The Teaching of Music
Music is taught regularly with most children willingly accepting music as an essential part of a varied pattern of classroom activity. Music involves rhythm, melody, harmony, form, style and expression. It may take a child many years to acquire each of these elements. Teachers endeavour to provide sequentially developed activities so that one experience builds on another and concepts and skills grow in a logical progression. Children will also be taught about the history and development of music through listening to famous pieces of music and responding and appraising appropriately.
Music is essentially a practical subject. In school children participate in the following activities:
- Singing
- Playing instruments
- Movement to music
- Listening
- Creating, composing and recording
- Responding and appraising
Singing
Children usually start at the school with a repertoire of songs and nursery rhymes. In the primary years their knowledge expands to include works and songs from different cultures and periods. Here at Shiplake this takes place during class work in both small groups, as a whole class, and during Collective Worship. Attention is given to a pleasing vocal tone and accuracy of performance as well as to the mood of the song. Children in years 5 also have the opportunity to sing as part of a mass choir at the O2 Arena every year, accompanied by a live band.
Playing Instruments
Instrumental playing involves physical co-ordination, as well as the recognition of the basic elements of music. Using un-tuned percussion instruments provides opportunities for children to explore pulse, pattern, accent, loud/soft, mood and sound effects. Tuned percussion instruments such as glockenspiels, recorders and ukuleles provide similar experiences but also include the concepts of melody and harmony.
In Years 2 – 6 there are opportunities for children to have specialised instrumental tuition from peripatetic teachers in piano, drums, brass and woodwind instruments. There is also the opportunity to learn electric guitar, bass, keyboard, drums and sing in a group/band setting. The individual parents pay for these lessons.
Movement
Moving our bodies implies a total response to and involvement in the music. At the simplest level, it can mean clapping along to a pulse, stepping and clapping, finger snapping and knee patting. At a higher level music and movement demands a more complex use of the body and dance technique including an understanding of rhythm and accent.
Creating
Children are encouraged to improvise and compose original music either individually or in a group situation. They can write/record these compositions in a variety of ways, using pictures and symbols in KS1 through to notation using a stave and staff by the end of KS2. Programmes like Audacity or Garage Band are also available to the children so they can record sounds and music.
Listening
Children will develop listening skills by hearing both live and recorded music in a variety of styles and from a range of sources. A range of music is played as the children come into Collective Worship which is chosen by staff. All classrooms in school have the necessary equipment to listen to music.
Responding
All children increase their knowledge and skills through performance. Music is a performing art, and the depth of children’s responses to music will increase through performance. Time is given in lessons to evaluate and appraise their own compositions and those of others.
Provision
The school uses the online resource Charanga through Music for Schools to cover the National Curriculum 2014. This ensures continuity and progression throughout the school. This resource also offers opportunities for music to be linked with other curriculum areas such as music from different historical periods, music from countries studied in geography; classical music based on stories or fables. Equipment is also available for the children to record and edit their music, as well as composing using digital sound. Equal opportunities exist for all pupils in music and no one is excluded from the subject because of race, gender or disability.
Equipment and Resources
The school is well equipped to deliver the curriculum. The majority of the equipment is kept in the music cupboards and includes a good selection of tuned and un-tuned percussion instruments. There are some instruments from other cultures. There are class sets of glockenspiels, ukuleles and recorders. The school has a piano and a drum kit. All of the classes have the facility to record music using iPads.
