Why is music so important to our children's education?

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.

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

Attainment targets

By the end of 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.

Foundation music

Pupils at Foundation Stage can actively engage with the core musical activities: composing, performing and listening.

Music enables them to express their thoughts, ideas and feelings through sound. It gives them rich opportunities to develop their creativity. Singing assists in the development of their linguistic skills, while performing with simple instruments begins to develop their manipulative skills.  Listening and responding to their own and others’ music-making are also important musical activities, helping pupils to develop focus and concentration.

Charanga Musical School

At St Teresa's we use the Sefton 'charanga Musical School' programme to support the teaching of music at both foundation stage and key stage one. 

Through the Musical School programme the children develop their understanding, make musical judgements, apply their new learning, develop their aural memory, express themselves physically, emotionally and through discussion and create their own musical ideas. The wide range of core resources have been developed specifically to motivate and capture each individual’s personal interest.

The children not only learn about music; they become musicians who are able to share and perform using their new skills.

There are 3 main resource areas: Units of Work, themed Topic songs and activities and instrumental Courses. The Units of Work are the main focal point for the music curriculum whilst the Topics and Courses provide a wealth of extension, enhancement and cross-curricular possibilities and experiences.