Music at Oldfield
The Music Curriculum at Oldfield follows the National Curriculum, aiming to inspire a love of music, develop creativity, and build musical skills. It provides pupils with opportunities to listen, perform, compose, and appreciate music across different genres, styles, and traditions.
Aims of the Music Curriculum
The curriculum ensures that all pupils:
Perform, listen to, review, and evaluate music across a range of historical periods, genres, styles, and traditions.
Learn to sing and use their voices, creating and performing music both individually and collaboratively.
Develop skills in playing instruments, including tuned and untuned percussion.
Compose music and experiment with combining pitch, duration, dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture, and structure.
Learn to read and write basic musical notation.
Develop an understanding of the history of music and the work of great composers and musicians.
Key Stage 1 (Ages 5-7)
In Key Stage 1, pupils are introduced to foundational musical skills. They:
Use their voices expressively through singing songs, chants, and rhymes.
Play simple tuned and untuned instruments to develop rhythm, pulse, and pitch.
Listen to and discuss a variety of high-quality live and recorded music.
Begin to experiment with creating and combining sounds to make simple compositions.
Example activities include singing nursery rhymes, clapping rhythms, playing percussion instruments, and exploring sounds in creative ways.
Key Stage 2 (Ages 7-11)
In Key Stage 2, pupils deepen their musical understanding and skills. They:
Sing and perform in solo and ensemble contexts with accuracy, control, and expression.
Play a wider range of musical instruments, improving technique and performance skills.
Develop their ability to improvise and compose music for specific purposes.
Learn to read and understand staff notation to represent music.
Listen to and appraise music from different traditions, cultures, and historical periods, understanding its structure and features.
Explore the works of great composers and musicians and their contributions to music history.
Example activities include performing in school concerts, composing music with classroom instruments, learning to play the recorder or ukulele, and studying composers such as Beethoven or contemporary musicians.
Progression and Integration
The Music Curriculum ensures steady progression in performance, composition, listening, and appraisal skills. Music often links with other subjects, such as history (exploring music from different eras), maths (understanding rhythms and patterns), and languages (learning songs in other languages).
By the end of primary school, pupils will have developed confidence in their musical abilities, an appreciation for music across cultures and time periods, and the skills to continue their musical journey in Key Stage 3 and beyond.