Music
Music Curriculum 3 I’s
Vision and Intent
Music is all around us. It is the soundtrack to our lives. Music connects us through people and places in our ever-changing world. It is creative, collaborative, celebratory and challenging. In our schools, music can bring communities together through the shared endeavour of whole-school singing, ensemble playing, experimenting with the creative process and, through the love of listening to friends and fellow pupils, performing. The sheer joy of music making can feed the soul of a school community, enriching each student while strengthening the shared bonds of support and trust which make a great school” (Model Music Curriculum, 2021).
“A truly musical school holds three distinct, but interlinked, areas of music education in balance” (Rogers, 2019). We truly believe in this, and have designed our music curriculum as such:
Classroom music.
Instrumental and vocal learning; ensembles.
Musical events and opportunities.
All students have access to music in the classroom, and the focus of KS3 curriculum music is on developing students’ musical understanding, getting to know how music works and how it conveys meaning.
Alongside this, students have the opportunity to learn an instrument with 1:1 lessons taking place during the school day and after the school day. They also have the opportunity to rehearse in instrumental and vocal ensembles.
Of equal importance is a series of musical events running through the year – concerts, recitals, competitions, workshops, trips to professional events – in which students experience music as a vital element in public culture.
The Maltings Music curriculum will enable learners to:
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.
Subject Implementation
Our KS3 music curriculum is a spiral curriculum where we revisit skills and further develop and deepen their knowledge and understanding as they progress through KS3 into KS4 and beyond.
The 3 pillars of progression in music education: technical, constructive and expressive have been used to create the curriculum.
Technical:
Competence in controlling sound (instrumental, vocal or with music technology).
Use of a communication system, such as staff notation or guitar tab.
Constructive:
Knowledge of the musical elements/interrelated dimensions of music.
Knowledge of the components of composition.
Expressive
Musical quality.
Musical creativity.
Knowledge of musical meaning across the world and time.
We use a variety of instruments and music technology throughout their education so that students can explore their interests.
The implementation of the Music curriculum includes:
Play and perform confidently in a range of solo and ensemble contexts using their voice, playing instruments musically, fluently and with accuracy and expression.
Improvise and compose; and extend and develop musical ideas by drawing on a range of musical structures, styles, genres and traditions use staff and other relevant notations appropriately and accurately in a range of musical styles, genres and traditions identify and use the inter-related dimensions of music expressively and with increasing sophistication, including use of tonalities, different types of scales and other musical devices.
Listening with increasing discrimination to a wide range of music from great composers and musicians develop a deepening understanding of the music that they perform and to which they listen, and its history.
Subject Impact
The department has been recognised as Music Mark School in recognition of a commitment to providing a high-quality music education for all children and young people.
There has been an increased uptake in students' interested participation in extracurricular music provision of a wide offer of activities for students.
The offer of in school 1-1 music tuition has also seen an uptake of pupils' interest in taking lessons to further develop their musicianship skills.
There is a programme of performance events across the academic year for music some of these are: KS4 GCSE Recital Evening, Winter Concert, Spring Concert and Summer Concert also other outside of school performance opportunities.
The impact on students is to ensure they are achieving their full musical potential.
They are well equipped for higher education or if they choose to pursue a career in the music industry.
Throughout their school career students participate in the setting up and running of live performances, learning how to read music, performing live both solo and in ensembles, compose their own music, use music technology and learn a variety of techniques of how music is composed.
All of these skills apply to working in the music industry and students will gain experience in all aspects and can choose which direction they would like to further their educational or professional career in.
A Maltings Academy Music student will:
Have gained an aural knowledge of some of the great musical output of human civilisation.
Engaged with creative processes through improvisation and composition.
Built an understanding of how musical elements work and discussed how these interact with subjective and objective models of musical meaning.
Developed knowledge of a wider range of notes and improved their fluency in music notation.
Take part in extra curricular activities of the music department.
Music Journey Map
Music Key Stage 3
Music Key Stage 4