Music

Why do we teach Music?

We follow the National Curriculum - Music key stages 1 to 2.

Music plays an important role in a child’s development at Rowanfield Junior School. Music is more than just learning to play an instrument or read sheet-music - it is about developing motor-skills, focus, social-emotional regulation and helping the body and mind work together.

When music is taught at Rowanfield Junior School, we expose children to a wide range of vocabulary and enable them to explore sounds and meanings of words. Also, above anything else, music is seriously good fun!

It is our intent that we make music an enjoyable learning experience in both our curriculum and our extra-curricular activities. We encourage all our children to participate in a variety of musical experiences through which we aim to build their confidence, as we prepare them on their life journey.

We recognise that singing is a great starting point for musical learning and the development of many skills, while being a hugely enjoyable activity for our pupils and teachers. We intend to create a strong and positive bond within our school and join the community together- marking significant moments by singing and playing together, and listening to music during assemblies, performances, and special events in the calendar such as our performance during 'Christmas at the Square' (a local community event).

Music is a universal language that embodies one of the highest forms of imagination and creativity.

What do we teach in Music?

Music overview 24-25

How do we teach Music?

Music at Rowanfield Junior School is carefully planned for progression and continuity. Our music scheme of work is Charanga and it works well with the curriculum and scaffolds the learning opportunities throughout the key stages.

How could you support your child at home?

Encourage listening skills

Getting children to explore music and describe what they hear is a useful way to help them grow their listening skills. Pick a piece of music to play and while listening to it ask children some simple questions about what they hear e.g.:

• How could you describe the music?
• What sound can you hear in this music?
• How does this music make you feel?
• What does this music make you think of?
• Play along to music

All children love to make noise and playing instruments along to a song is a great way of experiencing and exploring dynamics- the volume of sound of a piece of music. Invite your child to play as quietly or loudly as they can with different sounds makers or body percussion, e.g. how loudly can we clap our hands, how quietly can we tap a pan with a spoon?

Playing along is a great way to discover the pulse of a song - essentially the heartbeat of the music, also referred to as a steady beat. Typically, the pulse is what people tap their feet to or dance along to when listening to music.

Explore the different instruments that make up a song

Try playing games and activities as a way of identifying how a variety of instruments combine to make a piece of music

Different instruments in the orchestra have different roles in the music. Listen out for the sounds of families of instruments and the role they have in the music. Instrument families from the orchestra are:

• Brass – instruments such as trumpets, trombones, tuba
• Strings – instruments such as cello, violin, viola
• Percussion – instruments such as drum kit, cymbals, xylophone
• Woodwind – instruments such as flute, clarinet and saxophone
• Keyboard – instruments such as piano, keyboard, organ

Make your own sounds

A great way of exploring music is to experiment with sounds that can be created with mouths. Why not think about:

• What sounds can we make with our lips?
• What sounds can we make with our tongues?
• What sounds can we make with our teeth?

Try encouraging children to describe the sounds they make. By doing this you will be exploring different sounds and encouraging active listening. Playing with mouth sounds is a physical exercise which supports children’s muscles in their mouths, which in turn helps their speech development.

Explore creating music with items around the house, e.g. tapping a pan with a spoon to create different sounds, using different sized yoghurt pots or tins as drums, fill a tub with rice, secure the lid and use it as a shaker.

Get moving to music

Tempo refers to the speed in music and a great way for children to explore this is physically. Invite your child to move whilst listening to music and watch how they respond, then follow and copy their ideas. Copying their physical ideas will show them you value their ideas.

Some children may find physically expressing their response to music much more natural than talking about or playing instruments with the music. Try experimenting with a wide range of genres of music and watch how your child responds. Experimenting with music with a range of tempo can be really good fun.

Listening to music from around the world, from a range of cultures will offer children rich listening experiences.