Music

Curriculum overview

Children enjoy musical experiences through listening, singing, movement and dance and by playing tuned and untuned percussion from the earliest year groups.

Early Years examples: Learning the basics of rhythm through clapping in time, listening to and repeating different patterns and moving to a pulse. Children are also taught to sing through learning basic rhymes.

Key Stage 1 examples: Creating their own rhythms and holding different patterns in their heads while other beats are being played. Children start to develop an understanding of pitch and learn to pick out melodies from different pieces.

Key Stage 2 examples: Developing a greater understanding of different musical styles, recognising the differences between genres of music such as classical, jazz, rock, world and pop. Children gain experience of a wider range of tuned and untuned instruments.

Whole-class music lessons

In Year 4, every child has the opportunity to learn a musical instrument through whole-class teaching provided by the Haringey Music Service. This gives the children the invaluable experience of playing as part of an ensemble and learning to read musical notation.

As a result, children in Year 5 and 6 are working at a greater depth. They are expected to improvise and compose their own music (both sung and played), culminating in the Year 6 concerts and school play at the end of their time in St Michael’s.

Extra-curricular music

Outside of the curriculum, children have the opportunity to learn a range of instruments through Haringey Music Service such as piano and violin during school time. Children can also join the popular St Michael’s Choir and play in the orchestra. Pupils of all ages are also encouraged to perform during daily assemblies.

Throughout each academic year, all children get to show off their musical abilities through performances in class assemblies, church services and music concerts.