Music

Music

Our School Values in Music:

We show love by enjoying a range of different music and experiences. 

We show courage by being brave and performing in front of others.

We show unity by singing as a group and working together to create music. 

We show inspiration by encouraging others to have a go or by being inspired to try a new instrument or skill by others’ talents. 

Our Curriculum:

At Bishop Aldhelm’s we value music as part of our daily school life. Being able to perform, compose, listen and understand music is an important life skill as it enables learners to develop their self-confidence, creativity and sense of achievement. As a universal language, a love of music helps to engage and inspire our pupils to develop their own musical talents broadening their horizons for a creative future. We encourage children to participate in a variety of musical experiences through which to develop a love of music and develop their talent as musicians, and in turn increase their self-confidence, creativity and sense of achievement. We focus on gaining the children’s ability to perform, listen to, review and evaluate music across a range of historical periods, genres, styles and traditions, including the works of the great composers and musicians. They will learn to sing and to use their voices, to create and compose music on their own and with others, have the opportunity to learn a musical instrument, use technology appropriately and have the opportunity to progress to the next level of musical excellence. Understanding and exploring how music is created, produced and communicated, including through the inter-related dimensions, is the basis of our curriculum, and ensuring that these are progressive and continually recapped allows the children to build upon their knowledge and reflect on their understanding.

Our curriculum is centred around 3 pillars, to develop children’s musicianship:

• technical- this is taught by playing instruments and singing
• constructive- this is about knowing how musical components can be put together
• expressive- this is about understanding quality and creativity in music

We do this through the following concepts that are covered throughout the school:

• Artists, styles and history
• Performing: Instrumental – technical and expressive
• Performing: Singing – technical and expressive
• Composing and Improvising – constructive and expressive
• Listening – constructive and expressive
• Appraising – constructive and expressive
• Musical Notation – technical, constructive and expressive

Importance to Bishop Aldhelm’s children:

Children at Bishop Aldhelm’s take part in weekly ‘Sung Worship’ where a range of hymns and contemporary Christian worship songs are sung, rehearsed and performed by the children. The children are also given opportunities throughout the year to perform in St Aldhelm’s Church in front of the school community, parents and parish community as part of our calendar of Christian festivals. Each year group has key music to listen to each year to expose them to a range of artists and types of music. Children at Bishop Aldhelm’s also have the opportunity to take part in a variety of extra-curricular ensemble groups (e.g. choir, boomwhacker club) as well as participate in small group or individual instrumental and vocal tuition led by trained music specialists when the children are in Key Stage 2.

All Year 3 children are taught to play the recorder, giving them a chance to learn how to play a tuned instrument regardless of them learning a lesson privately outside of school.

All Year 4 children are taught to play a woodwind instrument, again giving them the opportunity to learn a different instrument as well as learn musical notation.

Local Links:

Sound Storm (Dorset Music Hub) links to live music opportunities for our children as well as access to Charanga (online music teaching resource), training for this and visiting music specialists (e.g. woodwind lessons for a term for one year group).

Access to various musical events in the area – E.g. PSMA Carol Concert (Poole School Music Association)

We want children to leave Bishop Aldhelm’s being able to:

• have the confidence to join in with songs or compositions or to try a new skill
• listen carefully to pieces of music and identify key elements such as the speed, instruments.
• put their ideas together to produce pieces of music or write their own songs
• appreciate a range of musical genres
• have had the experience of performing to an audience either through singing and/or playing an instrument.