Music

Subject Overview: Music

Curriculum aims:

• 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

Our pedological approach to teaching this subject in the Robert Piggott CE Schools:

We aim to foster an enjoyment and appreciation of music to include the development of an understanding of the elements of music: pitch, dynamics, duration, tempo, timbre, texture and structure. Furthermore, we aim to encourage self-expression through  music and to develop an awareness of the music of ours and other cultures including an awareness of a variety of musical styles.

We work with the children to develop a range of musical skills including listening, appraising, composing, interpreting and memorising.  At our school, we believe the opportunity to be able to play a musical instrument is very important to a person’s development and we also try to develop familiarity with a range of musical instruments. As part of their musical understanding, children are encouraged to explore how music can create moods and feelings and provoke an emotional response.

We use the ‘Charanga” scheme as a basis for most of our music teaching. Through our long-term planning we link the scheme to topics where relevant. In some topics we use additional teacher material to ensure that children receive the best opportunities possible.

During Year 3 and 4, children spend one term learning an instrument with specialist teaching from Berkshire Maestros.