Music

What is Music?
Music is exciting, vibrant, fun, creative and rewarding! Music enables pupils to build on the skills, knowledge and understanding already acquired. Pupils develop their skills in three main areas: listening/appraising, performing & composing.

Music develops other valuable skills:

• Thinking skills as pupils will plan, develop, reflect, create and evaluate their own and others' work.
• Communication skills as pupils communicate through performing and composing and develop and apply their speaking and listening skills through appraising their own and others' work.
• ICT skills - developed through the use of music technology

Aims & Objectives:
Music enables pupils to engage with and enjoy making music through performing, composing and appraising. Pupils will develop their sensitivity to and understanding of music. Musical skills will be developed including singing; playing instruments and practising; composing; improvising & arranging music and listening to &
appraising music, focusing on the elements of music.

The pieces performed will increase in difficulty from the start of Year 7 to the end of Year 9, demonstrating a real sense of progress and achievement across the three years of Key Stage 3.

Whilst the three areas of Listening, Performing and Composing are separate, they are interwoven in order that the learning derived from each reinforces learning in the others.

What We study:
Pupils will perform and listen to music from a variety of genres and styles, different cultures and periods and to music composed for a variety of different purposes. The music selected includes examples from other cultures, folk music, jazz and blues, rock and pop and music from the Western 'classical' tradition as well as the music of Wales.

Pupils learn:

• How to sing and play a variety of instruments individually, in a small group and as a class and maintain an individual part or line
• How to read and understand music from western classical tradition as well as other cultures and in different formats
• How to improvise (make up something 'on the spot'!)
• How to communicate ideas and emotions through music
• How to organise, create, explore, select, combine, develop and refine musical ideas and how to evaluate your work to improve it
• How to compose using ICT and music technology
• About the musical elements and how to recognise and describe them
• How to recognise specific musical characteristics through listening to a wide variety of music/music from a range of genres

Assessment:

• Pupils are assessed on their knowledge, skills and understanding. Knowledge and understanding are developed through the interrelated skills of performing, composing and listening/appraising, which in turn form the key areas for assessment within the attainment targets for music.
• At the end of each unit/topic studied, pupils are assessed in some/all of the key areas-Listening, Performing and Composing. Assessment is formalised by the teacher, although the pupils themselves have a significant role in evaluating their own and others' work within specific guidelines/instructions.
• All pupils are aware of the 'Targets for Success' in music. Each pupil has a description of the requirements for each grade in each of the three areas-performing, composing and listening/appraising.
• The teacher is proactive in setting targets and feeding back throughout the lessons.
• Pupil feedback is encouraged at all times.

Trips, Excursions & Extra-Curricular / Instrumental / Vocal Tuition:
Choir & Rock Bands - Tour to Barcelona (proposed) Hopefully this would become a bi-annual event in conjunction with the Art and MFL departments.
African Drumming Workshops - in school
Other excursions including 'GAMELAN' workshop

Weekly Lessons with Visiting Tutors [Lunchtime / After school]
Violin, Piano, 'Cello, Woodwind [clarinet, flute, saxophone, oboe, bassoon etc], Brass [trumpet, trombone etc] and Voice.

After-school Extra-curricular Activities
Rock School - Electric Guitar & Drums

Lunchtime Extra-curricular Activities
Choir
[GCSE Performing & Composing - 2 lunchtimes]