INTENT - BECOMING MUSICIANS

At Fernvale, we believe that music is a unique way of communicating that can inspire and motivate children. It is a vehicle for personal expression and it can play an important part in the personal development of people.

Ee endeavour to provide high quality music education which enables the children to develop a love of music whilst increasing their self­ confidence, creativity and a sense of achievement. Our objective is to provide a high quality music education that engages and motivates pupils to cultivate a love of music and develop their talents as musicians.

Our intention is that the children gain a firm understanding of what music is through the Leicestershire music hub's 'Scheme of Work'. This gives the children 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. Our aim is to develop a curiosity for the subject, as well as an understanding and recognition of the validity and importance of all types of music, and have respect for the role that music may play and be expressed in any person's life.

Music reflects the culture and society we live in, and so the teaching and learning of music enables children to better understand the world they live in. Besides being a creative and enjoyable activity, music can also be an academic and demanding subject. It also plays an important part in helping children feel part of a community. We provide opportunities for all children to create, play, perform and enjoy music, to develop the skills to appreciate a wide variety of musical forms, and to begin to make judgements about the quality of music.

The aims of music teaching are to enable children to:

•  know and understand how sounds are made and then organised into musical structures;
•  know how music is made through a variety of instruments;
•  know how music is composed and written down;
•  know how music is influenced by the time, place and purpose for which it was written;
•  develop the interrelated skills of performing, composing and appreciating music.

IMPLEMENTATION

The children will be taught the aims of music through the Leicestershire Music Hub scheme of Learning.  

The music curriculum ensures pupils sing, listen, play, perform and evaluate. This is entrenched in the classroom activities as well as the weekly singing assembly. We have an independent music teacher who teaches the learning of instruments. The elements of music are taught in the classroom lessons so that the children are able to use some of the language of music to examine it and understand how it is made, played, appreciated and analysed. In the classroom pupils have the opportunity to play a number of percussion instruments. They look into the different principle of each method of creating notes, as well as how to read basic music notation.

They will learn how to compose concentrating on different elements of music, which in turn will feed into their understanding when listening, playing, or analysing music. Composing or performing using body percussion and vocal sounds is also part of the curriculum, which increases their understanding of musical elements without the added difficulty of an instrument.

IMPACT

Whilst in school, the children have access to the six topics which include, pulse, pitch, rhythm, Voice, technology structure and form and 20th Century Music. This allows the pupils to determine areas of strength and areas where they could improve upon. The essential role which music and the learner creates allows them to access supporting abilities for example, achievement, self-confidence, interaction with and awareness of others, and self-reflection. Music will also help develop an understanding of culture and history, both in relation to pupils individually, as well as ethnicities from across the world. The pupils will be able to enjoy music in as many ways as they chose for example, as a listener, a creator or a performer. They will be able to scrutinize music and understand all of its parts.

They will be able to sing and feel a pulse. They will build up an understanding of how to further increase skills less known to them, should they ever want to develop an interest in their lives.

Performing Arts:

The children have the opportunity to take part in a variety of performing art projects whilst at Fernvale.  This include:

*Learning an instrument (recorder, guitar or drums) and performing a solo, duet or as a group.

*Christmas Carole Concerts at the local church

*Christmas Plays

*Family Assemblies

*Leavers Play

*Young Voices at the NEC