MUSIC curriculum

Purpose of study

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.

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.

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.

Key stage 2

Pupils should be taught to:

 play and perform in solo and ensemble contexts, using their voices and playing musical instruments with increasing accuracy, fluency, control and expression

 improvise and compose music for a range of purposes using the inter-related dimensions of music

 listen with attention to detail and recall sounds with increasing aural memory

 use and understand staff and other musical notations

 appreciate and understand a wide range of high-quality live and recorded music drawn from different traditions and from great composers and musicians

 develop an understanding of the history of music.

"I have enjoyed being able to do different warm-ups and musical challenges."

"I like the mix of music-related games and singing."

"I like using my body to express myself through music."