Music

At The Duchy, children gain a firm understanding of what music is through listening, singing, playing, evaluating, analysing, and composing across a wide variety of historical periods, styles, traditions, and musical genres. We are committed to developing a curiosity for the subject, as well as an understanding and acceptance of the validity and importance of all types of music, and an unbiased respect for the role that music may wish to be expressed in any person’s life.

We are committed to ensuring children understand the value and importance of music in the wider community and are able to use their musical skills, knowledge, and experiences to involve themselves in music, in a variety of different contexts.

The music curriculum at The Duchy ensures that children sing, listen, play, perform and evaluate. This is embedded in the classroom activities as well as the weekly singing assemblies, various concerts and performances, the learning of instruments, and extra-curricular clubs.

Through the musical program Charanga, teachers are able to produce inclusive lessons for all children to access the musical curriculum in a fun and engaging way. The scheme ensures progression across the school and creates opportunities for appraisal, performing and composing.

In KS2, children have an opportunity to learn how to play an instrument in class and, in doing so, they understand different ways of creating notes, as well as how to read basic music notation. They also learn how to compose, focusing on different dimensions of music, which in turn feeds their understanding when listening, playing, or analysing music. Composing or performing using body percussion and vocal sounds is also part of the curriculum, which develops the understanding of musical elements without the added complexity of an instrument.

From an early age, children at The Duchy are encouraged to explore and play with a wide range of simple musical instruments. Children in KS1 are provided with opportunities and encouragement for sharing their thoughts, ideas and feelings through a variety of activities in music.

All children are encouraged to explore music through singing songs, making their own music and experimenting with changing them to create their own melodies.

The integral nature of music enables learners to access fundamental abilities such as: achievement, self-confidence, interaction with and awareness of others, and self-reflection. This is evident during singing assemblies and performances, in which our children grow in confidence and show high self-esteem as a result of performing alongside others. Music also develops an understanding of culture and history, both in relation to children individually, as well as ethnicities from across the world. Children are able to enjoy music in many ways at The Duchy –as listener, creator or performer. They can dissect music and comprehend its parts, they can sing and feel a pulse and they have an understanding of how to further develop skills less known to them, should they ever develop a deeper interest in music now or during their lives beyond primary school.