Music

At our school, pupils will develop a sense of musical creativity and self-expression, build their listening skills and deepen their understanding and application of technical music knowledge. Practical skills sit at the heart of our music curriculum. Core component knowledge and skills in music strands – such as understanding pitch, developing a sense of rhythm, composition and appraising – are sequentially built upon through the year groups through regular and varied practical music making experiences, including through singing.

Our Early Years music curriculum follows the ‘Expressive Arts and Design’ learning pathway of the national Development Matters guidance, meeting the requirements of the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage. This culminates in our Reception children learning and performing a range of songs, learning to listen to music and developing their abilities to express themselves through music. Here, they are introduced to fundamental musical vocabulary, focus on fine and gross motor practice and develop an awareness of basic rhythm. Our children regularly experiment with sound, use their bodies to respond to music and sing. Children practise regularly and are given the opportunity to perform in front of their peers.

These schemas are built on in Key Stage 1, as our pupils continue to develop their technical accuracy, fluency and expression through both singing and playing a range of tuned and untuned instruments. They sing a broad range of songs from different genres and cultures, concentrating on intonation, phrasing and clear diction, and build their listening skills further. Children regularly perform as a class ensemble in front of their peers and during Collective Worship.

Our Key Stage 2 pupils hone their technical knowledge and skills, such as music notation, the stave and understanding pitch and rhythm. This is achieved through a focus on musical compositional work, solo and ensemble performance, aural development and appraising existing music pieces. Through the Key Stage, our children build their existing schemas which link the interrelated music dimensions of pitch, duration, dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture and structure. They also build an understanding of the history of music.

Denby Free uses the Charanga Derbyshire scheme of work.