Music

“Music gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind,

flight to the imagination, and life to everything.”

Plato

The power of music

"Music is all around us. It is the soundtrack to our lives. Music connects us through people and places in our ever-changing world. It is creative, collaborative, celebratory and challenging. In our schools, music can bring communities together through the shared endeavour of whole-school singing, ensemble playing, experimenting with the creative process and, through the love of listening to friends and fellow pupils, performing. The sheer joy of music making can feed the soul of a school community, enriching each
student while strengthening the shared bonds of support and trust which make a great school."

DFE March 2021 

Our vision at Brierley is to engage and inspire children to develop a lifelong love of music and increase their self-confidence, creativity and imagination. We foster the life skills of self-discipline and commitment. Music unites our school and develops a sense of community and Christianity where children feel a sense of achievement and are proud to share their musical skills. Every child has the opportunity to play a musical instrument and listen to and appraise a range of musical artists.

The key concepts, themes and principles have been developed from the National Curriculum into our own Brierley School curriculum which is delivered through the use of the Charanga Scheme of Work Model Music Curriculum. The Music curriculum we offer is designed to meet the needs of all our pupils. It is rich, varied, imaginative and ambitious and meets the needs of individual learners by can easily be adapted for pupils with additional needs. 

The Music curriculum is rich and varied and provides our pupils with the skills required for life in the 21st Century. The Music curriculum is delivered in an exciting and engaging way through weekly music lessons, whole school singing opportunities and visits from music specialists.  This allows the children to learn the skills needed to be able to compose, perform and appraise music on a regular basis.  Our music curriculum is flexible so that teachers can easily adapt lessons to meet the needs of all children. 

Key Stage 2 children are given the opportunity to learn how to play a musical instrument. We offer weekly guitar, brass and woodwind tuition through the use of peripatetic teachers so that children can become specialists in a chosen instrument.  The year 4 class is, learning to play the recorder.  

Our music curriculum is also supported and enhanced by the Barnsley Music Service who visit school to perform to the children and teach them about different instruments.

We also are very lucky because we have workshops with the Barnsley Youth Choir. They worked with our FS2/KS1 children and KS2 children to teach them about the importance of warming up their voices, play games to help understand pulse and rhythm and perform a group piece. 

We are very proud of our school choir, which plays an important role in the status of music in school.  The choir has a weekly practice session to learn new songs and techniques which the children perform on numerous occasions both in school and in the wider community. We also take aprt in Young Voices at Sheffield Arena. The children practise each week in choir and then are able to perform alongside 2,000 other children from across the South Yorkshire area to a live audience. 

Formative assessment is ongoing throughout each music lesson which allows teachers to closely monitor progress and attainment towards the music National Curriculum learning objectives. They then use these assessments to inform planning of future lessons and nurture the musical development of our pupils.

The Insight tracking system is used in school to collate and analyse summative assessments in music.  Our assessment systems highlight areas of need as well as children who require more challenge in their music curriculum.

Teaching and learning in music is monitored through work scrutinies, learning walks and discussions with children. Pupil voice plays an integral role in this process as it provides teachers and subject leaders with information relating to the views and opinions of children about their music experiences in school.

The knowledge and skills that children acquire through the teaching of music at Brierley School equips them for future learning.  It provides them with opportunities to develop a passion for music which can then be transferred into extra curricular activities.

Opportunities for your child

If your child would like to learn how to play an instrument or develop their singing ability, Barnsley Music Hub is the best place to start!

 

Mr Fuller is our guitar teacher who delivers lessons to small groups of children each week. He came into school to show the children all about the different types of guitar and even gave us an electric guitar demonstration. The children loved it!

 Here is the link to access the hub to find out more about Barnsley Music Hub. 

https://www.barnsleymusichub.com/for-schools

For further information about The Hub or if you have any questions about music opportunities for your child, please speak to Mrs.Gough who is the music lead in school.

Music Curriculum

All classes will be following the Charanga Model Music Curriculum Version 2 scheme of work from September 2023.

 

National Curriculum

• Aims
  The national curriculum for music aims to ensure that all pupils:
  perform, listen to, review and evaluate music across a range of historical periods,
  genres, styles and traditions, including the works of the great composers and
  musicians
• learn to sing and to use their voices, to create and compose music on their own and
  with others, have the opportunity to learn a musical instrument, use technology
  appropriately and have the opportunity to progress to the next level of musical
  excellence
• understand and explore how music is created, produced and communicated, including
  through the inter-related dimensions: pitch, duration, dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture,
  structure and appropriate musical notations.

Key stage 1
Pupils should be taught to:
Use their voices expressively and creatively by singing songs and speaking chants and rhymes
Play tuned and untuned instruments musically

Listen with concentration and understanding to a range of high-quality live and recorded music

Experiment with, create, select and combine sounds using the inter-related dimensions of music

Key stage 2
Pupils should be taught to sing and play musically with increasing confidence and control.
They should develop an understanding of musical composition, organising and manipulating ideas within musical structures and reproducing sounds from aural memory.
Pupils should be taught to:
Play and perform in solo and ensemble contexts, using their voices and playing musical instruments with increasing accuracy, fluency, control and expression
Improvise and compose music for a range of purposes using the inter-related dimensions of music
Listen with attention to detail and recall sounds with increasing aural memory
Use and understand staff and other musical notations
Appreciate and understand a wide range of high-quality live and recorded music drawn from different traditions and from great composers and musicians
Develop an understanding of the history of music.

How we promote Communication & Language, Personal, Social and Emotional Development and Physical Health and Wellbeing.

Music at Brierley allows our children to be creative, independent, learn new vocabulary, as well as demonstrate a sense of pride in their work. Positive relationships in school ensure that children get the opportunity to work collaboratively together on projects, as well as recognise how to sensitively respond to others when offering evaluations of their work.

Participation in musical activities develops physical skills including fine motor control and hand-eye co-ordination. It also has a positive effect on children’s well-being.

Through music children are enabled to discover how it has shaped our history and contributed to the culture, creativity and wealth of our nation and the wider world.

Through music we are teaching children how to comfort themselves, how to make friends, how to express themselves, connect with others, empathise and have fun.

Timetable of composers - this link will take you to our two year cycle of composers. The children will learn about each composer and listen to and appraise their music to broaden music knowledge throughout school.

The impact of Music at Brierley.

Brierley CE Primary School students exhibit a passion for music. They engage eagerly as listeners, performers, and composers. By the end of their journey at Brierley CE Primary School, students are capable of describing what they hear using musical terminology. They showcase their understanding of the interconnected aspects of music by incorporating these elements into their compositions and performances. This foundation equips children with the skills needed to transition smoothly into Key Stage 3. 

At Brierley CE Primary School, children enjoy a wide range of music from different countries, traditions, and times in history. They share their opinions on music and discuss what they hear, showing they understand how music can make people feel different emotions. They learn about various instruments, talk about the sounds they make, and recognise music from different historical periods. Starting with singing nursery rhymes in EYFS progressing to playing instruments in Key Stage 1. Finally, playing instruments in time with others in Key Stage 2 and show casing what they have been taught, children improve their listening skills through music.  

As they leave Brierley, children have the secure musical knowledge to continue to develop as musicians. The positive musical experiences they have received at school inspire a love of music that will enrich our children’s lives.   

Click on the image below to meet our Subject ambassador.

 

 

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