Our Music Curriculum
We believe that the arts are extremely important in giving children the opportunity to express themselves and develop interest and talents in non-academic subjects. For this reason a large proportion of our curriculum budget is spent on Music.
We teach weekly music lessons to the children in Nursery to Year 6. The 2014 Music National Curriculum is taught to children during these sessions. These are weekly 45 minute lessons.
Early Years (Nursery & Reception) Curriculum
Our goal is for our children to become Musicians. Musicians must have:
- A rapidly widening repertoire which they use to create original, imaginative, fluent and distinctive composing and performance work.
- A musical understanding underpinned by high levels of aural perception, internalisation and knowledge of music, including high or rapidly developing levels of technical expertise.
- Very good awareness and appreciation of different musical traditions and genres.
- An excellent understanding of how musical provenance - the historical, social and cultural origins of music - contributes to the diversity of musical styles.
- The ability to give precise written and verbal explanations, using musical terminology effectively, accurately and appropriately.
- A passion for and commitment to a diverse range of musical activities.
Music in the Early Years Foundation Stage
At Bangabandhu we believe strongly that music is not a creative add-on but an essential part of our learning tool kit.
It is part of our learning every day in Early Years Foundation stage. Our goal is to enable teachers and pupils to share the positive and beneficial effects of music, and to make it an integral part of the curriculum, starting from Foundation Stage. Music is used in so many areas of learning with speech, language, numeracy and memory all benefiting from active participation in music. Music builds personal and social skills, confidence and self-esteem, and aids all areas of a child’s development, and so teaching it with confidence and pleasure is taken seriously!
Music is fun, and teaching music to children is fun as long as you enjoy what you’re doing, the children will as well.
We try to use as many different types of traditional, contemporary and original music and songs from around the globe, aiming to find something that everyone will enjoy and embrace. The songs and materials change throughout the year reflecting learning themes, seasons etc, and we have regular concerts for the parents as well as fantastic celebration assemblies. Basic instrument playing, rhythm games and improvisation using a variety of instruments from all parts of the world, is a fantastic gateway to different musical forms and styles. We also make instruments from recycled materials with the children, which not only gives them “ownership” of an instrument but also introduces the idea that music can come from everywhere. We make extensive use of signing (mainly Makaton), as we know the power and importance of signing as one of the communication skills. Gestures are a natural accompaniment to music, often preceded by speech, and allows non-verbal children to participate. This is also a natural stepping stone to using music in PE, Dance and all areas of movement.
Early Years Foundation Stage - what does Music look like in the Early Years?
In the Early Years Foundation Stage, music forms part of the learning children acquire under the ‘Expressive Arts and Design' branch of the Foundation Stage curriculum.
Music features quite a lot in lessons for children during Nursery and Reception years. There are plenty of opportunities to sing, explore sounds and dance and play to music. It’s often used as a method for learning about other things, such as science, numbers and words, too.
Children will learn how sounds can be changed; sing simple songs from memory; recognise repeated sounds and sound patterns; and match movement to music. Children also have the opportunity to compose using a variety of musical instruments.
The document below outlines in more detail the specific music objectives within the Early Years curriculum, what it looks like in practice, and demonstrates the links between the Early Years and the KS1 Music curriculum. It also highlights key vocabulary taught within our Early Years and at Key Stage 1.
Music - Early Years to Key Stage 1 Curriculum Links.
Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 Curriculum Maps
Here is an overview of what we teach in class music lessons as well as in our instrument lessons.
We use 'Charanga', a scheme of work, which is fully aligned with the National Curriculum, to shape our Music curriculum lessons. The scheme provides a clear structure of learning progression that builds pupils’ music knowledge, skills and vocabulary, whilst also providing us with songs and interactive resources that are engaging for our children.
The spiral design of this scheme immerses children in music-making activities that deepen over the course of their time at school. More specifically, musical elements and concepts that are introduced to children in Milestone 1 are continually revisited in more complex and intricate ways as children progress through the school.
Curriculum Maps (Intent)
Here is our music curriculum framework (long term plan) which operates on a two year cycle.
