Music is at the heart of our school and we believe it is key in promoting children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. At SMSP, through the teaching of music, we provide opportunities for all children to express ideas and feelings by performing, listening to, understanding, appraising and composing music.
By teaching music from the earliest stages in Reception through to the end of Key Stage 2, children develop their confidence, creativity and expand their understanding of the role and relevance of music in its many forms across different historical periods, genres, cultures and traditions.
The inter-related dimensions of music (tempo, texture, timbre, structure, pitch, dynamics and rhythm), as outlined in the National Curriculum, underpin all teaching in Music and are taught exponentially across each year group. Children consolidate and build on previous knowledge in order to retain and retrieve key facts whilst developing their understanding and skills in music as they progress further up the school.
Topics Covered in each Year
EYFS
Term 1 Exploring Music through Play and Dance
Term 2 Learning through Rhymes and Song
Term 3 Singing Together
Year 1
Term 1 Yolanda’s Band Jam, Dynamics. Graphic Scores
Term 2 Introducing the Orchestra, Musical Games
Term 3 Creating Music, Preparing for a Performance
Year 2
Term 1 Pulse and Rhythm
Term 2 Pitch
Term 3 Making our own Music
Year 3
Term 1 A Journey Around the World
Term 2 Exploring Descriptive Sounds
Term 3 Recorders
Year 4
Term 1 The Great Composers
Term 2 Developing Musicality
Term 3Wider Opportunities
Year 5
Term 1 Aural Awareness
Term 2 Exploring Sound Colours
Term 3 Song-Writing
Year 6
Term 1 Harvest Service & Y6 Christmas Production
Term 2 Music through the 20th Century
Term 3 Composing a Jingle
At SMSP, children are encouraged to explore and play a wide variety of instruments, making full use of our Music Room which is well-resourced with percussion instruments, guitars and ukuleles, electric keyboards, African drums and collections of cross-cultural instruments and costumes from around the world. In addition to our instrumental resources, children make good use of music technology in their lessons using apps, simple recording devices and music software.
To further develop children’s practical skills in music, Y3 classes are taught to play the recorder, progressing in Year 4 to the Wider Opportunities Woodwind module which is delivered to whole classes by tutors from our local music hub, the Richmond Music Trust. Children who wish to receive private tuition are able to do so during the school day with weekly visits from a number of peripatetic teachers who deliver instrumental lessons on the violin, piano, flute, clarinet, saxophone, voice and guitar.
Enrichment activities in the form of trips, workshops and visitors into school give children the invaluable experience of hearing and participating in live music events, offering aspirational experiences and inspirational opportunities.
Beyond the classroom, Music thrives in all its fullness through a number of extra-curricular musical ensembles, choirs and clubs. We encourage children of all abilities to aspire to become excellent musicians and performers, work collaboratively, make good progress and develop a wide and varied repertoire.
Our children perform regularly within our local community and at our Parish church and participate in borough and nation-wide music projects throughout the year. As well as the strong links with the wider-community, our children enjoy participating in our school assemblies, concerts and seasonal performances throughout the year which give them an opportunity to showcase their many talents and accomplishments.
SMSP has been recognised as a 2022/23 Music Mark School following our nomination by the Richmond Music Trust for the value we place on music.
Resources
BBC Schools Music 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. Chrome Music Lab, Patatap and Dicadmusic are all fun, educational music websites that pupils can access from home.