"Music can raise someone's mood, get them excited, or make them calm and relaxed. Music also - and this is important - allows us to feel nearly or possibly all emotions that we experience in our lives. The possibilities are endless."

Gilbert Galindo

Intent

At Minster, our music curriculum is designed to be an inspirational journey using a spiral approach that ensures skills are revisited and deepened as children progress through the school, thus ensuring that is pupil is able ‘to be the best they can be’. 

By integrating the Charanga Scheme of Learning, the school provides a consistent framework where students engage in the following core activities: 

• Singing – Acts as the heart of every lesson, building vocal confidence and self-esteem. 

• Playing – Children use a range of instruments to apply their knowledge. 

• Composing – Children are encouraged to create their own musical ideas and explore digital tools such as Charanga’s Yustudio or use conventional instruments. 

• Evaluating – Through ‘listen and appraise’ sessions pupils learn subject specific vocabulary to analyse diverse genres and express their opinions. 

As part of our ongoing Artsmark journey we are striving to further develop the arts and cultural provision for all pupils, with our music provision being a priority. As part of this commitment, we have committed to Musicmark with the aim of developing and enriching music provision across the school. We recognise that many of our pupils attend school having had limited musical and associated cultural experiences and therefore we are endeavoring to develop an enriched curriculum, with a strong emphasis placed on creating a lifelong love of music. 

Our foundation classroom learning is further enriched by our external partnerships with Kent Music and Young Voices. Kent Music provides whole class ensemble teaching giving Year 4 the opportunity to learn a specific instrument together under professional guidance. Additionally, the school choir experiences the scale of professional performance by participating in Young Voices at the O2, joining thousands of other children in one of the world’s premier music venues.  

Through this combination of structured class learning and performance opportunities, our pupils build a robust ‘musical toolkit’. Our music curriculum provides a safe space for explorative learning which allows our pupils freedom of self-expression and aids their understanding of the Self. Successful participation in music develops pupils’ self-esteem, well-being, confidence whilst providing opportunities for the development of co-operative working and teamwork.   

We believe that music is a powerful form of communication which transcends boundaries of time and space allowing our pupils to experience their rich local heritage, whilst also developing their understanding of a range of people and cultures. Music stimulates complex thinking and exposes pupils to a range of transferable skills whilst also inspiring future careers and enriching childhood. 

At Minster Primary we are aiming: 

• To develop pupils’ skills, knowledge and understanding in performing, composing, listening and appraising. 

• By listening to and evaluating a variety of different music, pupils will explore and develop ideas about what they like/ do not like and how music is able to affect their mood and emotional wellbeing. 

• To develop abilities to think musically through appropriate performing activities, to read and use symbols and notation. #
• By creating and developing musical ideas around different styles of music 

• By developing abilities to visualise musical ideas, phrases and structures and to communicate them. 

• By enhancing pupils’ listening skills, awareness of musical structures and ability to understand and use technical vocabulary. 

To develop pupils’ understanding of how music can take a variety of form and can reflect other times, places and cultures. 

• By developing an understanding of a variety of musical forms and styles through performing and listening to a range of classic and modern music. 

• By developing an informed appreciation of the context in which music was composed, performed and heard. 

• By considering how music is designed for purpose and how it can effect emotional response. 

To develop pupils’ independence, self-esteem, motivation, and empathy with others and the ability to work with them. 

• By encouraging pupils to express independent opinions and conceive ideas using listening skills, knowledge and understanding. 

• By developing pupils’ interest, enjoyment, motivation, co-ordination skills and self-esteem through performing, creating, listening and talking about music. 

• By learning how to understand and communicate musical information as composer, performer and listener. 

• By developing an awareness of the importance of integrating composing, performing and listening. 

Implementation

At Minster we use the Charanga music program, to deliver our Music Curriculum for Years 1 to 6. This online platform provides teachers with a range of teaching resources including online videos and songs to support the development of their subject knowledge using a spiral curriculum structure where children regularly revisit and build upon musical concepts with increasing complexity. 

Each unit of learning centres around a specific song and incorporates strands of activities which include; listening and appraising, musical activities, singing, improvisation and composition and will culminate in performance. Lesson sequences are structured into progressive steps designed to provide a cumulative learning experience centred around a specific song or musical style. Each lesson follows a consistent internal structure to ensure all strands of the National Curriculum are met. The platform provides full resources and to support our non-music specialist teachers. SEND is fully catered for with a flexible approach and schemes like ‘Anyone Can Play’. 

Progression often includes formative assessment through performance recording, and this is supported by teacher assessment.   

Pupils across Key Stages 1 and 2 will be taught for at least 30 minutes a week by class teachers who we feel are most able to adapt the curriculum to each individual allowing them to reach their full potential. The benefits of the Charanga scheme allow staff to select the most suitable units of study for the specific cohort they are teaching. 

As an outward facing school, we are keen to work alongside a range of other professionals to enhance our pupils learning experience as well as providing opportunities for professional development. Year 5 have been working with the Royal Opera House to experience operatic performance first hand and we are working in collaboration with Kent Music to stay abreast of exciting opportunities as they present themselves. 

Principles of teaching and learning 

Charanga employs a ‘hands on’ integrated approach and according to the task set, teachers: 

• Encourage, inspire, direct; 

• Observe, help, counsel, advise, instruct; 

• Prepare, lead, appraise; 

• Participate in and share musical experiences; 

• Manage individual, paired, small group and whole class activity; 

• Control and enhance learning environments; 

• Make best use of all available resources; 

• Develop strengths and nurture those gifted. 

The learning process for children will be active and co-operative, involving them in: 

• Decision making; 

• Problem solving; 

• Refining and rehearsing; 

• Presenting; 

• Evaluating; 

• Responding with feeling; 

• Making music with commitment, sensitivity and accuracy; 

• Directing and following musical direction. 

Impact

As a result of our curriculum the children at Minster will: 

• Have opportunities to listen to, engage with and develop an appreciation of a wide range of music from different genres, developing enjoyment and preferences. 

• Learn to create rhythms and pulses of their own to create their own sounds and accompany existing tracks. 

• Learn to play tuned and untuned instruments and have opportunity to develop further interest in musical instruments planned extra-curricular activities. 

• Have the opportunity to form and discuss opinions and ideas about the different types of music they encounter. 

• Develop an understanding of local and far-ranging cultures and the impact music may have on them both historically and currently. 

• Through music, our children will be able to access fundamental abilities such as; self-confidence, interaction with and awareness of others, self-reflection and improving wellbeing. 

Click on the image below to view SEND adaptations for Music