Music Curriculum

Policy statement

Music is important because it can provide fulfilment throughout life. It is a powerful, unique form of communication that can change the way pupils feel, think and act. It transcends different cultures, abilities and generations. Listening to and making music fulfils an instinctive human need for self-expression and creativity. It stimulates responses on both
emotional and intellectual levels.

Besides being a creative and enjoyable activity, music can also be a highly academic and demanding subject. Musical activities include performing vocally or with instruments, exploring sounds and composing as well as listening and responding to music of different styles and cultures. All these activities involve the musical elements of pitch, duration (rhythm), dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture and structure.

Our Intent

Our intent is to provide children with a high-quality education in Music, which develops their appraising, historical knowledge, composing and performing skills. They will consistently be given opportunities to be critical and creative within music in order to develop their skills as young musicians.

Our Aims and Objectives

Our aim is to deliver the National Curriculum for Music ensuring 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.

EYFS

A child in EYFS should be taught to:

• enjoy joining in with dancing and ring games.
• sing a few familiar songs.
• begin to move rhythmically.
• imitate movement in response to music.
• tap out simple repeated rhythms.
• explore and learn how sounds can be changed.
• begin to build a repertoire of songs and dances.
• explore the different sounds of instruments.

Key Stage 1

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.

Key Stage 2

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.

Pupils should be taught to:

• 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.

Our Implementation

At West Hampstead Primary School, we use a mixture of the Charanga scheme of work; workshops provided by professional musicians and the Camden Music Service's Wider Opportunities programme.

Children learn to play glockenspiel, recorder and brass instruments throughout their time with us as well as the opportunity to work with the Royal Academy of Music, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and the English National Opera. 

Every key stage also puts on their own production throughout the year (all of which can be watched on the Creativity page of our website). Y1 & 2 put on a Nativity play in the run-up to Christmas; Y3 & 4 stage their own pantomime; and Y6 put on a spectacular show at the end of the academic year! We also offer opportunities for solo performance through our annual concert A Night at West Hampstead.