Music

Purpose of study

Music is a universal language that embodies one of the highest forms of creativity. A highquality 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. As pupils progress, they should develop a critical engagement with music, allowing them to compose, and to listen with discrimination to the best in the musical canon.

Aims

Dragon of the North's aim is to: empower all children, whatever their age or level of musical skill, to explore the different ingredients used in music-making so that they can experience the sheer joy of making music together.

When children leave Norton St Nicholas they will:

Be able 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.
Sing and use their voices, to create and compose music on their own and with others.
Have had the opportunity to learn a musical instrument.
Understand how music is created, produced and communicated, including through the inter-related dimensions: pitch, duration, dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture, structure and appropriate musical notations.

What we teach

Our music lessons are taught by Dragon of the North Creative Arts. The Dragon of the North syllabus and methods exceed the requirements of the National Curriculum programmes of study.

The unique curriculum covers motor skills and co-ordination, exploring rhythm through movement, singing, instrumental skills, choir and band musicianship, repertoire, improvisation and composition. There is a dual approach:

First, for students to experience and respond to different musical ‘ingredients’ using voice and body, developing key skills.
Second, to hone these key skills in student-led creative projects, using a wide range of instruments.

Early Years

Respond physically to a range of live and recorded music, showing a range of moods and
feelings, creatures, weather, places, and other features of the world around them.
Match rhythms and pitch through movement, identifying aural, verbal and visual cues from their teacher and from their peers for example to start and stop.
Perform with their voices, using body percussion, and playing tuned and untuned percussion.
Explore a range of songs, chants and rhymes, different types of voice production, short musical sequences, storytelling and call and echo.

Year 1

Repeating, improvising, creating, reading and writing simple rhythms using high and low sounds.
Holding a rhythm both independently and as part of a group.
Creating 2-3 note phrases using tuned and untuned percussion, and know the first 5 solfege notes.
Expressing emotional responses to what they hear, and storytelling is used to frame their developing skills.

Year 2

Playing two independent parts simultaneously as part of an ensemble.
Singing as part of a round and conducting their classmates.
Exploring correct basic beater, drumstick and keyboard technique.
Recognising and create using the beginning, middle and end structure of musical form.
Composing music for an occasion, music which follows a narrative, and music which depicts a scene or mood.

Year 3

Singing, reading and writing simple melodies using the full stave, deploying the number system.
Arpeggios, the pentatonic scale, major and minor tonality and pedal point are
recognised, sung, played and used as creative tools.
Holding a rhythm while singing a melody, joining in a full canon, and understanding the difference between solo and ensemble performance.
Broadening knowledge of different musical genres.

Year 4

Practising and performing a range of songs with increasing control and expression, singing with accurate pitch, and with an increasing awareness of historical and cultural context.
Solfege range extends beyond one octave.
Executing and improvising phrases of up to 4 bars long and in 3 and 4 time, learning percussion patterns of increased complexity.
Simple harmony - using the 1, 4 and 5 chords - is introduced, and pupils learn key musical forms such as ternary, verse and refrain, and the blues.

Year 5

Listen to, analyse, contextualise and draw inspiration from the works of the great composers.
Elements of song structure - verse, chorus, bridge, break, pre-chorus, solo - are recognised,
discussed, performed, and used as creative building blocks.
Pupils interpret and articulate songs and instrumental pieces independently, with increasing awareness and control of pulse, tempo, pitch and diction.
Dotted rhythms, 4-bar phrases and 6/8 time are all familiar.

Year 6

Pupils can place music alongside other art forms, as well as in its historical and cultural context.
Pupils improvise in 6/8, 2, 3 and 4 time. Major and minor tonalities are combined, and pieces with multiple parts are practised, performed and created.
Pupils lead an ensemble and function within it, and can play and sing in a range of contexts using a wide variety of instruments.