Music
At Merton Bank Primary School we make music an enjoyable learning experience. We encourage children to participate in a variety of musical experiences through which we aim to build up the confidence of all children. Singing lies at the heart of good music teaching. Our teaching focuses on developing the children’s ability to sing in tune and with other people. Through singing songs, children learn about the structure and organisation of music. We teach them to listen to and appreciate different forms of music. As children get older, we expect them to maintain their concentration for longer, and to listen to more extended pieces of music. Children develop descriptive skills in music lessons when learning about how music can represent feelings and emotions. We teach them the disciplined skills of recognising pulse and pitch. We often teach these together. We also teach children to make music together, to understand musical notation, and to improvise or compose their own short pieces of music in response to different stimuli.
Assessing Music at Merton Bank
Music feedback is mainly given verbally by teachers, teaching assistants and sometimes by peers.. Children reflect on the musical rehearsal and performance process and sometimes give written responses or feedback to each other. Some written feedback may be given in music books as appropriate by peers or teachers.
Formal assessments are made each half term by class teachers and outcomes are used to inform future planning. This assessment data is monitored by the subject leader.
Showing our Talents
Through our music lessons the children have opportunities to play a variety of musical instruments. It is lovely when they want to show their confidence and abilities by performing to others.
Music Lessons
The children in year 4 have a visiting peripatetic music teacher who comes in to teach them how to play the ukulele. The children learn about the different parts of the ukulele, how to play the notes and chords and they learn how to read music to be able to play familiar songs. They cover a range of songs across the year, allowing them to experience different types of music, tempos and moods.
There is also the opportunity for pupils to further their skills and interest by signing up to ukulele or guitar lessons provided by Class Sounds (class-sounds.com).
These lessons take place after school and are dealt with directly through Class Sounds. If you would like more information then please speak to the school office.
Musical Instruments
We have a range of musical instruments that the children get to explore during their time at Merton Bank, we want children to experience a wide range of instruments, genres and musicians through our music curriculum. We believe it is important for pupils to gain an understanding of how music has changed and developed over time, to experiment with different sounds and instruments as well as to have an introduction to formal musical notation and playing pieces of music using familiar instruments.
Winstanley College Workshop
We often have visitors into school to support our wider curriculum learning. We were privileged to have some music students from Winstanley College come in to run a music workshop for some of our pupils.
Clonter Opera
We were lucky enough to have an online workshop with the Clonter Opera for our year 3 and 4 children where they explored set design, operatic music and they were lucky enough to see this performed through an interactive online workshop.
Musician of the Month
BBC Ten Pieces
We have a focus musician of the month that we explore with the children by listening to their music and finding out about their lives and the impact that they have had on others through their music and often their wider impact through their other influences. These often have links to wider curriculum links and particular events happening through the year which helps to make meaningful, interesting links between our music curriculum and other areas of school life.
Click on the link to find out more information.
Click on the link to find information on the BBC Ten Pieces project
Music Subject Leader – Mrs K Clay
