Music
Mrs Davey - Music Leader
“Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and life to everything.” – Plato
“Music expresses feeling and thought, without language; it was below and before speech, and it is above and beyond all words.” – Robert G. Ingersoll
Music Intent
At Eccleston Lane Ends we aim to engage and inspire all children to develop a love of music through listening, playing, composing and singing. When teachers deliver music lessons, their aim is to offer children happy and rich musical experiences that enhance a child’s awareness of their own abilities and strengths as a learner. Children will have the opportunity to evaluate a range of music across a range of historical periods, genres, styles and traditions, including the works of the great composers. We are committed to ensuring children learn beyond the classroom through an understanding of the value and importance of music culture in the wider community and that they are able to apply musical skills, knowledge and experiences in a variety of different contexts.
Implementation
In music at Eccleston Lane Ends we deliver a clear and comprehensive scheme of work in line with the National Curriculum through Charanga. Music is taught weekly from EYFS to Y6 and our curriculum ensures that pupils sing, listen, play, perform and evaluate. This is embedded in the classroom activities as well as the weekly singing in assemblies, various concerts and performances and the learning of instruments.
In years 2 and 4, children have whole class instrumental lessons with specialist teachers from St Helens Music Service. These teachers integrate skills in playing, singing, listening, appraisal, reading notation, improvisation and composition through the teaching of their specific instrument. In year 5 the children also have the opportunity to learn the recorder, this is then built upon in year 6. Children in years 4-6 who love to sing can join a lunchtime choir club with the purpose of singing in the collaborative concert ‘Young Voices’ at Manchester Arena each year.
Charanga is a scheme of work which offers a topic-based approach to support children’s learning in music. A steady progression plan has been built into Charanga, both within each year and from one year to the next, ensuring consistent musical development. By using Charanga as the basis of a scheme of work, we can ensure that the aims for musical learning stated in the National Curriculum are fulfilled. 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. skill and given chance for collaboration through composition. During music lessons children will be given opportunities to learn music specific vocabulary in a meaningful context. During the lesson children will be given opportunities to apply skill and given chance for collaboration through composition.
Progression through the units of work in Charanga reinforces knowledge and use of the interrelated dimensions of music, so that awareness of these is built upon each year, as the children move up through the school.
Impact
Music enables children to develop an understanding of culture and history, both in relation to children individually, as well as ethnicities from across the world. Children are able to enjoy music in as many ways as they choose – either as listener, creator or performer. Children have the opportunity to discuss and share their own thoughts, opinions an
d ideas, acknowledging and respecting that these may vary and that this is positive. They can dissect music and comprehend its parts as well as sing and feel a pulse. At Eccleston Lane Ends children are provided with opportunities beyond the National Curriculum to further and support their understanding. These include having visitors with a musical talent, visiting concerts and school productions. External interests and talents are also encouraged and showcased in class and star assembly, ensuring that everyone is challenged regardless of previous musical experience. Our music curriculum will hopefully foster a love and increasing enthusiasm for the subject amongst our children, and a potential for life long musical study. Children will leave our school thinking, feeling and performing like musicians.
Early Years Foundation Stage
In EYFS at Eccleston Lane Ends, music is a fundamental part of each and every day. From entering school in a morning listening to calming and relaxing music, to transition times throughout the day to singing a variety songs and nursery rhymes, we foster a love of music in all its forms as it significantly compliments all that we do.
The children in early years are exposed to a diverse range of music in the classroom, during assemblies and in wider school activities. During weekly music carpet sessions following the Charanga scheme, children have the opportunity to respond with their thoughts and feeling about pieces of music they have listened to and they learn how to compose and perform as well as experiment using different musical instruments. The classroom environment provides children with the opportunities to express their feelings and responses in continuous provision, alongside their peers both indoors and outdoors. Pupils are introduced to instruments which allow them to express themselves and improvise to create their own music developing an understanding of pulse and rhythm.
Music intertwines and connects learning in all areas in EYFS. Phonics teaching incorporates lots of rhythm and children use a range of body percussion to follow the beat and music. In mathematics, throughout the year, we enjoy singing number rhymes and learn chants to help in our knowledge of number bonds and shape. Physical development links beautifully with lots of dancing, movement and action songs too.
To further enrich learning in music in EYFS, the children take part in Christmas, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day singing performances to parents as well as an external visit to the theatre to watch a pantomime. During the Summer term we join other local schools in the area to take part in the St Helens Early Years Songfest. This provides the children with the exciting opportunity to work alongside the music service team and perform collaboratively with other children at the Town Hall.
This work in the Early Years prepares our pupils for musical learning in KS1 by teaching them to use their voices expressively, play with a range of instruments, sustain their ability to listen and respond to high quality live and recorded music, but most importantly foster a love for music!
Charanga- Our Music Scheme of Work
