Music
Music is an art that can be demonstrated in many different forms. No matter the age or ability of the child, music can inspire children and allow them to express creativity. Music at Ravensworth Terrace is a vital part of our school community.
The children thoroughly enjoy singing as a school on a regular basis where we practise songs which demonstrate our values and our close relationship as a school team. A smaller number of pupils with a particular love for singing and performing have the opportunity to join the choir. The school choir are an enthusiastic, passionate group of Key Stage 2 pupils who practise weekly and perform regularly, representing our school at every opportunity.
Learning a musical instrument is a skill we encourage at Ravensworth. We expose the children to whole class instrument lessons for certain year groups (including drumming and the ukulele) as well as regular use of the school percussion and tuned instruments.
Using ‘Charanga’ as a scheme across the school ensures the children’s musical skills progress every year. It allows them to learn a variety of genres of music including pop, classical and folk.
We seek to provide opportunities for the children to share their skills with family members, governors, elderly friends of the school and the wider community. With an annual talent show and pantomime, regular instrument and dance performances, and many traditional celebrations throughout the year, Music is an important aspect of the Ravensworth Terrace school life.
Aims
The national curriculum for music aims to ensure that all pupils:
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
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
understand and explore how music is created, produced and communicated, including through the inter-related dimensions: pitch, duration, dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture, structure and appropriate musical notations.
Key stage 1
Pupils should be taught to:
use their voices expressively and creatively by singing songs and speaking chants and rhymes
play tuned and untuned instruments musically
listen with concentration and understanding to a range of high-quality live and recorded music
experiment with, create, select and combine sounds using the inter-related dimensions of music.
Key stage 2
Pupils should be taught to sing and play musically with increasing confidence and control. They should develop an understanding of musical composition, organising and manipulating ideas within musical structures and reproducing sounds from aural memory.
Pupils should be taught to:
play and perform in solo and ensemble contexts, using their voices and playing musical instruments with increasing accuracy, fluency, control and expression
improvise and compose music for a range of purposes using the inter-related dimensions of music
listen with attention to detail and recall sounds with increasing aural memory
use and understand staff and other musical notations
appreciate and understand a wide range of high-quality live and recorded music drawn from different traditions and from great composers and musicians
develop an understanding of the history of music