Music is one of the subjects forming 'The Arts' at Deanesfield. We define the Arts as creative and imaginative activity through drama, dance, music and visual art. The Arts are an essential part of the Deanesfield school day. Through the arts, we give children a range of experiences to captivate and motivate them, allowing them to creatively explore new ideas. Children with a range of abilities and needs have the opportunity to creatively express their ideas and emotions, and in turn progress both personally and academically.

PURPOSE OF STUDY

Music is a universal language that embodies one of the highest forms of creativity. A high quality music education should engage and inspire pupils to develop a love of music and their talent as musicians, and so increase their self-confidence, creativity and sense of achievement. As pupils progress, they should develop a critical engagement with music, allowing them to compose, and to listen with discrimination to the best in the musical canon. 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.

"Music is a powerful form of communication that can transform the way pupils feel, think and act."

Our vision is to encourage children to appreciate all aspects of music. We aim to provide a sense of enjoyment and a positive attitude that inspires pupils to develop a love of music. Through highly practical lessons, children develop skills in singing, composing and playing a range of instruments and so increase their self-confidence, creativity and sense of achievement.

Our music curriculum focuses on the three main areas identified from the national curriculum: Performing, Listening, Composing. We also teach a wider knowledge and understanding of the history of music throughout these 3 main areas. 

The learning in each half term will focus on a particular element of the music curriculum taken from the 'Charanga' scheme of work used by many schools in Hillingdon and beyond and supported by Hillingdon Music Hub.

EARLY YEARS: children learn through carefully selected opportunities to explore a range of music through singing, listening to playing instruments both in their indoor and outdoor learning environments. 

KEY STAGE 1: the children will learn about the many different elements that make up the music we listen to; they will listen to and perform a wide range of music and will learn how to listen with attention and identify different aspects of the music. 

KS2: the children will work on reading musical notation, for reading and performing well-known pieces of music and also for writing their own original compositions. Year 3 have whole class tuition to learn a musical instrument.

In addition to timetabled music lessons, we have thriving singing clubs and lots of opportunities for children to learn to play a musical instrument, taught in a small group with a music tutor, which, with continued practice on their part,  further develops their belief in their musical ability and helps them realise their talent. Information about music tuition can be found under the 'Wider School Life' tab of our website.

Attainment Targets

By the end of each key stage, pupils are expected to know, apply and understand the matters, skills and processes specified in the relevant programme of study.

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. 

• listen with attention to detail and recall sounds with increasing aural memory.

• appreciate and understand a wide range of high-quality live and recorded music drawn from different traditions and from great composers and musicians.

• improvise and compose music for a range of purposes using the inter-related dimensions of music.

• use and understand staff and other musical notations.

• develop an understanding of the history of music.

Throughout the academic year, we hold regular opportunities for children to demonstrate their musical talents by performing something they have been working on. These performances should be something the children have been working on for (at least) the past few weeks. If they have learnt any pieces on their instrument for a grade exam, or if there is a song they know every single word to, this would be a good example of something they might be ready to perform. There is always an audition process for children who wish to take part in these events to ensure that they are ready to perform in front of an audience (which is a very daunting experience). If children are ready to perform, I make every effort to include them in the event; the only restriction is the number of children performing. We are very privileged to have many talented young musicians here at Deanesfield but this does unfortunately mean that not every one of them can perform at every event. 

Our main performance opportunities throughout the year are:

• Christmas Concert (December)
• Spring sessions (March)
• Deanesfield Sunset Festival (July)