015242 71334
admin@stmarys-kl.cumbria.sch.uk
Music at St Mary’s CE Primary
In Music at St Mary’s we follow the Charanga learning and skills progression but make it bespoke to our particular setting. We play simple pieces of music and learn to recognise musical elements such as pitch, duration, dynamics, tempo, timbre and texture. We begin to learn simple notation skills and create our own compositions to perform in front of audiences.
The children love to perform in front of an audience. We sing regularly in class and during daily worship. The children take part in regular hymn singing practice and enjoying learning a range of worship songs to sing and perform. Music is taught as a discrete subject but is also taught to create joined-up learning experiences for our children. For example, when studying a history topic of Queens in Year 2, they learnt to sing the National Anthem and when studying the continents and oceans of the world in Geography our children love singing related songs to help embed their learning. We also aim to provide children with a variety of live-musical experiences, for example when musicians come over from our local senior school to play for us and when the Playground Proms team perform with us. Lots of our KS2 children take part in our yearly trip to Manchester Arena to be part of a 9000-strong choir at Young Voices.
The children are taught about lots of different genres of music and the instruments being played through listening, appraising and participating. Children have access to a range of un-tuned percussion instruments and are enjoying using the class set of glockenspiels to perform their compositions. In Year 1 they have been introduced to the penny whistle and Year 2 have began learning the PBuzzes this year. In Year 3 our pupils learn the recorder and in Year 4 they are given a brass instrument to play for the year with lessons led by a member of our local brass band. Year 5 have really enjoyed having teachers from Cumbria Music Hub to come in and give them instrumental lessons. Last year it was ukulele lessons and this year they will be starting woodwind lessons. Year 6 have continued furthering their ukulele lessons after beginning to learn the instrument in Year 5. Like other classes, they also use the glockenspiels so they can further build upon their composition, performing skills and knowledge.
One thing we love at St Mary’s is a big musical performance. At Christmas time, the choir join up with the local community and take part in the Christmas procession through the town to turn on the Christmas lights. We also perform a school Carol Concert at our local church and attend local residential care homes to sing for them as well. Our Reception class perform a Christmas Nativity Production which is attended by parents/carers and performed in the church. In addition, in the Summer Term, both Key Stage 1 and Reception and Key Stage 2 put on musical performances for parents/carers which always provide great joy and generate really positive feedback! Termly musical concerts are also put on for parents and families to attend where children having peripatetic lessons can perform, but also classes who have been learning new pieces on their instruments.
Benefits of Music
It’s a common belief that being involved in musical activities has huge benefits – from improving IQ to increasing self esteem, building team spirit to developing imagination.
Intent
Our vision for music is that we provide every child with high quality music experiences which engage and inspire them. We provide opportunities for all children to create, play, perform and enjoy music and to appreciate a variety of music styles. We aim for every child to leave St Mary’s Primary School with a range of musical skills, knowledge and an understanding and love of music which they can carry with them for the rest of their lives.
Implementation
At St Mary’s Primary School we encourage children to participate in a variety of musical experiences through which we aim to build up the confidence of all children. Singing is an integral part of our school life and our teaching focuses on developing the children’s ability to sing in tune, developing their expression and ability to listen to others. Pupils’ understanding of music will be developed through activities which bring together the requirements of performing, composing, listening and appraising. Children are taught to make music together with tuned and un-tuned instruments and to compose pieces. They are also taught to sing and play in time, controlling the sound and pace. They are taught different ways to represent sounds graphically and symbolically.
Impact
- enjoy and appreciate a wide variety of musical styles;
- explore how sounds are made, and how music is produced by a variety of instruments;
- develop imagination and creativity;
- build a sense of pulse and rhythm;
- understand a range of musical vocabulary;
- develop the interrelated skills of composition,
- improvisation, performance and appreciation;
- enjoy a wide range of songs and sing in tune;
- develop positive attitudes and to experience success and satisfaction in music.
What do our children think? (Pupil Voice)
National Curriculum
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 interrelated 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 interrelated 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.
School concerts provide a wonderful opportunity for our pupils to perform and showcase their musical skills.
Music outside the classroom
Kirkby Lonsdale Brass Band
Please follow the link above to connect with Kirkby Lonsdale Brass Band.
Musical Visitors at St Mary’s
Progression in learning musical instruments
EYFS do lots of singing and love exploring the untuned percussion instruments. Reception class also love bell ringing with Mrs Rickart.
Year 1 have been playing along to simple melodies using the glockenspiels and have also been learning various notes on the penny whistles.
Year 2 have been composing using the glockenspiels and have also really enjoyed beginning to learn how to play the pbuzzes ready for a summer concert performance.
Year 3 have shown great improvisation skills on the glockenspiels and have also enjoyed learning to play the recorders this term.
Year 4 have loved learning their brass instruments and enjoyed composing their own pieces of music for their instrument, to then perform to the class.
Year 5 have been using the glockenspiels to practice and develop their improvisation skills.
Year 6 have enjoyed playing the ukuleles this year. They have also been listening to and learning about various different composers, appraising different genres of music and have also been using the Quick-beats app to compose their own music.
Exciting Music Websites to encourage music creativity and build knowledge
http://sampulator.com/ What a great website for exploring and recording a track – have a go!
https://tinyurl.com/2d9c5aks This is Google’s Blob Opera which is both visual and exciting for composing – have a go!
https://www.virtualdrumming.com/drums/online-virtual-games/travis-barker-drum.html Virtual Drumming
https://typatone.com/ This is an amazing website that allows children to compose through text – have a go!
https://musiclab.chromeexperiments.com/Experiments Chrome Music Lab is wonderful for composing and creating!
Private Music Tuition
We can put you in contact with the various peripatetic teachers who teach a whole range of instruments. Please contact the school office for further information. Tel. 015242 71334
Why should your child play a musical instrument?
Test your knowledge of Music
Explore these quizzes to explore your knowledge of music..
https://www.educationquizzes.com/ks2/music/