Music

Our Dream

At Redhill, our dream is for all children to leave our school as:

Passionate, enthusiastic listeners of music that have a real enjoyment of melodies from a range of times, cultures and genres who are able to comment critically on their likes and dislikes for pieces presented to them.

Pupils who have had the opportunity to have learnt and performed with a musical instrument approaching this with a sense of confidence and resilience, then using their new knowledge to compose melodies of their own, making use of simple musical notation.

Respectful, humble young people that have an appreciation and understanding of the impact that music has and will continue to have on different cultures, times and societies as well as the power it can hold on our wellbeing.

Children that have an in-depth understanding of significant pieces of music from that past and how they have shaped the compositions that we listen to today, being able to name notable figures and provide explanations of the impact they have had on particular genres.

Implementation

At Redhill, we believe that Music is an invaluable subject that enriches and enhances our curriculum in a myriad of ways. Through studying music, children develop their language and reasoning whilst enhancing their memory skills and training themselves to constantly improve their work. Engaging with music builds imagination and intellectual curiosity whilst offering an exciting way for children to engage with some of the most amazing cultural achievements from Britain and the rest of the world. When playing instruments, children will learn pattern recognition, enhance their auditory skills, learn to work as part of a team and improve their confidence and self-esteem. We all engage with music on an often daily basis and it forms an integral part of our personal lives; by utilising this, children can learn to have a deeper understanding of the things they enjoy and increase their engagement in the classroom.

Using the KAPOW scheme of work, we have structured our curriculum to ensure that children are engaging with music in every year group and are building on their skills each year to develop a good understanding of music broken down to aspects of: listening, composing, performing and the history of music. Every child has the opportunity to learn an instrument in school and we also provide further opportunities for specialist teachers to come in to school and tutor children with a more specialised instrument.

Through explicit lessons and the use of 'Music That', we have worked hard to ensure that children experience and learn about some of our culture’s greatest composers. These range from classical composers such as Holst and Tchaikovsky to modern film composers such as John Williams and Hans Zimmer. We also run a weekly choir club and sing daily in our assemblies. Each year group performs a class assembly where they either perform or dance to a range of music from around the world, we also hold an annual Infant Nativity and Junior Summer Concert.

Curriculum Overview

Redhill Curriculum: Music Overview
	Autumn Term	Spring Term	Summer Term
Reception	Join in with songs and rhymes Celebration Music	Big Band Exploring sound	Musical stories Music and movement
Year 1	Timbre and Rhythmic Patterns – Fairytales	African Call and Response – Animals	Chanting and Tuned Percussion – Space
Year 2	Vocal and Body Sounds – By the Sea	Pentatonic Melodies and Composition – Chinese New Year Handbells	On this Island – British Songs and Sounds
Year 3	Musical Me!	Traditional instruments and improvisation - India	Adapting and transposing motifs - The Romans
Year 4	Developing Singing Techniques and Keeping in Time – The Vikings	Musical Theatre	Rock and Roll
Year 5	Samba and Carnival	Changes in pitch, tempo and dynamics - Rivers	Looping and remixing
Year 6	Songs of World War Two	Composing Notation – Egyptians	Composing and Performing a Leavers’ Song

Key Three

Music That...

Every week, our Music co-ordinator, Miss Varney, sends out a playlist of three songs linked to a particular theme on Class Dojo. These are used in school Community Time sessions and can be used at home to encourage discussion around an array of amazing songs and artists.

Teacher Playlists

Themed Playlists

Music Co-Ordinator

If you have any questions about this area of the curriculum, please feel free to get in touch with the co-ordinator either through Class Dojo or by contacting the school office.

Young Voices

We are delighted to be returning to Young Voices at the Utilita Arena in Sheffield this year, where our Redhill Choir will perform as part of a 4,000 strong group of voices in concert along side incredible artists! To achieve this with all their school friends around them for support, it helps children's self-belief, self-motivation, confidence, and ability to communicate as part of a team - which is invaluable! Add to this the numerous health benefits of singing in rehearsals, including breathing exercises to focus the mind - it’s no wonder that our children love Young Voices!