Music

At Knights Enham Schools we provide…

Inclusive and ambitious learning experiences where our school community feels safe and motivated to achieve their best.

‘Together We Achieve'

Music Opportunities at Knights Enham Schools

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.

At Knights Enham Schools, we aim to provide a rich, progressive, creative and inclusive Musical Curriculum, which serves to ignite and strengthen a passion for Music in its many forms. In line with the Model Music Curriculum, we will ensure that the skills learned in each year group, from reception to year six, are continuously built upon whilst also preparing our pupils for progressions to KS3. Through a wide range of activities, pupils will further develop their love of music, refining their individual taste and gaining confidence to be creative musicians with strong aural skills. They will encounter music by living composers and see composition as a current art form. Pupils will continue to internalise key musical skills and techniques through a range of activities including call-and-response songs and chants, improvisation, movement and active listening. Pupils will create music through improvisation, exploring how to write music for a specific purpose, and they will start to learn more sophisticated compositional techniques and structures to prepare for Key Stage 3.

We aim to ensure that all children are able to access and make progress on a musical instrument, which will further enhance their ability to read music, through knowledge and use of staff notation. Pupils will build musical confidence through active engagement with music as performers, music-creators and audience. Pupils will further develop their shared knowledge of important moments in the evolution of music and of key musicians, including composers and performers, in a range of genres and styles and from different cultures. The history of music will be explored in a variety of ways, placing music in artistic, historical, social and political contexts, and building meaningful and memorable connections whilst strengthening understanding of the inter-related dimensions of music.

Impact

Through the consistent teaching of Music we will see the impact of the subject in the following ways:

Increased proficiency in the key areas of Music: including performance, listening and composition.
More developed language and reasoning: Students who have early musical training will develop the areas of the brain related to language and reasoning. The left side of the brain is better developed with music, and songs can help imprint information on young minds.
Emotional development: Students of music can be more emotionally developed, with empathy towards other cultures. This can also lead to higher self-esteem and better emotional regulation.
Improved imagination and intellectual curiosity: Introducing music in the early childhood years can help foster a positive attitude toward learning and curiosity. Artistic education develops the whole brain and develops a child’s imagination.
Preparation for the creative economy: Investing in creative education can prepare students for the 21st century workforce. The new economy has created more artistic careers, and these jobs may grow faster than others in the future.
Better self-confidence: With encouragement from teachers and parents, students playing a musical instrument can build pride and confidence. Musical education is also likely to develop better communication for students.
Responsible risk-taking: Performing a musical piece can bring fear and anxiety. Doing so teaches kids how to take risks and deal with fear, which will help them become successful and reach their potential.
Development of teamwork: playing as part of an ensemble require teamwork. In these groups, students will learn how to work together and build camaraderie.
Improved creative thinking: pupils who study the arts can learn to think creatively. This kind of education can help them solve problems by thinking outside the box and realizing that there may be more than one right answer.
More finely-tuned auditory skills: Musicians can better detect meaningful, information-bearing elements in sounds, like the emotional meaning in a baby’s cry. Students who practice music can have better auditory attention, and pick out predictable patterns from surrounding noise.
Better engagement and a more inclusive environment: An enjoyable subject like music can keep pupils interested and engaged in school. It also often engages children who can find other areas of the curriculum tricky. Learning to play pieces of music on a new instrument can be a challenging, but achievable goal. Students who master even the smallest goal in music will be able to feel proud of their achievement.
Increased coordination: Students who practice with musical instruments can improve their hand-eye coordination. Just like playing sports, children can develop motor skills when playing music.
Students learn to improve their work: Learning music promotes craftsmanship, and students learn to want to create good work instead of mediocre work. This desire can be applied to all subjects of study.
A mastery of memorization: Even when performing with sheet music, student musicians are constantly using their memory to perform. The skill of memorization can serve students well in education and beyond.