INTENT

At Holy Cross Catholic Primary Academy, music is an essential part of our broad and balanced curriculum. Our music curriculum intends to inspire creativity, selfexpression and encourages our children on their musical journeys as well as giving them opportunities to connect with others.

We hope to foster a life-long love of music by exposing our children to diverse musical experiences and igniting a passion for music. By listening and responding to different musical styles, finding their voices as singers and performers and as composers, all will enable them to become confident, reflective musicians.

The aims of our Music curriculum are to develop children who:

• Can sing and use their voices individually and in a group

• Create and compose music on their own and with others

• Use technology appropriately when composing

• Have opportunities to learn a musical instrument

• Understand and explore how music is created, produced and communicated

• Listen to, review and evaluate the work of great composers and musicians from a range of historical periods, genres, styles and traditions

• Enjoy and have an appreciation of a range of different musical styles

• Use and understand musical language and include musical features in their own work

• Make judgements about the quality of music

• Have opportunities to play a wide variety of instruments

• Have different opportunities to take part in performances

IMPLEMENTATION

The music curriculum ensures children sing, listen, play, perform and evaluate. This is embedded in classroom activities as well as weekly hymn practice, various concerts and performances, including those as part of the Commonwealth Choir and the learning of instruments.

The elements of music are taught in classroom lessons so that children are able to use the language of music to discuss it, and understand how it is made, played, appreciated and analysed.

In the classroom children learn how to play various un-tuned and tuned percussion instruments. In doing so, they understand the different principles of creating notes, as well as how to devise and read their own musical scores and basic music 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. Composing or performing using body percussion, vocal sounds and technology is also part of the curriculum, which develops the understanding of musical elements without the added complexity of an instrument.

IMPACT

Children have opportunities to forge their own musical journey, 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 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.

Music will also develop an understanding of culture and history, both in relation to individual children, as well as ethnicities from across the world which make up our school community.

Children are able to enjoy music, they can discuss music and comprehend its parts. They can sing, feel a pulse, add rhythms and create melodies in a group and they can further develop these skills in the future and continue to enjoy and embrace music in their lives.