Music

‘Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and life to everything.’

Plato

At St Joseph’s we follow the National Curriculum for Music (2014).

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 notation

To meet these objectives, we use a music programme called Charanga, supported by Cumbria Music Hub, which provides a variety of lessons that are easy for the children to follow, that compare a variety of music genres and that allow the children to learn different instruments. The long-term plan has been designed for us to use in our school, over a 3 year programme, reflecting our class structure. Each unit of work comprises the strands of musical learning which correspond with the National Curriculum for Music-

1 Listening & Appraising

2 Musical Activities

  a Warm up games - these musical games embed the interrelated dimensions of music through repetition.

  b Optional flexible games

  c Singing - at the heart of all musical learning

  d Playing Instruments- tuned and untuned percussion and an option to play any band instrument. A sound before symbol approach is used but scores are provided as an understanding of notation is introduced to the children.

  e Improvisation- with the song, using voices and/or instruments.

  f Composition- with the song using instruments.

3 Performance- Share what has taken place in a lesson and work towards performing to an audience.

As well as this, we aim to offer other musical opportunities for our children. These include

• Kodaly based singing experience in EYFS and KS1 based on fun, frequent, active sessions.
• singing in whole school assemblies
• concerts and plays for parents across the whole school
• the Christmas Nativity play
• KS1 and KS2 trips to local care home Kirklands to perform songs
• annual participation in the KS2 massed choir’s performance ‘Sing Up’ concert lead by Cockermouth School
• KS2 carol singing at the local Sainsbury’s
• live performances in school by visiting musicians such as Cumbria Music Hub and the local secondary school
• whole class instrumental lessons in brass/strings.
• composition workshops and music Technology workshops in Key Stage Two
• New for 2021 Whole class KS2 tuition in ukuleles.

We can offer extra-curricular lessons in guitar and recorder, and other instrumental teachers can be invited by request.