Music
At Gilmour Primary School, we use Charanga’s Model Music Curriculum to teach music. The Model Music Curriculum (MMC) sets out sequences of learning in the following key areas: singing, listening, composing and performing.
The MMC takes as its starting point the ambition that every young person should be able to experience music and to make progress. It is founded on the belief that music enriches individual lives as well as a school’s wider community. By offering a rich and varied musical framework that nurtures fundamental musical techniques alongside building musical knowledge, it offers a clear pathway towards mature musical understanding.
Our school also offers several enrichment opportunities including; learning ukulele, working with the Liverpool Cathedral Choir Project, performing at Arts Night, engaging with the Liverpool Philharmonic School Concerts and the chance to learn
several musical instruments.
Our music curriculum is guided by the following core concepts:
- Performing, Listening, and Evaluating: Pupils will explore, listen to, and review music from a variety of historical periods, genres, styles, and traditions, including the works of renowned composers and musicians.
- Singing, Creating, and Composing: Pupils will learn to sing, use their voices creatively, and compose music both independently and collaboratively. They will also have opportunities to learn musical instruments, use technology appropriately, and progress to higher levels of musical excellence.
- Understanding Music: Pupils will gain an understanding of how music is created, produced, and communicated through key elements such as pitch, duration, dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture, structure, and musical notation.
By using a variety of instruments and their voices, we aim to spark creativity and curiosity. Pupils are given opportunities to create original compositions and are encouraged to comment, evaluate, and provide constructive feedback on their own work and that of their peers in a supportive environment.
Performing is a key aspect of our music curriculum. At Gilmour Primary, we strive to give all pupils the confidence to perform, creating a safe and welcoming environment for them to explore music.
Charanga Scheme Overview
The Charanga Musical School Scheme provides teachers with week-by-week lesson support for each year group in the school. It is ideal for specialist and non-specialist teachers and provides lesson plans, assessment, clear progression, and engaging and exciting whiteboard resources to support every lesson. The Scheme supports all the requirements of the national curriculum.
In line with the curriculum for music and guidance from Ofsted, this Scheme moves away from the previous levels and learning objective/outcome concepts to an integrated, practical, exploratory and child-led approach to musical learning.
How the Scheme is structured
Each Unit of Work comprises the of strands of musical learning which correspond with the national curriculum for music:
1. Listening and Appraising
2. Musical Activities
- Warm-up Games
- Optional Flexible Games
- Singing
- Playing instruments
- Improvisation
- Composition
3. Performing
Content:
