At Longstone CofE (VA) Primary School, music has always been a passion of the school and our overall aim in music is for our pupils to leave school with a sound understanding of appreciating, reading, performing and composing music. We aim to do this through nurturing the curiosity of music around them; igniting an interest in musical experiences and allowing their musical talents to shine. We provide numerous opportunities for children to grow their love of music and nurture their musical talents at Longstone. Children have the opportunity to learn a range of instruments from our array of very talented peripatetic teachers, who offer 1:1 weekly lessons. We also provide a variety of music clubs, such as recorders, ukulele and choir. Class teachers also provide weekly music teaching using a scheme called Charanga (endorsed by the Derbyshire Music Partnership), which develops a range of musical skills, such as appreciating, reading, performing and composing music. Children in KS2 also learn to play the clarinet. Emphasis is also placed on providing our children with opportunities to explore a range of genres, such as jazz, classical and pop, as well as use a range of musical terminology, such as timbre, tempo and texture. Our children are able to showcase their musical talents during assemblies, concerts and performances, which take place throughout the year.
Implementation
Here at Longstone, music is really important to us. There are many opportunities throughout the year for our children to develop and showcase their musical experience and knowledge. As well as having a topic-focused curriculum, which encompasses music, we are extremely lucky to have a range of daily visiting peripatetic teachers, who help our children to learn an instrument from an early age. We also encourage individuals to perform each week in our celebration assembly.
Through both curricular and extra-curricular music we aim to:
Foster a life-long love of music.
Equip our children with skills that develop their confidence and self-expression.
Develop the children's understanding and tolerance of others through a wide range of music experience.
Equip the children with enough music theory in order to facilitate their practical application.
Equip children with the musical knowledge to flourish at secondary school.
Expose children to a variety of musical genres and composers.
Develop the children's skills of performing, composing and appreciating music.
Curricular Music
The following video goes some way to explain how music may benefit your child:
As part of our curriculum, we cover a different topic each half term, so children are exposed to six topics and areas of learning throughout the year. Each area of learning incorporates the skills of performing, composing, musicianship (including music theory), and listening and appraising. By linking music to our topics, we are able to give a broad musical experience to our children, ensuring they are developing an appreciation for music from different genres and cultures.
Our weekly music lessons taught by class teachers involve tapping out rhythms; listening to and describing music from our termly composer, as well as composers that fit with particular topics; playing and performing pieces learnt on a variety of instruments and transcribing music. Children also hear and use musical vocabulary every week, so it soon becomes part of their everyday language.
Music Gallery
Instrumental lessons
We have a designated practice room that our peripatetic teachers use for lessons on a daily basis. Instrumental lessons currently taught to our children are:
Piano
Voice
Drums
Guitar
Bass Guitar
Violin
Cello
Woodwind - flute and clarinet
Brass - trumpet, cornet, trombone and french horn
If your child is interested in having instrumental lessons with one of our teachers, please contact the school office.
Our Special Longstone School 75th VE Day Video
Music is so important to us at Longstone School, that we have still been incorporating it, where possible, during the lockdown of 2020. We proved that even when apart you can create a musical masterpiece!
