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Curriculum Overview

The music curriculum provides students with a secure basis, a strong link to vocal skills and an understanding of musical elements, as well as experience of a variety of important styles and genres.

Students will focus on performance, composition or listening and appraising. At these points, prior learning and understanding can also be checked and areas for further development or recap can be identified.

If studies as an option from year 9, students will work towards presenting a portfolio of performance work and compositions, with this being finalised in year 11. Prior learning and understanding are measured along the way so that final work draws on this guidance and experience. In terms of listening and appraising, regular informal assessments take place to check on prior learning and understanding of the set areas of study.

Intent

Music enables students to become disciplined, creative and confident through singing, playing, composition and performances inspired by a range of cultures and eras in time.

Implementation

Teachers will:

• Plan a curriculum that is focused on helping all students to learn to sing and play percussion with accuracy and confidence, both on their own and in a range of ensembles; 
• Carefully model good technical skills and teach the appropriate technical language as the need arises through the curriculum delivery;
• Provide opportunities for all students to perform, listen to and talk about music across a range of historical periods, genres, styles and traditions, including the works of the great composers and musicians;
• The curriculum will be developed to include:
  • The study of musical styles including: Classical, Baroque, Romantic, Modern, Jazz, Soul, R&B and Pop; 
  • Music from the Western World, Latin America and Asia;
  • The study of music forms including, Binary, Turnery, Rondo, Song, Symphonic Poem and Opera; 

• Plan lessons to develop skills in rhythm and metre through a range of percussion instruments and movement;  
• Continuously help students to explore how music is created, produced and communicated, including through the inter-related dimensions: pitch, duration, dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture and structure.

Impact

Students will:

• Have a life-long engagement with music being open-minded to explore and appreciate different music both live and recorded;
• Develop a detailed knowledge, but more importantly, the skills needed to perform and talk about many different types of music and as a result, they achieve well.