Music

Purpose of Study

Music is a universal language, recognised worldwide for its ability to provoke emotions of all kinds and encourage communication. It embodies one of the highest forms of creativity. A high-quality music education should engage and inspire pupils to develop a love of music and their talent as musicians, and so increase their self-confidence, creativity, language skills and sense of achievement.

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 notations.

As pupils progress, they should develop a critical engagement with music, allowing them to compose, and listen with discrimination to the best in the musical canon, allowing them to recognise the significant role music can play not only in their lives, but in the lives of those around them.

Who is the Carville Musician?

The Carville Musician can use their voice and instruments creatively and expressively with increasing accuracy and fluency. They are exposed to a range of high-quality music and musical styles with attention to detail and discuss and are able to critique what they hear, with reference to the various dimensions of music. They can compose, in isolation and in collaboration, and perform confidently in front of an audience. The Carville Musician has an understanding of music across history, genres, styles and traditions.

We recognise that children at Carville may enter school with lower than average language and communication skills, including a limited exposure to basic musical experiences such as nursery

rhymes or other simple rhythmic activities. Critical to early speech and language development, our music provision ensures children are given regular opportunities to explore sounds, develop their knowledge of rhythm and become familiar with a wide range of songs and rhymes.

Children at Carville often have a good knowledge of popular music and culture, and often talk passionately about their enjoyment of music through platforms such as the internet and TV. We celebrate and encourage this passion, using popular music as a method to explore and contrast alternative genres, increasing children’s cultural capital and developing their musical abilities.

Carville Curriculum Rationale

In order to deliver an effective Music education, we ensure:

  • Objectives across all strands of music are revisited and embedded within and across year groups and key stages to ensure cumulative fluency;
  • Repeated exposure to a wide range of high-quality music, across a range of eras, genres, styles and traditions, to ensure a broad musical education;
  • Development in all aspects of music to encourage creativity and self-confidence as a musician.