Music @ Kirkburton First
The Intent of Music at Kirkburton First School
'Music is life. That's why our hearts have beats'
Cecily Morgan
'A bird does not sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song.'
Music plays an important part in the life of Kirkburton First School. It is our aim that Music is an enjoyable, inspiring learning experience which develops the children's love of and ability to sing together, and also develop indvidual's musical skills. Singing together creates a bond throughout school, and opportunities to sing together in our community are important times in our school calendar.
It is our intent that children learn to listen and respond to music from a wide range of times and places. We provide opportunities for all children to learn to play an instrument, to develop their understanding of how to create music individually and as a group.
Music is a universal language that embodies one of the highest forms of creativity. A high-quality music education should engage and inspire pupils to develop a love of music and their talent as musicians, and so increase their self-confidence, creativity and sense of achievement.
New National Curriculum 2014
The national curriculum for music aims 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.
The Implementation of Music at Kirkburton First School
Organisation and Planning
Music at Kirkburton First School is taught according to the Key Stage group guidance as part of the 2014 National Curriculum.
In Key stage 1, pupils should be taught 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, pupils should be taught to:
sing and play musically with increasing confidence and control. They should develop an understanding of musical composition, organising and manipulating ideas within musical structures and reproducing sounds from aural memory.
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.
The teaching of Music is timetabled weekly in every class. We are currently using the award winning Charanga Musical School Scheme’ to ensure that all children across the school are being developed in the following musical skills. Charanga has been updated to embody the New Model Music Curriculum.
The MMC sets out sequences of learning in the following key areas which, when taken together, all contribute towards the steadily increasing development of musicianship:
• Singing
• Listening
• Composing
• Performing/Instrumental Performance
The scheme allows us to teach music through different genres of music, tailored to the age and stage for that year group.
Our Year 4 class receives whole class Ukulele tuition weekly, from Kirklees Music School through the Wider Opportunities scheme.
As a Church School, Music plays an important part in our collective worship and our Christian ethos. The act of coming together and learning to sing is something that is now fully implemented post-Covid. Whole-school singing is timetabled weekly. During this time, songs are learned and rehearsed for events in the Christian calendar; Harvest, Christmas, Easter in order that we can sing together as part of celebration and thanksgiving.
Opportunities now to sing in our local church have returned as Easter and Christmas services have resumed.
Peripatetic instrumental and singing teaching is provided by Musica Kirklees as a service in school which is paid for by parents and carers of individuals.
At Kirkburton First, we link music across the Curriculum where we can. Examples of links are as follows:
- By learning songs which link to topics, children can gain another aspect of understanding, as well as a reason to sing together, as a class.
- Using a Science or Geography topics to inspire compositions for example is seen in KS2 plans – using the idea of ‘air’ as a musical focus, or sounds of the rainforest, to encourage and develop careful listening and response.
- Learning ‘songs of the sea’ during the Titanic topic, or listening to music from the Victorian era in history lessons, gives children another insight into the past,
- Use of songs and movement within mathematics teaching is used as a tool to aid children memories when learning key facts.
- Links to the arts curriculum as children respond to the music they hear through painting or movement
The Impact of Music at Kirkburton First School
Recording and Assessment
Lots of work in the music curriculum is practical.
Teachers will record compositions at stages of completion as a means of peer and self-assessment.
Response to music can be recorded as artwork.
Simple notations and graphic scores may be recorded on paper.
Where a practical session has taken place teacher may take photographs s evidence linked to a topic.