Music
Our Music Curriculum:
“Music is the divine way to tell beautiful, poetic things to the heart."
Pablo Casals
Our vision for music:
At St. Bartholomew’s, it is our intent to inspire all children to fosters a music curiosity and develops cultural awareness and appreciation for music all around the world. Within each unit of learning, students revisit existing knowledge and skills and then build upon and extend them incrementally. In this manner, learning is consolidated and augmented, allowing for increasing musical confidence, while constantly being gently challenged to go further. It also has a positive impact on the mental health and well-being of children. The music curriculum supports this by being engaging, fun, inclusive and progressive. The curriculum overview demonstrates how children build on prior knowledge alongside introducing new skills and enhancing them further to become fluent and confident musicians. Our music programme enables pupils to develop self-assurance, cultural awareness, respect, resilience, oral clarity and creativity. Independence is also instilled so that we can provide a solid foundation for learning music.
The skills of a great music student:
Listening - a key skill in music to allow pupils to respond to the music they hear and perform alongside fellow musicians.
Perseverance - learning an instrument can be frustrating. It takes real resilience to stick at the practice, even though you know it will be difficult
Problem solving - music doesn't always have one, clear-cut answer. There are plenty of opportunities to find creative and unique solutions.
Creativity - playing music is a wonderful way to express yourself. The way you approach and interpret your music is unique, only to you.
Thinking on the spot - Music requires you to repeatedly make split-second decisions. It forces you to think quickly on your toes.
Confidence - performing in front of others is an incredibly brave thing to do, whether it is an audience of one or a large group
Communication and collaboration - the ability to work as part of a team is vital, discussing ideas and supporting each other.
Our music curriculum aims to:
•Develop skills, knowledge and understanding to think and act spiritually and morally, to engage in the culture in which they live and to understand and appreciate the cultures of others.
•Provide a rich, engaging and memorable programme of study which is tailored to the needs of our pupils and one which overcomes potential barriers to learning that we as a school identify.
•Develop pupils’ subject specific knowledge, understanding and skills, inspires a love of learning and is aligned with national intent so that pupils can reach and exceed their potential to directly impact their life chances and own future aspirations.
•Develop the behaviours that pupils will need to succeed in the world and will create confident and successful life-long learners.
•Inspire pupils to learn with a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people.
What does music look like at St Bartholomew's?
If you visited a music lesson at St Bartholomew's, you would see:
• Enthusiasm and passion for music.
• Children using musical vocabulary confidently.
• Practical lessons, with children engaged in listening, singing, composing or performing throughout.
• Children given the opportunity to perform, both individually and in groups.
• Children using appropriate musical instruments.
The musical journey of our pupils:
During their time at St Bartholomew's, there are many extra-curricular music or performance-based activities for children to attend. We have a school choir for children from Year 2 to Year 6 and four Rocksteady bands. In addition to more formal performances, whenever possible, our choir 'give back' to their community with appearances at the Rainhill Christmas Light Switch On and Lost in Music Concert at St Helens Town Hall. At St Bartholomew's , we are constantly evaluating our music offer and frequently look at taking part in projects which we feel will enhance our children’s musical experiences.
