The National Curriculum for music aims to ensure that all children:
• perform, listen to, review and evaluate music
• be taught to sing, create and compose music
• understand and explore how music is created, produced and communicated
At St Edward’s Co E Primary School and Nursery our music curriculum will engage and motivate children to see the world through the eyes of young Musicians.
At St Edward’s we use Charanga to support the teaching of music from reception to year 6. Charanga offers an integrated, practical, exploratory and child-led approach to music learning. The interrelated dimensions of music (Listen and respond, Explore and create, Singing and performing) weave through units covering a wide variety of historical periods, styles, traditions, and musical genres, encouraging the development of musical skills as the learning progresses.
Charanga Musical School Units of Work enable children to understand musical concepts through a repetition-based approach to learning. At St Edward’s we believe learning about the same musical concept through different musical activities enables a more secure, deeper learning and mastery of musical skills. Children are guided you through each strand of musical learning from Reception to Upper Key Stage 2 in order for them have the opportunity to embed deeper learning, knowledge, understanding and skills.
At St Edward’s, the music curriculum ensures children listen and respond to music, explore and create, sing and play and share and perform. This is embedded through classroom activities as well as the weekly singing assemblies, various concerts and performances and the joining of one of our musical ensembles.
The elements of music are taught in the classroom lessons so that children are able to use some of the language of music to dissect it, and understand how it is made, played, appreciated and analysed. In the classroom, children learn how to play different instruments such as recorders, ukulele, tuned and untuned percussion instruments which facilitate the understanding of the different musical methods and teach them the reading of musical notation. They also learn how to compose, focusing on different dimensions of music, which in turn feeds their understanding when listening, playing, or analysing music. Through the musical program Charanga, teachers are able to produce inclusive lessons for all children to access the musical curriculum in a fun and engaging way, further promoting a love of learning.
Whilst in school, children have access to a varied programme, which allows them to discover areas of strength, as well as areas they might like to improve upon. The integral nature of music and the learner creates an 2
enormously rich palette from which a child may access fundamental abilities such as: achievement, self-confidence, interaction with and awareness of others, and self-reflection. This is evident during Charanga sessions, in which children have grown in confidence and have had an improved self-esteem as a result of performing alongside others. Music will also 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. They can dissect music and comprehend its parts; they can sing and feel a pulse; they have an understanding of how to further develop skills less known to them, should they ever develop an interest in their lives.
From an early age, children at St Edward’s CofE Primary and Nursery are encouraged to explore and play with a wide range of musical instruments, as well as being provided with opportunities and encouragement for sharing their thoughts, ideas and feelings through a variety of activities in music. All children are encouraged to explore music through singing songs, making their own music and experimenting with changing them to create their own melodies.