Music
How do we teach?
The Charanga Musical School Scheme provides week-by-week lesson support for each year group in the school. It 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.
Charanga Musical School Units of Work enable children to understand musical concepts through a repetition-based approach to learning. Learning about the same musical concept through different musical activities enables a more secure, deeper learning and mastery of musical skills.
All musical learning in this scheme is built around the Interrelated Dimensions of Music: pulse, rhythm, pitch, tempo, dynamics, timbre, texture, structure and notation. These dimensions are at the centre of all the learning.
We believe that as part of our curriculum offer, it is important for children to have access, at least once, to specialist teaching. This comes in the form of whole class strings lessons in Year 3. All children are loaned either a violin or cello for the year and their music lessons are led weekly by the specialist.
Children and parents who wish to can opt to ‘play on’ in Years 4-5. This means that they will continue to receive weekly tuition which builds on where the whole class teaching from Year 3 finishes.
A strength in closely working alongside the specialist teacher is that he is able to get to know pupils and support them further in small groups. This also extends to the offer around a school orchestra, where the strings teacher can work with a larger and more varied group to further develop their skills and knowledge.
Children’s work is celebrated through at least two concerts per year to parents and also other pupils where possible.
Why do we teach in this way?
Progression in a key skills is mapped out right across the primary age range. This ensures that activities around musical styles and genres are not only driven by variety but clear sequencing in terms of the knowledge and skills taught. These are broken down into: listening and appraising, games, singing, playing, improvisation, composition and performance.
Musical teaching and learning is not neat or linear. The strands of musical learning, presented within the lesson plans and the on-screen resources, are part of the learning spiral. Over time, children can both develop new musical skills and concepts, and re-visit established musical skills and concepts. Repeating a musical skill doesn’t necessarily mean their progress is slowing down or their development is moving backwards. It's just shifting within the spiral. Mastery means both a deeper understanding of musical skills and concepts and learning something new.
Oxfordshire County Music Service is the lead partner of the Oxfordshire Music Education Partnership (OMEP - the Music Education Hub for Oxfordshire) which provides and signposts a wide range of music services and tuition to young people (and some adults) in Oxfordshire.
OMEP’s work includes delivery of the government’s whole class instrumental programme in primary schools as well as individual and small group lessons, specialist teaching in primary and special schools, curriculum support and advice, a full programme of weekend and evening music schools, holiday courses for young musicians at all stages of learning, workshops, community projects and high level ensemble activities.
How is this adapted for vulnerable learners and high attainers?
Opportunities for further developing music based on interest are available throughout the school. We have access to play on (strings) for children in Year 3, 4 and 5, after they have taken part in whole-class first access to strings in Year 3. Children can also access school orchestra and wind instrument lessons. In addition, we work alongside a piano teacher who supports pupils across the school, with an interest in enabling children on the autistic spectrum to learn to play.
Specialist teaching enables all children to access string instruments which is made inclusive through the deployment of school staff where required, as well as providing further opportunities for those with an interest or talent.
