music at swiss gardens
Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything. Plato
Central to our vision for music at Swiss Gardens is that children develop a love of music through listening to, responding to and creating it. Music is the level playing field for learning, as children who struggle with academic subjects can find an outlet for their talents that can become a lifelong love and help children feel connected to the world around them.
Through our cross curricular approach we aim to set music learning in context, from learning multiplication tables with different popular songs, listening to the music of the 1930s and 40s during the WW2 topic, singing sea shanties in the pirates and smugglers topic to the music of the West Indies in the Islands topic.
Our curriculum ensures children are exposed to the creative, collaborative, celebratory aspects of music. Through group, class and whole school singing, the joy of music is celebrated across the school.
We aim to introduce children to a range of music and percussion from early years, developing their skills in playing unpitched instruments. By the end of Key Stage One, children are playing and composing melodies using the glockenspiel and by the end of Key Stage Two they have developed their skills further alongside written notation.
We believe that the joy of music is most apparent when performed by children and we ensure that children have opportunities to share their musical talents and experiences with their peers, their families and in the local community.
The school has links with Sussex Academy of Music, West Sussex Music Service and lessons are available from peripatetic teachers. We offer the chance for children to perform with the Angmering Chorale each year and for children to attend professional productions including opera performances at Glyndebourne.
Picture courtesy of www.glyndebourne.com
In October 2021, our Year 6 pupils enjoyed a schools performance of Donizetti’s opera ‘Don Pasquale’ at Glyndebourne.
This year, our Year 6 pupils enjoyed a production of Mozart’s ‘The Marriage of Figaro’.
As a school, we receive a lot of support from the Angmering Chorale. The school choir (Key Stage Two) have benefitted hugely from this relationship, enabling them to work with the chorale’s musical director, George Jones. Most recently, we have performed a celebration of African music with the chorale, called 'Zimbe!' by composer Alexander L'Estrange. The children sang and behaved perfectly!
Our school choir (years 4, 5 and 6) are currently learning some great songs, including 'Proud' by Heather Small.
Here is a little clip of them hard at work...
CURRICULUM STATEMENT FOR MUSIC
PLEASE READ OUR CURRICULUM INTENT AND INFORMATION ABOUT MUSIC AT SWISS GARDENS
curriculum map for music
EARLY YEARS FOUNDATION STAGE
Music starts in Early Years as the children have opportunities to play unpitched, instruments, listen to music and participate in singing, through rhymes and songs to help with learning number and phonics for reading. They have opportuntites to make a range of sounds and experiment with rhythm and pitch.
Music – Children sing songs, make music and dance, and experiment with ways of changing them.
They represent their own ideas, thoughts and feelings through music (Expressive Arts & Design)
KEY STAGE ONE
MUSIC – SKILLS PROGRESSION
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YEAR 1 |
YEAR 2 |
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Singing |
• Sing simple songs, chants and rhymes from memory, singing collectively and at the same pitch, responding to simple visual directions and counting in. • Begin with simple songs with a very small range, mi-so and then slightly wider. • Sing a wide range of call and response songs, control vocal pitch and match pitch with accuracy. |
• Sing songs regularly with a pitch range of do-so with increasing vocal control. • Sing songs with a small pitch range , pitching accurately. • Know the meaning of dynamics (loud/quiet) and tempo (fast/slow) and be able to demonstrate these when singing by responding to (a) the leader’s directions and (b) visual symbols (e.g. crescendo, decrescendo, pause). |
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Listening |
Teachers should develop pupils’ shared knowledge and understanding of the stories, origins, traditions, history and social context of the music they are listening to, singing and playing. Listening to recorded performances should be complemented by opportunities to experience live music making in and out of school. |
Teachers should develop pupils’ shared knowledge and understanding of the stories, origins, traditions, history and social context of the music they are listening to, singing and playing. Listening to recorded performances should be complemented by opportunities to experience live music making in and out of school. |
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Composing |
• Improvise simple vocal chants, using question and answer phrases. • Create musical sound effects and short sequences of sounds in response to stimuli. Combine sounds to make a story, choosing and playing instruments or sound-makers. • Understand the difference between creating a rhythm pattern and a pitch pattern. • Invent, retain and recall rhythm and pitch patterns and perform these for others, taking turns. • Use music technology, if available, to capture, change and combine sounds. • Recognise how graphic notation can represent created sounds. Explore and invent own symbols |
• Create music in response to a non-musical stimulus. • Work with a partner to improvise simple question and answer phrases, to be sung and played on untuned percussion, creating a musical conversation. • Use graphic symbols, dot notation and stick notation, as appropriate, to keep a record of composed pieces. • Use music technology, if available, to capture, change and combine sounds. |
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Musicianship – pulse/beat |
• Walk, move or clap a steady beat with others, changing the speed of the beat as the tempo of the music changes. • Use body percussion, (e.g. clapping, tapping, walking) and classroom percussion (shakers, sticks and blocks, etc.), playing repeated rhythm patterns (ostinati) and short, pitched patterns on tuned instruments (e.g. glockenspiels or chime bars) to maintain a steady beat. • Respond to the pulse in recorded/live music through movement and dance. |
