Music

“Music is a more potent instrument than any other for education because rhythm and harmony find their way into the inward places of the soul.” – Plato

Millfields Primary School values the contribution that the arts have to play in a well rounded and diverse curriculum. Music is an integral part of this and we follow the guidance of the Model Music Curriculum, supported by resources from the Essex Music Hub and its Charanga programme, to provide exciting and progressive music provision.

The main strands of our music curriculum are:

- Singing, Playing and Performing

- Listening and Musicianship

- Improvising and Composing

Our intention is to create an environment in which pupils feel inspired and connected through exposure to  a large range of musical cultures and styles. Pupils will be given the opportunity to play a large range of instruments, from Reception onwards. Woodwind instruments provide the spine of performance progression through the school, beginning with recorders before moving onto TOOTs (a simplified flute) and, finally, larger scale ensemble sessions in Key Stage 2.

Composition is achieved in a range of ways, in combination with other artistic areas, giving pupils many ways in which to engage in this area. Formal traditional notation is used but more abstract and creative ways of composing are encouraged to build imagination and innovation in a safe, supportive environment.

Listening and evaluating is embedded throughout the school environment, such as through our composer curiosity provision where children have exposure to particular artists over an extended period of time. More focussed investigation of particular composers is aligned to our curriculum themes.

Overall, the music provision at Millfields is intended to encourage the love of music and awareness of the huge range of benefits that it can bring: improving mental health, building confidence, pattern recognition and sheer enjoyment. We want children to leave our school with the confidence to express themselves in unique and exciting ways. 

Music Development Plan
Our Music Development Plan provides information about our music provision for the academic year across three areas – curriculum music, co-curricular provision and musical experiences – and our plans for subsequent years. It also provides information about partnerships that support us with our music provision.

We hope that this information will help pupils and parents or carers understand what we offer and who we work with to support our pupils’ music education, as well as how we plan to develop our provision in the future.

Listening to Music
‘Listening to music is fundamental to musical understanding. By learning to listen critically, pupils will not only expand their musical horizons but also gain a deeper understanding of how music is constructed and the impact it can have on the listener. Listening to a broad range of music also helps develop other areas of musical activity, including composing and performing. 

Music is one of the central building blocks of any culture and the shared knowledge of music is crucial cultural capital in understanding where we came from and our place in the world. An inclusive approach to this cultural capital is represented in this document to encourage pupils to be open minded in their listening as well as knowledgeable about the breadth of musical genres in the world today.’  
(Model Music Curriculum, DfE)

In order to create a culture of musical appreciation and understanding within our school, in addition to providing opportunities for listening and appraising within curriculum music lessons, we also provide our children with the opportunity to listen to a wide range of music through our Composer Curiosity programme and through Musician of the Month. 

Composer Curiosity
To provide our pupils with the opportunity to listen to a broad range of music during their time at Millfields, we have allocated some composers to each year group so that, throughout each year, the children listen to music by a variety of composers from different periods and musical traditions.

Over a period of several weeks, the children are introduced to their composer and then, at various points during the week, they listen to their composer’s music so that they can become familiar with their work and develop their knowledge of music history and the breadth of musical genres in the world.

In Reception, the children have been allocated two composers each half term. In all of our other classes two to three composers have been allocated for each quarter of the year. 

Musician of the Month
Unlike Composer Curiosity, Musician of the Month is a focus for the whole school. Each month a musician is introduced to the whole school in an assembly and the children listen to their music during assemblies and transition points around the school during the day. 

Performing
‘…there is little doubt that regular exposure to music, and especially active participation in music, may stimulate development of many different areas of the brain. Takako Fujioka and her colleagues, for example, looking at children with a single year of violin training (compared to children with no training), recorded striking changes in activity in the brain’s left hemisphere. In terms of brain development, musical performance is every bit as important educationally as reading or writing.’
Oliver Sacks, Neurologist & Writer (Source: Musicophilia: Six Questions for Oliver Sacks Interview, 2009)

Whole Class Music Tuition
At Millfields we want every child to have the opportunity to learn to play a musical instrument. From Year 1 to Year 6 each class learns to play a musical instrument in whole class music lessons for at least one quarter each year:

Year 1: Glockenspiel

Year 2: Recorder

Year 3: Recorder

Year 4: Toot

Year 5: Toot/Mixed ensemble

Year 6: Mixed Ensemble

In addition to the whole class provision listed above, each class also receives African drumming tuition for one quarter, taught by our drumming teacher, Hassan.

Extra Curricular Activities
At Millfields we currently have a Performance Choir and two recorder groups. We also run an O2 Choir during the Autumn Term in preparation for our annual participation in the Young Voices concert.

Music Leader - Mrs Natasha Bennett

Music Link Governor - Mrs Libby Britcher

Part of the Arts team.