriptive Sounds (Soundtracks, Programme Music and Sound Effects)
Year 4
Term 1 The Great Composers (Music History)
Term 2 Wider Opportunities (Vocal)
Term 3Wider Opportunities (Clarinet and Saxophone)
Year 5
Term 1 Music on the Stage (Opera, Ballet & Musical Theatre)
Term 2 What Can You Hear? (Developing analytical skills)
Term 3 What’s in a Song? (Song-writing skills)
Year 6
Term 1 On With the Show! (Christmas Production)
Term 2 Music through the 20th Century (Genres and instrument/recording technology)
Term 3 Bringing it Together (Leavers & Summer Concert)
At SMSP, all pupils are encouraged to explore and play a wide variety of instruments. In Year 3, all classes learn the recorder, progressing in Year 4 to vocal, clarinet and saxophone tuition.
We also have a large number of peripatetic teachers who visit the school to deliver private instrumental lessons. In addition to our instrumental resources, we enjoy making good use of music technology to explore the dimensions of music.
The Bigger Picture…
Beyond the classroom, extra-curricular Music thrives in all its fullness through a variety of musical ensembles, choirs and clubs. Here, we encourage pupils of all abilities to aspire to become excellent performers, work collaboratively, make good progress and develop a wide and varied repertoire.
Our pupils perform regularly within our local community and at our parish churches as well as participating in borough and nation-wide projects throughout the year.
As well as the strong links with our community, all our pupils enjoy participating in our regular school performances throughout the year which give them an opportunity to showcase their many talents and accomplishments, of which we are very proud.
Resources
BBC Schools Music, www.sfskids.org and ABRSM Classical 100 may be accessed at home to support our learning in Music. For Mac users, Garageband is used to facilitate some of our compositional projects. It may be fun to explore the follow apps that we have installed on our iPads at school: Paint Melody, Music Sparkle, Noteworks, and DJ Mixer.