• Understand that the speed of the beat can change, creating a faster or slower pace (tempo). • Mark the beat of a listening piece by tapping or clapping and recognising tempo as well as changes in tempo. • Walk in time to the beat of a piece of music or song. Know the difference between left and right to support coordination and shared movement with others. • Begin to group beats in twos and threes by tapping knees on the first (strongest) beat and clapping the remaining beats. • Identify the beat groupings in familiar music that they sing regularly and listen to. |
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Musicianship - rhythm |
• Perform short copycat rhythm patterns accurately, led by the teacher. • Perform short repeating rhythm patterns (ostinati) while keeping in time with a steady beat. • Perform word-pattern chants; create, retain and perform their own rhythm patterns. |
• Play copycat rhythms, copying a leader, and invent rhythms for others to copy on untuned percussion. • Create rhythms using word phrases as a starting point. • Read and respond to chanted rhythm patterns, and represent them with stick notation including crotchets, quavers and crotchets rests. • Create and perform their own chanted rhythm patterns with the same stick notation. |
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Musicianship - pitch |
• Listen to sounds in the local school environment, comparing high and low sounds. • Sing familiar songs in both low and high voices and talk about the difference in sound. • Explore percussion sounds to enhance storytelling. • Follow pictures and symbols to guide singing and playing. |
• Play a range of singing games based on the cuckoo interval matching voices accurately, supported by a leader playing the melody. • Sing short phrases independently within a singing game or short song. • Respond independently to pitch changes heard in short melodic phrases, indicating with actions. • Recognise dot notation and match it to 3-note tunes played on tuned percussion. |
KEY STAGE TWO
MUSIC – SKILLS PROGRESSION
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YEAR 3 |
YEAR 4 |
YEAR 5 |
YEAR 6 |
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Singing |
• Sing a widening range of unison songs of varying styles and structures with a pitch range of do–so, tunefully and with expression. Perform forte and piano, loud and soft. • Perform actions confidently and in time to a range of action songs. • Walk, move or clap a steady beat with others, changing the speed of the beat as the tempo of the music changes. • Perform as a choir in school assemblies. |
• Continue to sing a broad range of unison songs with the range of an octave (do–do) pitching the voice accurately and following directions for getting louder (crescendo) and quieter (decrescendo). • Sing rounds and partner songs in different time signatures (2, 3 and 4 time) and begin to sing repertoire with small and large leaps as well as a simple second part to introduce vocal harmony. • Perform a range of songs in school assemblies. |
• Sing a broad range of songs from an extended repertoire with a sense of ensemble and performance. This should include observing phrasing, accurate pitching and appropriate style. • Sing three-part rounds, partner songs and songs with a verse and a chorus. • Perform a range of songs in school assemblies and in school performance opportunities. |
• Sing a broad range of songs, including those that involve syncopated rhythms, as part of a choir, with a sense of ensemble and performance. This should include observing rhythm, phrasing, accurate pitching and appropriate style. • Continue to sing three- and four part rounds or partner songs, and experiment with positioning singers randomly within the group – i.e. no longer in discrete parts – in order to develop greater listening skills, balance between parts and vocal independence. • Perform a range of songs as a choir in school assemblies, school performance opportunities and to a wider audience. |
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Listening |
Teachers should develop pupils’ shared knowledge and understanding of the stories, origins, traditions, history and social context of the music they are listening to, singing and playing. Listening to recorded performances should be complemented by opportunities to experience live music making in and out of school |
Teachers should develop pupils’ shared knowledge and understanding of the stories, origins, traditions, history and social context of the music they are listening to, singing and playing. Listening to recorded performances should be complemented by opportunities to experience live music making in and out of school. |
Teachers should develop pupils’ shared knowledge and understanding of the stories, origins, traditions, history and social context of the music they are listening to, singing and playing. Listening to recorded performances should be complemented by opportunities to experience live music making in and out of school. |
Teachers should develop pupils’ shared knowledge and understanding of the stories, origins, traditions, history and social context of the music they are listening to, singing and playing. Listening to recorded performances should be complemented by opportunities to experience live music making in and out of school. |
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Composing - improvise |
• Become more skilled in improvising (using voices, tuned and untuned percussion and instruments played in whole-class/ group/individual/instrumental teaching), inventing short ‘on-the-spot’ responses using a limited note-range. • Structure musical ideas (e.g. using echo or question and answer phrases) to create music that has a beginning, middle and end. Pupils should compose in response to different stimuli, e.g. stories, verse, images (paintings and photographs) and musical sources. |
• Improvise on a limited range of pitches on the instrument they are now learning, making use of musical features including smooth (legato) and detached (staccato). • Begin to make compositional decisions about the overall structure of improvisations. |
• Improvise freely over a drone, developing sense of shape and character, using tuned percussion and melodic instruments. • Improvise over a simple groove, responding to the beat, creating a satisfying melodic shape; experiment with using a wider range of dynamics, including very loud (fortissimo), very quiet (pianissimo), moderately loud (mezzo forte), and moderately quiet (mezzo piano). |
