Music

"Music is the social act of communication among people, a gesture of friendship, the strongest there is." Malcolm Arnold, cinema composer.

Music is an opportunity that allows every pupil to express themselves and that embodies one of the highest forms of creativity. Our aim is to provide a high-quality music education that should engage and inspire pupils to develop a love of music and their talent as individual musicians and team bands. This, in turn, should increase their self-confidence, creativity, sense of achievement and curiosity for the subject, as well as their understanding and acceptance of the validity and importance of all types of music.

The teaching of music follows the scheme Charanga.

We listen to and appraise music in music lessons every week. We sing in class as well as during our weekly singing assemblies. We develop our descriptions of music and plan opportunities to use that the same styles within our own compositions. We celebrate our musical talents through performances during Christmas and the end of term performances, aiming to develop confidence and determination to showcase our talents.

We offer a curriculum which develops the following musical characteristics:

• A rapidly widening repertoire which pupils use to create original, imaginative, fluent and distinctive composition and performance work;
• A musical understanding underpinned by high levels of aural perception, internalisation and knowledge of music.
• Very good awareness and appreciation of different musical traditions and genres;
• An excellent understanding of how musical provenance – the historical, social and cultural origins of music – contributes to the diversity of musical styles;
• The ability to give precise written and verbal explanations, using musical terminology effectively, accurately and appropriately;
• A palpable excitement for a diverse range of musical activities

Our Music Curriculum is of high quality, it is well thought out and is planned to demonstrate progression. If children are keeping up with the curriculum, they are deemed to be making good or better progress.

Pupils appreciate the culture and history behind the music that they appraise to understand the purpose of listening, improvising, composing and performing inspired by the music at the time. Through the child’s journey at Whittingham, their musical skills and understanding are built on each year, from singing simple songs from memory and performing simple rhythm patterns in KS1, to more advanced techniques and understanding in lower KS2, further developing in upper KS2 where the children can have an experience of playing an instrument and can read and follow a simple musical score. They build on this knowledge by improvising melodies and using different rhythms. Throughout this, the child’s enjoyment of music is a key element, running alongside the ‘taught’ musical skills and objectives.

We further enhance our curriculum by taking part in performances, singing assemblies and professional tuition. Musical workshops take place in within school to enrich pupil’s understanding of music and how technology can be used. Pupils have an opportunity to join the choir in upper KS2 onwards, performing within school and in large music venues.

Classics for Kids

BBC Bring the Noise: Play It

BBC School Radio

New York Philharmonic Kidzone

https://www.virtualmusicalinstruments.com/glockenspiel

https://www.incredibox.com/demo/