Music
Subject intent (The ‘why’)
"Music gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything." (Plato)
Why teach it?
Music is a powerful, unique form of communication that can change the way pupils feel, think and act. It brings together intellect and feeling and enables personal expression, reflection and emotional development. As an integral part of culture, past and present, it helps pupils understand themselves and relate to others, forging important links between the home, school and the wider work.
We at Hazeldown use the support of Cornerstones Maestro to provide a full and exciting sequence of units which cover all the National Curriculum Programs of Study. The teaching of music develops pupils’ ability to listen and appreciate a wide variety of music and to make judgments about musical quality. Aside from the opportunities for cross curricular teaching it presents, music can help pupils to develop their vocabulary, improve memory and increase their verbal IQ. Research has found that children who learn music find it easier to learn new languages, even in adulthood.
National Curriculum Aims
• To challenge the way pupils feel, think and act to music
• To enable personal expression, reflection and emotional development
• To perform, listen to and review music across a range of historical periods including the work of great composers
• To learn to sing and use their voices, to create and compose music on their own and with others
• To have the opportunity to play a musical instrument
• To understand the dimensions of music: pitch, dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture and notations (age appropriate)
• To develop pupils’ ability to listen and appreciate a wide variety of music
• To encourage active involvement in music making
• To increase elf-discipline and creativity
Additional Hazeldown Aims
In addition to the aforementioned National Curriculum aims, we strive to ensure that our pupils have opportunities to be involved in performances both in school and off-site.
Planned Content – EYFS
Pupils should be taught to:
• Sing a range of well-known nursery rhymes and songs;
• Perform songs, rhymes, poems and stories with others, and – when appropriate – try to move in time with music
Planned Content – Key Stage One
Pupils should be taught to:
• Use their voices expressively and creatively by singing songs and speaking chants and rhymes
• Play tuned and untuned instruments musically
• Listen with concentration and understanding to a range of high-quality live and recorded music
• Experiment with, create, select and combine sounds using the inter-related dimensions of music
Planned Content – Key Stage Two
Pupils should be taught to:
• Sing and play musically with increasing confidence and control. They should develop an understanding of musical composition, organising and manipulating ideas within musical structures and reproducing sounds from aural memory
• Play and perform in solo and ensemble contexts, using their voices and playing musical instruments with increasing accuracy, fluency, control and expression
• Improvise and compose music for a range of purposes using the inter-related dimensions of music
• Listen with attention to detail and recall sounds with increasing aural memory
• Use and understand staff and other musical notations
• Appreciate and understand a wide range of high-quality live and recorded music drawn from different traditions and from great composers and musicians
• Develop an understanding of the history of music
For individual Music Lessons, please scroll to page two of the following document.
For further information on the Music curriculum, please contact our subject leader, Abby Simister, on asimister@hazeldown.devon.sch.uk.
Thank You NHS song
As part of their music learning journey, our Year 4 pupils wrote a song to say thank you to NHS staff for their hard work and dedication during Covid 19. Please see the video below:
Files to Download