Pupils should extend their improvisation skills through working in small groups to: • Create music with multiple sections that include repetition and contrast. • Use chord changes as part of an improvised sequence. • Extend improvised melodies beyond 8 beats over a fixed groove, creating a satisfying melodic shape. |
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Composing - compose |
• Combine known rhythmic notation with letter names to create rising and falling phrases using just three notes (do, re and mi). • Compose song accompaniments on untuned percussion using known rhythms and note values. |
• Combine known rhythmic notation with letter names to create short pentatonic phrases using a limited range of 5 pitches suitable for the instruments being learnt. Sing and play these phrases as self-standing compositions. • Arrange individual notation cards of known note values (i.e. minim, crotchet, crotchet rest and paired quavers) to create sequences of 2-, 3- or 4-beat phrases, arranged into bars. • Explore developing knowledge of musical components by composing music to create a specific mood, for example creating music to accompany a short film clip. • Introduce major and minor chords. • Include instruments played in whole-class/ group/individual teaching to expand the scope and range of the sound palette available for composition work. • Capture and record creative ideas using graphic symbols, rhythm notation and time signatures, staff notation or technology |
• Compose melodies made from pairs of phrases in either C major or A minor or a key suitable for the instrument chosen. These melodies can be enhanced with rhythmic or chordal accompaniment. • Working in pairs, compose a short ternary piece. • Use chords to compose music to evoke a specific atmosphere, mood or environment. Equally, pupils might create music to accompany a silent film or to set a scene in a play or book. • Capture and record creative ideas using graphic symbols, rhythm notation and time signatures, staff notation or technology. |
• CPlan and compose an 8- or 16-beat melodic phrase using the pentatonic scale (e.g. C, D, E, G, A) and incorporate rhythmic variety and interest. Play this melody on available tuned percussion and/or orchestral instruments. Notate this melody. • Compose melodies made from pairs of phrases in either G major or E minor or a key suitable for the instrument chosen. • Either of these melodies can be enhanced with rhythmic or chordal accompaniment. • Compose a ternary piece; use available music software/apps to create and record it, discussing how musical contrasts are achieved. |
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Performing - instrumental |
• Develop facility in playing tuned percussion or a melodic instrument, such as violin or recorder. Play and perform melodies following staff notation using a small range (e.g. Middle C–E/do–mi) as a whole class or in small groups (e.g. trios and quartets). • Use listening skills to correctly order phrases using dot notation, showing different arrangements of notes C-D-E/do-re-mi. • Individually (solo) copy stepwise melodic phrases with accuracy at different speeds; allegro and adagio, fast and slow. Extend to question-and-answer phrases. |
• Develop facility in the basic skills of a selected musical instrument over a sustained learning period. • Play and perform melodies following staff notation using a small range (e.g. Middle C–G/do–so) as a whole-class or in small groups. • Perform in two or more parts (e.g. melody and accompaniment or a duet) from simple notation using instruments played in whole class teaching. Identify static and moving parts. • Copy short melodic phrases including those using the pentatonic scale (e.g. C, D, E, G, A). |
• Play melodies on tuned percussion, melodic instruments or keyboards, following staff notation written on one stave and using notes within the Middle C–C′/do–do range. • Understand how triads are formed, and play them on tuned percussion, melodic instruments or keyboards. Perform simple, chordal accompaniments to familiar songs. • Perform a range of repertoire pieces and arrangements combining acoustic instruments to form mixed ensembles, including a school orchestra. • Develop the skill of playing by ear on tuned instruments, copying longer phrases and familiar melodies. |
• Play a melody following staff notation written on one stave and using notes within an octave range (do–do); make decisions about dynamic range, including very loud, very quiet, moderately loud and moderately quiet. • Accompany this same melody, and others, using block chords or a bass line. • Engage with others through ensemble playing with pupils taking on melody or accompaniment roles. |
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Performing – reading notation |
• Understand the stave, lines and spaces, and clef. Use dot notation to show higher or lower pitch. • Understand the differences between crotchets and paired quavers. • Apply word chants to rhythms, understanding how to link each syllable to one musical note. |
• Understand the differences between minims, crotchets, paired quavers and rests. • Read and perform pitch notation within a defined range (e.g. C–G/do–so). • Follow and perform simple rhythmic scores to a steady beat: maintain individual parts accurately within the rhythmic texture, achieving a sense of ensemble. |
• Further understand the differences between semibreves, minims, crotchets and crotchet rests, paired quavers and semiquavers. • Understand the differences between 2/4, 3/4 and 4/4 time signatures. • Read and perform pitch notation within an octave (e.g. C–C′/do–do). • Read and play short rhythmic phrases at sight from prepared cards, using conventional symbols for known rhythms and note durations. |
• Further understand the differences between semibreves, minims, crotchets, quavers and semiquavers, and their equivalent rests. • Further develop the skills to read and perform pitch notation within an octave (e.g. C–C/ do–do). • Read and play confidently from rhythm notation cards and rhythmic scores in up to four parts that contain known rhythms and note durations. • Read and play from notation a four-bar phrase, confidently identify |