Music

At Harnham Junior School we believe that music is a powerful and unique form of communication that can change the way children feel, think and act. Music also promotes children’s spiritual, cultural and social development. The learning of music develops an awareness and appreciation of musical traditions this helps children to understand themselves and relate to others, creating important links between the home, school and the wider world. It encourages active involvement in different forms of music making, both individual and as part of groups and develops a sense of group identity and togetherness, ensuring skills of tenacity, resilience and teamwork are promoted. This links positively to our value of harmony. It also increases self-discipline and creativity.

We make music an enjoyable, rich and stimulating learning experience. We intend to nurture and develop children's confidence to express themselves through music and respond to a range of music. Our teaching focuses on developing the children’s ability to sing in tune and with other people as well as understand rhythm and follow a beat. Through singing songs, children learn about the structure and organisation of music. We teach them to listen and to appreciate different forms of music by giving children access to a wide and inspiring range of musical performers including classical music, orchestras and soloists as well as enabling them to learn instruments. This opens a window onto a world which children may not have had the opportunity to access before. Children also develop descriptive language skills in music lessons when learning about how music can represent different feelings, emotions and narratives. We teach technical vocabulary such as volume, pitch, beat and rhythm and encourage children to discuss music using these terms. We encourage children to participate in a variety of musical experiences through which we aim to build up the confidence of all children.

Our curriculum for Music aims to ensure that all pupils:

• Can sing and use their voices as an instrument

• Create and compose music on their own and with others

• Have opportunities to learn a musical instrument

• Understand and explore how music is created, produced and communicated

• Enjoy and have an appreciation for music

• Use musical language

• Take part in performances

• Listen, review and evaluate music across a range of historical periods, genres, styles and traditions

• Have opportunities to study a range of musical styles and genres, e.g. Jazz, Hip Hop, Pop, Rock etc.

Music is a foundation subject in the National Curriculum and at Harnham Junior School we recognise that music is a specialist subject and that not all teachers are musical specialists. In 2018/2019 we purchased Charanga, a music-based scheme which ensures consistency and progression throughout the school.

Aims of Music

The national curriculum for music and our progression of skills within each milestone aims to ensure that all pupils:

• To confidently perform either singing or skilfully playing an instrument, either solo or as part of a group.

• To compose and create song with verses and chorus and create rhythmic patterns and an awareness of timbre and duration; digital technology may be used to compose, edit and refine pieces of music.

• To transcribe and use standard musical notation and read and create notes on the musical stave.

• To describe music, using a wide range of musical vocabulary to accurately describe and appraise.

Pupils at Harnham Junior School participate in weekly high quality music lessons.  During these lessons the children learn to sing and play instruments. They also have an opportunity to develop an understanding of pulse, rhythm and notation. Charanga provides teachers throughout the school with week by week lessons which enables them to ensure that their lessons are engaging and exciting. The scheme ensures that there is clear progression as well as providing assessment tools and lesson plans with interactive whiteboard resources.

Each unit of work has an on-going musical learning focus and a unit specific focus to enable previous musical skills to be embedded. Music lessons usually follow a specific learning sequence:

• Listen and Appraise

• Musical Activities (including pulse and rhythm)

• Singing and Voice

• Playing instruments

• Composition

• Perform and share

Charanga includes many examples of music styles and genres from different times and places. These are explored through the language of music via active listening, performing and composing activities, which enable understanding of the context and genre. Charanga provides a classroom-based, participatory and inclusive approach to music learning. Throughout the scheme, children are actively involved in using and developing their singing voices, using body percussion and whole body actions, and learning to handle and play classroom instruments effectively to create and express their own and others’ music. Through a range of whole class, group and individual activities, children have opportunities to explore sounds, listen actively, compose and perform.

In addition to class music lessons there are opportunities for children to learn to play brass, string, and wind instruments or the drums. Tuition is provided by peripatetic teachers who visit the school weekly.

Our music curriculum is planned to demonstrate progression and build on and embed current skills. We measure the impact of our curriculum through the following methods:

·       Pupil discussions and interviewing the pupils about their learning (pupil voice)

·       Photo and video evidence of the pupils practical learning and performances

·       Lesson observations

·       Subject leader monitoring