‘Music ignites all areas of child development and skills for school: intellectual, social and emotional, motor, language, and overall literacy. It helps the body and the mind work together.’

Music Purpose of Study:

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. As pupils progress, they should develop a critical engagement with music, allowing them to compose, and to listen with discrimination to the best in the musical canon.

Aims:

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.

Singing is very much at the heart of music at St. Mary’s and the whole school enjoy weekly singing practice, learning songs from different genres and cultures as well as enjoying singing songs in 2 and 3 parts. Every year, Year 2 have the opportunity to take part in the Barnet Schools’ Infant Music Festival, where they enjoy singing a range of themed songs alongside a number of other schools, as well as performing their own solo item.

Through singing songs, children learn about the structure and organisation of music, as well as the importance of working together and the joy of performance. At St. Mary’s, we teach them to listen to and appreciate different forms of music. Children develop descriptive skills in music lessons when learning about how music can represent feelings and emotions. We teach children to make music together, to understand musical notation, and to begin to compose their own pieces.

Additional music teaching

Children are offered the opportunity to study a musical instrument with peripatetic teachers. Peripatetic music teaching is provided by BEAT (Barnet Education Arts Trust) and the fees for these lessons are paid on a termly basis. These lessons are normally taught one to one for 15 minutes on a weekly basis but can increase to 30 minutes as the children progress. We currently offer lessons for guitar, drums, woodwind, piano and violin. This is in addition to the normal class music teaching of the school, but usually takes place during curriculum time. As well as individual instrumental lessons, every child during their time at St. Mary’s, will have the opportunity to play a musical instrument for at least one term, through BEAT’s whole class instrumental tuition scheme.

Music Curriculum Planning

Class music lessons are taught throughout the school using Charanga, a scheme of work that provides a range of materials from across the ages and around the world. Children have the opportunity to 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. In lessons, they 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.