As a school, we follow the 'Charanga Original Scheme', which we have adapted to fit our curriculum approach. Each academic year is split into 6 units – one for each half term. Here is the order of units:
| Autumn 1 | Autumn 2 | Spring 1 | Spring 2 | Summer 1 | Summer 2 | |
|
Millstone 1 Cycle 1 |
Hey You! | Ho Ho Ho | In the Groove | Zootime | Your Imagination | Reflect, Rewind and Replay |
|
Milestone 1 Cycle 2 |
Hands and Feet | Rhythm In The Way We Walk | I Wanna Play In A Band | Round and Round | Friendship Song | Reflect, Rewind and Replay |
|
Milestone 2 Cycle 1 |
Let Your Spirit Fly | Glockenspiel Stage 1 | Three Little Birds | Lean On Me | Bringing Us Together | Reflect, Rewind and Replay |
|
Milestone 2 Cycle 2 |
Mamma Mia | Glockenspiel Stage 2 | The Dragon Song | Stop! | Blackbird | Reflect, Rewind and Replay |
|
Milestone 3 Cycle 1 |
Livin’ On A Prayer | Classroom Jazz 1 | Make You Feel My Love | You’ve Got A Friend | Dancing In The Street | Reflect, Rewind and Replay |
|
Milestone 3 Cycle 2 |
Happy | Classroom Jazz 2 | A New Year Carol | The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air | Music And Me | Reflect, Rewind and Replay |
Big Ideas and Dimensions of Music
BIg Ideas
Each unit of learning is shaped around one song that children learn. From that song, each unit explores 6 Big Ideas – in line with all of our foundation subjects here at Globe. The Big Ideas for Music are:
- Listen and Appraise
- Singing
- Playing Instruments
- Improvise
- Compose
- Perform
Dimensions of Music
In addition to the Big Ideas, there are 9 ‘Dimensions of Music’, which are unpicked and developed as part of each of the Big Ideas. Here are the dimensions of music and an explanation of what they mean:
| Pulse | The regular heartbeat of the music; its steady beat. |
| Rhythm | Long and short sounds or patterns that happen over the pulse. |
| Pitch | High and low sounds. |
| Tempo | The speed of the music; fast, slow or in-between. |
| Dynamics | How loud or quiet the music is. |
| Timbre | All instruments, including voices, have a certain sound quality. |
| Texture | Layers of sound working together make music very interesting to listen to. |
| Structure | Every piece of music has a structure e.g. an introduction, verse and chorus ending. |
| Notation | The link between sound and symbol. |
Music Lessons
Each lesson is 45 minutes long and is divided into 4 parts.
| Lesson 1 | Lesson 2 | Lesson 3 | Lesson 4 | Lesson 5 | Lesson 6 | |
| 10 mins | Listen and Appraise | Listen and Appraise | Listen and Appraise | Listen and Appraise | Listen and Appraise | Listen and Appraise |
| 10 mins |
Introduce unit | Listen and Appraise |
Flexible Game Bronze |
Flexible Game Silver |
Flexible Game Gold |
Review unit |
| 5 mins |
Warm-up Game | Warm-up Game | Singing | Singing | Singing | Singing |
| 25 mins |
Singing | Singing | Play instruments | Improvise | Compose | Perform |
Beyond the National Curriculum - Cultural Capital Experiences
Cultural capital is the essential knowledge that children need to prepare them for their future success. We want to ensure that children at Bangabandhu have a wide and varied range of experiences as they progress through our school. We want them to know about their world; to build a schema of knowledge and to do this through first hand experiences. We intend to provide our children with opportunities to develop not just their knowledge but their interests and talents. Our aim is to prepare them for a successful future.
Our school is in an area of high socio-economic deprivation. We are focused on addressing this disadvantage. Our curriculum is the main provider of cultural capital however there are other aspects of school life which provide essential cultural capital and should not be overlooked. We have planned the cultural provision that goes beyond the curriculum and this plan can be found below. This plan is to capture, illustrate and to strategically plan for the breadth and range of cultural capital experiences we will provide for our children as they move through the school. We are not leaving such an essential element of our school’s provision to chance or individual teacher interest. When a child leaves Bangabandhu in Year 6, we will be certain of what they have learnt and experienced and know that they will be prepared for the next step in their learning and personal development.
Bangabandhu's Whole School Cultural Capital, Trips and Experiences Plan
Curriculum and Expectation Booklets for Parents
These booklets give an overview of our Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 curriculum. They explain what is taught in each subject area as well as outlining some of the expectations we have for children. Parents are given these booklets at the start of each year and they are sent electronically with each term's newsletter.
Year 1 Curriculum and Expectations Booklet for Parents
Year 2 Curriculum and Expectations Booklet for Parents
Year 3 Curriculum and Expectations Booklet for Parents
Year 4 Curriculum and Expectations Booklet for Parents