Music
At Irlam Primary School, children gain a firm understanding of what music is through listening, singing, playing, evaluating, analysing, and composing across a wide variety of historical periods, styles, traditions, and musical genres. We are committed to developing a curiosity for the subject, as well as an understanding and acceptance of the validity and importance of all types of music, and an unbiased respect for the role that music may wish to be expressed in any person’s life. We are committed to ensuring children understand the value and importance of music in the wider community and are able to use their musical skills, knowledge, and experiences to involve themselves in music, in a variety of different contexts.
Our school uses the ‘Charanga Musical School’ scheme which was devised to support and equip specialist and non-specialist music teachers in their delivery of an exciting, contemporary music scheme and freestyle approach that integrates the teaching, learning and assessment process seamlessly.
The scheme provides our teachers with a week-by-week lesson support for each year group in school, detailed lesson plans, assessment, clear progression and engaging and exciting whiteboard resources to support every lesson.
This scheme moves away from the previous levels and learning objective/outcome concepts to an integrated, practical, exploratory and child-led approach to musical learning.
The interrelated dimensions of music weave through the units to encourage the development of musical skills as the learning progresses through listening and appraising, differing musical activities (including creating and exploring) and performing.
As well as classroom music lessons, we involve all pupils in whole school singing activities, sometimes involving other curriculum areas, such as R.E and P.H.S.E. We believe that important concepts within these subjects can be explored through song and bring our school community together. Other celebrations throughout the year, like Christmas and Easter are delivered through year group assemblies where the key messages of these important aspects of our lives are highlighted through song, giving pupils an opportunity to reflect on the lyrics and the messages they contain.
Our school gives children who show an interest in learning how to play a musical instrument the opportunity to receive peripatetic tuition and it is our intention to provide these children with the skilled tuition to develop their musical talent, skills and confidence. We also provide extra-curricular musical activities so that all interested pupils can be involved in local musical events that are organised to serve our local community and wider, national events that allow our pupils participate in larger, exciting commercial concerts
“Music is a universal language that embodies one of the highest forms of creativity,” and at our school we intend to develop our pupil’s interest in this subject and inspire them with the lessons we involve them in.
Should it become necessary for you to continue your learning at home, perhaps because you are isolating, we will make sure that you have access to appropriate learning materials as far as we are reasonably able to do so. These will be available in your year group home learning area.
Whilst in school, our children are given access to a varied programme of music, which allows them to discover areas of strength, as well as areas they might like to improve upon. The integral nature of music and the learner creates an enormously rich palette from which a child may access fundamental abilities such as: achievement, self-confidence, interaction with and awareness of others, and self-reflection. Music will also develop an understanding of culture and history, both in relation to children individually, as well as ethnicities from across the world. Children are able to enjoy music in as many ways as they choose – either as listener, creator or performer. They can dissect music and comprehend its parts. They can sing, feel and recognise the music’s pulse and rhythms. They have an understanding of how to further develop skills less known to them, should they ever develop an interest in their lives.
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.