Music
Music gives students the opportunity to express themselves through singing, composing and performing.
The music topics in our curriculum have been chosen to give students the opportunity to appreciate a variety of music from a wide span of genres and decades, including rock, reggae, pop and rap. They have been sequenced to give the students an opportunity to build upon previous taught skills and knowledge from past topics and years, to give the students the tools and experiences to be creative and expressive in the musical form. Through the use of the music scheme Charanga, pupils are guided through the steps to learn and perform a focus song for each topic each term. Each topic leads pupils, through well sequenced lessons, to experience playing and composing with musical instruments, along with their focus song. Each lesson will also start with pupils listening to and appraising a song linked to their focus song. All pupils experience the use of musical staves when performing and composing, and are exposed to a wide variety of musical vocabulary. Pupils are also given the opportunity to sing as a large choir during weekly singing assemblies.
Lower Key Stage
In Lower Key Stage 2, students are introduced to individual notes and how they can be read and recorded through musical notation. Students are given the opportunity to build on the listening, performance, and improvisation skills taught in Key stage 1. Genres covered in year 3 are; RnB, Reggae, and Disco. Two of the three focus songs in year 3 are original songs, written by Charanga, that demonstrate to the students a variety of aspects of the genre, whilst allowing the students to learn and perform a song of that style. The three songs are; Let Your Spirit Fly, Three Little Birds, and Bringing Us Together. Alongside learning to sing a song, Year 3 are taught to play a tuned instrument with their song, beginning with one to two notes. Year 4 starts the year with a focus on the band, Abba. Listening to a variety of songs from the band and learning to sing and play tuned instruments along with Mamma Mia. This is followed by a focus on soul and gospel music, learning to sing Lean On Me, and then finishing with another focus on a band, The Beatles, with the song, Blackbird. The pupils' playing skills are developed through the teaching of playing different patterns and rhythms alongside their focus song.
Upper Key Stage 2
In Upper Key Stage 2, pupils continue to develop their musical vocabulary, playing skills, and musical knowledge. In Year 5, pupils will cover the genres; rock, rap, and motown. Pupils build upon the notes learnt in Lower Key stage Two by building up to playing up to 6 different notes alongside their focus song. This increased use of notes in playing also gives the pupils a greater range of musical notes to use in their own musical composition. The covered songs in Year 5 are; Livin’ On A Prayer, The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air, and Dancing In The Street. Year 6 begins the year focusing on the genre of pop, followed by focusing on the music of Carole King, learning the songs; Happy and You’ve Got A Friend. Year 6 ends the year by using all of the musical knowledge and skills taught to them over their time at Cromer Junior School to put on an end of year performance for the school and parents.
