We aim to engage and inspire all 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 will develop a critical engagement with music, allowing them to compose, and to listen with discrimination to the best in the musical canon. We have high ambition for all children, regardless of need or barrier.
The teaching of Music at Thornbury follows the National Curriculum, delivered predominantly through the Sing Up! Scheme. Embedded in Thornbury’s Music progression document is a carefully designed and challenging progressive plan of the various musical knowledge, skills and strands, to ensure that children are constantly learning and remembering more, developing and improving as musicians throughout their Thornbury journey.
At Thornbury, children gain their love of music and musical learning from inclusive participation in engaging and practical activities. They sing, play instruments, perform, improvise, compose, notate, listen and appraise, continuously increasing their musical vocabulary and enjoying music with a range of history, culture and style. They progressively learn about the inter-related elements of pulse, rhythm and duration, pitch, dynamics, tempo, timbre, structure, texture, along with different forms of notation; linking and combining their learning in these strands when they compose, as well as developing a sense of musicianship.
As well as ‘Sing Up’, the National Music Curriculum set by the Government, was also used as a reference point, and formed much of the listening spine. BBC Ten Pieces has also played a role in this, with engaging analysis and films of professional musicians performing.
Children at Thornbury enjoy a well-resourced music room – they play a wide range of quality tuned and untuned percussion instruments. We are a ‘Singing School’ where everyone sings regularly, to further extend our musical skills and understanding, but also to have fun and bring our community together.
The inspiration from quality music curriculum provision results in many children also choosing to learn an instrument in small peripatetic groups and every Year 3 and 4 class learns from a specialist music teacher. Large numbers of children also choose to commit to the extra-curricular choir and chime bars club.
At Thornbury, we are all musicians!
What are the key elements of music?
The elements of music are essentially the different things that you can hear when you listen to music. They are what differentiates a piece of music from other sounds.
- Dynamic
- Pitch
- Pulse (beat)
- Structure
- Tempo
- Texture
- Timbre
We build on these skills are we progress through the school. Please see our progression document which explains this progression in further detail.
What musicians and pieces of music are taught across the school?
How are musicians used to enrich the curriculum?
Mrs Berna is our peripatetic teacher, teaching piano, keyboard and guitar. She also leads the Christmas Chimes Ensemble, and assists with the choir, as well as supporting year groups with their performance skills.
Ms Smith comes to Y3/4 every week, as part of the Local Authority First Access programme, to date teaching in line with our planned unit objectives, but using tuned percussion as a medium.
We benefit from several staff musicians in their own right, whose skills and passion for music are shared with the children particularly in the formal carol service, which is led by the school musicians. This allows our children to learn and perform alongside competent musicians, for example in ensembles.
We also take advantage of online opportunities offered by ensembles.
Year 5 are also going to take part in a local singing festival, with other schools.
How is music recorded and assessed?
Each cohort has two ‘floor’ books which collate key learning over the year.
These use standard structure and visual aids, which follow through the school, becoming slightly more complex in line with the progression.
One book is for ‘Keepy Uppy’ Skills – the ongoing work including listening, rhythm and singing, and focussed around the elements, and one book is for blocked unit work, with an overview proforma called a Rucksack, and an ongoing lesson record. Pupils add notes in varying ways, and there are photos and QR coded links to learning.
Pupil Voice discussions indicate where learning has been most successful. At the yearly handover, teachers will identity pupils who are working beyond, and working towards.
How do we ensure that all pupils have equality of access to the full curriculum?
As an inclusive school, we make our best endeavours for all children to experience the core elements of each subject. We find ways to make learning accessible, through practical activity and a range of recording tools, as well as oracy and collaborative learning. For example, widget is used to make pictorial language in the Rucksack overviews. Some activities, such as choir, and instrumental lessons are own choice, but are fully inclusive.