Music

Intent

The intention of music learning at Temple Grove Academy is first and foremost to help pupils feel that they are musical, and to develop a life-long love of music. We focus on developing the skills, knowledge and understanding that pupils need in order to become performers, composers, and listeners. Our curriculum introduces pupils to music from all around the world and across generations, teaching them to respect and appreciate the music of all traditions and communities. Pupils will develop the musical skills of singing, playing tuned and untuned instruments, improvising and composing music, and listening and responding to music. They will develop an understanding of the history and culture context of the music that they listen to, and learn how music can be written down.

Through music, our curriculum helps pupils develop transferable skills such as teamworking, leadership, creative thinking, problem solving, decision-making, and presentation and performance. These skills are vital to their development as learners and have a wide application in their general lives outside and beyond school. Our music teaching enables pupils to meet the end of stage attainment targets outlined in the national curriculum.

Implementation

Temple Grove takes a holistic approach to music, in which the individual strands below are woven together to create engaging and enriching learning experiences:

• Performing
• listening
• Composing
• the history of music the interrelated dimensions of music

Each 5 lesson units combines these strands with a cross curriculum topic designed to capture pupils imagination and encourage them to explore music enthusiastically. Over the course of the scheme, pupils will be taught how to sing fluently and expressively, and play tuned and untuned instruments accurately and with control. They will learn to recognise and name the interrelated dimensions of music – pitch, duration, tempo, structure, texture and dynamics – and use these expressively in their own improvisations and compositions.

Our music scheme follows the spiral curriculum model where previous skills of knowledge are returned to and built upon. Pupils progress in terms of tackling more complex tasks and doing more simple tasks better, as well as developing understanding and knowledge of the history of music, staff, and other musical notations, as well as the interrelated dimensions of music and more.

In each lesson, pupils will actively participate in musical activities drawn from a range of styles and traditions, developing their musical skills and their understanding of how music works. Lessons incorporate a range of teaching strategies from independent tasks, paired and group work, as well as improvisation and teacher led performances. Lessons are hands-on and incorporate movement and dance elements, as well as making cross curriculums with other areas of learning. .

Impact

The impact of Temple Grove’s music scheme can be constantly monitored through both formative and summative assessment opportunities. There is often a performance element where teachers can make a summative assessment of pupils learning. Knowledge organisers for each unit can also support pupils by providing a highly visual record of the key learning from the unit, encouraging recall of practical skills, key knowledge and vocabulary. Pupils should leave Temple Grove Academy equipped with a range of skills to enable them to succeed in their secondary education and to be able to enjoy and appreciate music throughout their lives.

The expected impact of following the Temple Grove’s music scheme of work is that pupils will:

– Be confident performers, composes and listeners and will be able to express themselves musically at and beyond school.

– Show an appreciation and respect for a wide range of musical styles from around the world and will understand how music is influenced by the wider culture, social, and historical contexts in which it is developed.

– Understand the ways in which music can be written down to support performing and composing activities.

– Demonstrate an articulate and enthusiasm for music and be able to identify their own personal musical preferences.