SubjectsMusic

Our Curriculum Intent

Musical education plays a central role in shaping our sense of personal, social, and cultural identity and, as such, enables students to learn to express themselves and gain the confidence needed to succeed in their education. In addition, learning music develops a wide variety of transferable skills and attributes including independence, confidence, perseverance, and creativity.

Our curriculum enables our students to be able to:

• perform, listen to, review, and evaluate music.

• learn to sing and use their voice.

• create and compose music.

• have the opportunity to learn a musical instrument and use a range of technology.

• understand how music is created, produced, and communicated.

The objectives of our curriculum are met through the three core skills of Performing, Composing, and Listening and Appraising Music. All Cycles of Work aim to include these three core skills and include activities which enable students to work on their own, in pairs and small ensembles.

Alongside our classroom teaching, Music forms an important part of Academy life. Students have an enriched curriculum through a vibrant collection of musical ensembles, in conjunction with our Performing Arts Faculty, which we believe offer opportunities to a wide range of students, allowing them to collaborate with other musicians and thus develop their performance skills, understanding and love of the subject.

We endeavour to expose our students to live music including visits to the theatre and concerts. All students involved in music are given regular opportunities to perform in front of others, both as individuals and with various groups.

The Academy’s Vision has helped shape the Music curriculum choices. In topics such as Folk Music and Blues at Key Stage 3, we explore the Moral, Social and Ethical aspects of different cultures and the historical context of Music; whilst at Key Stages 4 and 5, students are encouraged to achieve their God-given potential through specialising in Performance and Composition.

Implementation

At Key Stage 3, Music is taught in mixed-ability groupings as part of a blended Performing Arts curriculum. We lay down the core skills and knowledge which underpin all Music-making through performance, composition and listening. Each Cycle requires new skills, such as greater instrumental dexterity or expression or new knowledge, such as further theoretical understanding of varying musical styles, and gives students the time and space to explore their creativity, independence, and self-awareness.

In accordance with the National Curriculum for Music, students refine their skills through composing, performing, and appraising with a focus on strengthening their keyboard technical skills. There are additional opportunities for students to play guitar, bass guitar, drums and a wide range of instruments during Music lessons and in extra-curricular groups such as After-Academy Rock band, our whole academy ‘One Body Choir’ and Keyboard Club. Disadvantaged students are supported through a bursary system and are actively encouraged to engage with individual Peripatetic instrument lessons.

Each piece of music chosen to study through performance or listening adds to the student’s cultural capital. We carefully choose a wide range of music from a range of cultures, traditions and countries, ranging from the Baroque period to the present day. We are aware of the historical importance of the local area and highlight local great composers such as Gustav Holst, musicals composer and performer Richard O’Brien and pop artists such as Brian Jones, founder of the Rolling Stones.

Key Stage 3 forms the foundation of knowledge and skills which are required for the step up to GCSE standard whilst complimenting their drama learning at the same time. By the end of Year 9, students have experience with all the fundamental building blocks of music, and so in GCSE, they can use these blocks to build better compositions, more intricate performances and listening analysis with greater use of specific musical language.

In Key Stage 4, students learn four key areas of study and build their knowledge of these, whilst reinforcing their listening and evaluating skills. They start to work on their first composition in Year 10 and regularly perform in class to develop their performance skills ready to record their final performances in Year 11. In the second year, they complete their two compositions and deepen their knowledge of each of the areas of study, focussing on wider listening of the great composers and other pieces within the areas of study. During Year 10, students are encouraged to begin taking instrumental lessons, if they have not previously had lessons, and choose an instrument or voice to specialise in for their performance element.

At Key Stage 5, we offer an ambitious Level Music curriculum. Music A Level builds on the skills developed during Key Stage 3 and 4. Students are expected to complete two compositions and perform a recital in front of a visiting examiner. Students are provided key work-related learning opportunities through visits to Royal Symphony Halls and Studios.

Literacy and numeracy play an important part in all Key Stages. From Year 7, students are expected to describe music using the Elements of Music using full sentences and using a range of musical vocabulary. As their learning develops, students must consider the Composer’s intentions and describe how the music portrays a scene, emotion, character, or atmosphere. For GCSE and A Level, students are encouraged to write a musical academic essay in their final listening and appraising exam. In all Key Stages, students are expected to reflect on class performances and compositions using full sentences as they assess their successes and how to improve.

Music is intrinsically linked to numeracy and students need to be able to understand note values, simple ratios and sequences when performing and composing music. As students progress, they need to understand more complex musical patterns, and phrases and understand how tempo is used about beats per minute.

In all areas of teaching, we apply the academy Principals of Teaching to strengthen students’ ability to retain and recall subject knowledge and important information. We encourage deeper learning through recall quizzes and retrieval listening tests. This is heavily supported in our curriculum with the use of our Curriculum Organisers to further develop their recalling and recapping of their learning. Our Music curriculum interlinks prior learning at every opportunity to consistently develop their learning and encourage deeper questioning in the subject.

Our cycle assessments are based on the Academy assessment model. At Key Stage 3, all Performance and Composition tasks are linked to the academy assessment levels of developing, achieving, and exceeding. Each cycle of learning has a clear set of measurable learning outcomes that assess the application of their technical skills. In Key Stage 4, students are provided with a copy of the criteria for both Performance and Composition at the start of the course so they can become familiar with the terminology and assessment criteria. Listening tests are completed as part of each cycle to ensure students are familiar with this aspect of the course.

Impact

Students will have engaged in an enriched Music curriculum and will have:

• Played and performed confidently in a range of solo and ensemble contexts using their voice or keyboard.

• Composed and improvised in a range of styles using keyboard, voice or through the use of Music technology.

• Understood basic music notation including lead sheets, rhythm notation and traditional notation in the treble, alto and bass clefs.

• Described musical styles from a variety of eras, cultures and traditions using a wide range of musical vocabulary including the Elements of Music (DRCATSMITH).

Previously, students have been involved in the biggest whole ensemble singing concert in the world, “Voice in a Million”, at Wembley Arena. We have organised composing and lyric writing workshops with Cheltenham Festival and initiated a cross-community choir with local primary Academies and community groups from the surrounding area called “Across the Sky”. The Performing Arts Faculty provides students with these opportunities to allow students to raise their aspirations and connect with like-minded people across the world.

Our successful Academy Choir has been invited to sing at events around the local area including singing in Gloucester Cathedral, at the Inauguration of the first female Diocesan Bishop, and the Holocaust Memorial event at the Cheltenham Municipal Chambers. Students benefit from the spiritual growth of giving back to the local community by Carolling in Care Homes at Christmas. In conjunction with the Performing Arts Faculty, students have performed in large-scale musicals including Les Misérables, Mary Poppins, Into the Woods and We Will Rock You which are exciting showcases that bring together students from Year 7 right through to Year 13.

Music could lead to a practical career in performing, songwriting, or composing – particularly in the TV, Film and Video Game industries. There are technical routes into producing or sound engineering, with talented individuals based in studios or on tour. Music enables students to demonstrate many transferable skills which employers, colleges and universities are looking for. The level of dedication and resilience required to learn an instrument or be part of a musical ensemble is an extremely desirable quality for a future employer. Alumni of the school have gone on to study Music, Musical Theatre and other Performing Arts courses at University and Music College.