Our subject lead for Music is Mrs Bathurst

“Music should belong to everyone.”

(Zoltan Kodaly)

Intent

The intention of Marden Vale Academy Primary school’s music curriculum is, first and foremost, to help children, from Early Years to Year 6 and beyond, to feel they are musical, and to develop a life-long love of music.  We focus on developing the sequential skills, knowledge and understanding that children need in order to become confident and aspiring performers, composers and listeners.  Our curriculum introduces children to music from all around the world and across generations, opening our children’s minds to appreciate and respect music from different traditions and communities. We want our children to make more music, think more musically and become, as a result, more musical!

The children at Marden Vale Academy Primary school will develop the skills of singing, playing tuned and untuned instruments. They will improvise and compose music and learn how to listen and respond to music.  Our children will develop an understanding of the history and cultural context of music and begin to understand how music can be written down.

Although the music curriculum can arguably support the development of transferable skills such as teamwork, problem-solving, leadership, performance, to name but a few, we do not want to justify the view of music through its wider benefits but want our children to, quite simply, become more musical through competence and expertise in the subject area.

At Marden Vale we use Kapow Music scheme as a vehicle to deliver the discrete teaching of music.  This well researched and comprehensive scheme allows children to work towards the aims and targets outlined in the national curriculum.  It is our intent that children at Marden Vale will become successful musicians, using both their conscious and unconscious minds, through the opportunities provided in and outside of the classroom, in order to develop their musical learning and experience.

Implementation

By using the Kapow Music scheme as our vehicle, Marden Vale Academy are enabled to take a holistic approach to teaching and learning music. Performing, listening, composing, the inter-relation dimensions (pitch, duration, tempo, dynamics, timbre, texture and structure) of music and the historical aspects of music are all woven together to ensure a rich and inspiring experience.  These 5 strands are taught, in a cross-curricular way, across 5 lessons in each unit.  Each unit is designed to inspire and motivate, capturing student’s imagination and encouraging them to explore further.  The children will be taught to sing fluently and to play tuned and untuned instruments with accuracy and control. They will learn how the dimensions of music are interrelated and will be able to apply them to their own compositions and improvisations.

Using Kapow’s scheme of work the children will experience a spiral curriculum, where they will revisit and build skills and knowledge many times over the course of their primary education. Skills are built upon each year ensure attainments targets are met at the end of each key stage.

In each lesson children will engage in activities which will develop their skills and understanding of how music works.  Lessons will incorporate whole class, group, paired and independent opportunities, and the children will be experience both teacher led and improvised performances. All lessons expect children to actively participate and encourage movement and dance, as well as other cross curricular opportunities.

Every unit taught offers a differentiated approach where children can be challenged and supported appropriately. Knowledge organisers for each unit ensures that our pupils build a solid foundation of factual knowledge, encouraging recall of key vocabulary and facts.

Impact

The Impact of music teaching and learning at Marden Vale Academy can be measured through formative and summative assessment opportunities.  These opportunities are provided through the Kapow Music Scheme.  Teachers assess pupils against the learning objectives, and at the end of most units of work there is a performance element where a summative assessment of learning can be made.

After high quality teaching and learning of music at Marden Vale, children will leave the school equipped with a range of skills which will well prepare them for the teaching and learning of music at Secondary school.  Most importantly it will aid them to enjoy and appreciate music throughout their lives.

The children at Marden Vale will:

• Be confident performers, composers and listeners, able to express themselves musically.
• Show an appreciation and respect for a wide range of music styles from around the world, with an understanding of how music is influenced by the wider cultural, social and historical contexts by which is has been developed.
• Understand the ways in which music can be written down enabling composition and performance.
• Love music!  Be able to share their enthusiasm and know what they like and don’t like and why.
• Meet the end of key stage expectation as outlined in the National Curriculum for music.

The children will leave Marden Vale Academy Primary school with a life-long love of music!