Music

Course Overview

Click on the subject for the relevant year group in the table below to find out more information about each course.

Music is a universal language, a unique and discrete way of understanding and interpreting experience.   The drive to make music is a fundamental human instinct.  Its study develops skills and academic rigour; it encourages creativity and personal expression; it demands a collaborative approach; it encourages empathy and broadens cultural horizons and engenders different ways of thinking, perceiving and learning.  It’s also good fun.

Ambition for our pupils

Pupils studying Music will gain experience, knowledge and understanding of the key concepts of pitch, melody, rhythm, tonality, harmony, dynamics, timbre, texture, instrumentation and structure within a particular context through:

• Singing and playing together, within a variety of genres;
• Preparing and rehearsing a performance;
• Improvising within a particular context, becoming familiar with stylistic idioms;
• Composing to a brief, exploring, handling and structuring musical material in an expressive way;
• Evaluating the success of class, group and individual work;
• Listening with developing analytical understanding, recognising and identifying musical characteristics and how they are combined to create a distinctive musical event.

The structure of our curriculum

Music is studied by all pupils at key stage 3. It can be taken as a GCSE option at key stage 4 and we also offer a Level 2 qualification in Music Technology. The curriculum develops the key elements of:

• Performance – communicating with an audience; realising the intentions of a composer.
• Listening and Appraising – listening responsively, listening with understanding.
• Skill acquisition – aural skills, instrumental skills, notational skills.
• Composition – formulating ideas, organising material, improvising.
• Literature – gaining familiarity with and understanding of the literature of music.
• Technology – composing and producing music using DAWs, setting up audio recording systems.

The approach is integrated (exploring and forging links between these elements) and structured (enabling pupils to build on their experience, knowledge and understanding).