Music - To be reviewed September 2024
Vision Statement for Music
At St Thomas’, our music lessons and opportunities aim to inspire pupils to develop a love of music and their talent as musicians, and so increase their self-confidence and creativity. We aim for children, no matter the ability or previous experiences with music, to be able to use music as a way of expressing feelings and emotions in order to show case their talent and work together with others to foster collaboration and a sense of achievement.
Through our Music curriculum, we aim to enable the children to become enthusiastic, curious and independent thinkers, through developing and feeding their curiosity about music and the way in which we can alter the sound or layering of instruments.
St Thomas’ musicians will be motivated, reflective and resilient learners, through developing their ability to learn an instrument which takes time, dedicated practice and patience. Growing in confidence and resilience comes when children are encouraged to step outside of their comfort zone to perform and work together. They will develop their appreciation of how music has shaped our culture and lives, and the lives of others around the world in order to embrace the richness, diversity and creativity of other cultures. They will achieve this by creating conversations in response to a wide variety of musical genres, discussing how it makes them and others feel.
Our children will grow in respect, compassion and friendship through listening intently to each other when performing and encouraging each other when they may feel nervous or apprehensive. The children will learn to give and receive constructive feedback and suggestions for improvement, to enable them to reflect and further enhance their skills.
This will be done by offering a wide range of opportunities in addition to music lessons, including participating in orchestral and world music workshops, listening to professional musicians perform and talk about their experiences, experimenting with composition and performing in events in the local community and beyond.
We grow together in Music by:
- Providing the opportunities to develop a rapidly widening repertoire which they use to create original, imaginative, fluent and distinctive composing and performance work.
- Developing a musical understanding underpinned by high levels of aural perception, internalisation and knowledge of music, including high or rapidly developing levels of technical expertise by experimenting with different instruments, objects or even their body to compose.
- Developing awareness and appreciation of different musical traditions and genres.
- Gaining an excellent understanding of how musical provenance - the historical, social and cultural origins of music - contributes to the diversity of musical styles.
- Developing the ability to give precise written and verbal explanations, using musical terminology effectively, accurately and appropriately.
- Foster a passion for and commitment to a diverse range of musical activities.
As musicians, we aim to follow our school’s curriculum vision in order to
Be Curious, Be Knowledgeable, Be Creative, Be Compassionate,
Be Reflective, Be Courageous
Growing together through faith in Jesus Christ, ‘Let all you do be done in love.’
(1 Corinthians 16)