Here at Wellesbourne, our Music curriculum allows children to delve into their artistic and creative side. It allows them to work and play as an ensemble, building on team-building and listening skills. It also builds on their historical and research skills when learning about composers new and old. Music lessons are delivered by our specialist music teacher, Mrs Summers.
We have three main areas in music that we look at over the year from Nursery through to Year 6 – singing, instrumentation and listening and appraising. Over their time here at Wellesbourne, children experience a wide range of music from different eras and styles.
When singing, children learn to sing using the Kodaly method which we then implement into our songs, ranging from nursery rhymes through to songs from around the world. In KS1, we focus on singing in unison as a group, listening to each other, our tuning and diction. In KS2, we focus more on adding harmonies and singing in parts such as rounds and canons. This helps to encourage independence and leaderships skills in small groups.
For instrumentation, children have the opportunity to access a wide range of instruments which they will use over the course of their time here to compose their own music. Children are also given an instrument focus over a term – tuned percussion in Years 1 and 2, recorders in Years 3 and 4 and ukuleles in Years 5 and 6.
Children are also exposed to a wide range of musical styles and eras when listening and appraising, from the great classics of Bach and Mozart to more modern composers. Children are also exposed to the future of music by learning how music and technology are now working closer together, using apps such as Garage Band and Drum Machines to help them create their own dance and house-style compositions.
Nursery have been listening to ‘The Carnival of the Animals’. They matched their movements to those of the animals and created sounds using maracas and claves. They varied how they played the instrument
(gently, quickly, loudly or quietly) depending on the type of animal!
Year 6 have been labelling a standard drum kit and identifying the unique sound of each part. It was challenging but lots of fun! They will now be using different timbres to produce their own hip hop accompaniments!