Music

Music at Buntingford First School aim is to produce the musicians of the future, those who will continue to enjoy performing and enjoying music into their adult lives. All students, regardless of ability, will achieve their musical potential, gain an understanding of a huge range of musical styles, gain the skills required to create and play on a range of instruments, and build on developing their key attributes that learning music supports.

We aim to provide an exciting musical curriculum. We believe that Music is a universal language that embodies one of the highest forms of creativity. We aim to 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. The children are taught to develop a critical engagement with music.

 

Why is Music important?

Through music, we are provided with a powerful universal language which helps promote unity, enables us to process and express our emotions and fuels our imagination.

Music is important in developing individual discipline, focus and memory.

Whether the we are singing, playing, or listening, we develop our aural discrimination through music, which is an important part of communication and literacy.

 

When is Music taught?

Music is taught through thematic units, both through Skills Development Tasks and through learning which then apply those skills. The Satellite View maps out which thematic units feature this subject and clearly shows the objectives taught.

 

How is Music taught?

Music is taught through a combination of subject knowledge and composing, performing, listening and appraising skills. Learning takes place both inside and outside the classroom.

 

Who do we learn about in Music?

We learn about a range of famous composers from history, such as J.S. Bach, Ludwig Van Beethoven and Rimsky-Korsakov.

We also learn about more contemporary composers, such as Andrew Lloyd-Webber.

 

What do we learn about in Music?

We learn about the following:-

Notation

Graphic scores                                                

Signs and symbols

Soundscapes

Sound effects

Singing

Sea shanties

Folk songs

Battle chants

War songs

Instrument families

Evolution of instruments

African music, including drumming

Celtic music

Hannukah music

Jingles

Film music

Musicals                                              

Inuit throat singing

 

How do we assess and monitor Music?

Assessment in music throws up unique challenges. In most other subjects, progress is measured by tasks getting harder, but in music it is possible to make progress by getting ‘better’ at simple tasks. It is not always necessary to make the tasks harder, and in fact, it is almost always better to perform or compose a simple piece well than it is to perform or compose a complex piece badly! Pupils can be amazing performers but not so great at composing, or astute listeners who suffer from crippling anxiety when asked to sing or play.

Music is made up of many different types of skills. We assess the skills of listening, performing, composing and improvising alongside knowledge and understanding of musical terminology.

Teachers collect videos and/or audio files that can be compared to show progress over time.