Music

Curriculum Intent

Music is a universal language that is heard all around us; it is the soundtrack to our lives and has the ability to add an extra dimension to any situation. It has the power to develop pupils emotionally as well as being proven to enhance academic development. The music curriculum at Corpus Christi is creative, collaborative, celebratory and challenging. It is designed to engage and inspire pupils and its overarching aim is to develop breadth of knowledge, skill and personal development. Music at Corpus Christi is designed to bring pupils together and allows pupils to express themselves and connect with people from a variety of backgrounds. Through practical group work pupils are encouraged to use and develop personal transferable life skills such as communication, teamwork, self-motivation, and organisation, that will enrich their lives no matter what their chosen pathway. They are also encouraged to develop problem solving techniques and resilience as well as developing physical dexterity and co-ordination. The curriculum at Corpus Christi is inclusive and accessible for everyone to be actively involved irrelevant of prior learning, background, or extra-curricular involvement. The combination of a diverse, quality-focused curriculum, and a rich extra-curricular culture arms pupils with a growth-based mindset. This gives pupils the opportunity to grow in confidence, creativity, and sense of achievement and enjoy social, emotional, and mental health benefits that come from a genuine enjoyment and love for music.

At Corpus Christi we are not solely striving to teach music to encourage pupils to go on to study music at further education, but also to develop a genuine love of music making. If our music making experiences encourage pupils at some point in their life to go and join a community ensemble, which will in turn give them social opportunities, or supports them in developing a hobby that improves their mental health or helps develop their confidence and self-belief then our intent is successful. Even though a career within the Music Industry may be the goal for some pupils, this is not the goal for other pupils, yet music can still contribute to their both their academic success and overall wellbeing.

Aims

The national curriculum for music aims to ensure that all pupils:

Perform, listen to, review and evaluate music across a range of historical periods, genres, styles and traditions, including the works of the great composers and musicians.
Learn to sing and use their voices, to create and compose music on their own and with others, have the opportunity to learn a musical instrument, use technology appropriately and have the opportunity to progress to the next level of musical excellence.
Understand and explore how music is created, produced, and communicated, including through the inter-related dimensions: pitch, duration, dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture, structure and appropriate musical notations.

Taking this into consideration, the music department at Corpus Christi believes pupils should meet these aims and explore their creativity through a variety of engaging, practical topics that have equal focus on knowledge, skill, analysis, and personal development. Our aim is for pupils to want to get involved, want to set themselves high expectations to succeed and engage in musical experiences they may not elsewhere get the opportunity to engage with. Our aim is to spark pupils’ interest, develop inquisitive, creative minds and give pupils the confidence to continue to explore breadth of music knowledge and skill well into their future.

Subject Content Key Stage 3

Pupils should consolidate and extended their knowledge and skills across a range of different musical settings. They will develop their theoretical music knowledge as well developing musical performance skills. Pupils should develop their teamwork and communication skills through ensemble music making and will have the opportunity to work both in small groups and as a whole class. Pupils will explore, compose, and perform music from different historical periods, genres, styles, and traditions (some of which include African Drumming, Samba, Blues, British Rock & Pop music, Rap and the Classical Orchestra). They will learn to play a variety of instruments, including keyboards, djembes, ukuleles, samba instruments, tuned percussion and their voices. Pupils will have the opportunity to use traditional acoustic instruments as well as exploring the use of music technology to create, record, and produce music. They should develop their understanding of the bigger picture of the music industry and how music is heard all around us. Pupils should develop their ability to be critical thinkers and be reflective practitioners of their own, and their peers, work. They should develop their ability to identify their own strengths and areas to develop from a given success criteria.

Pupils should be taught:

Knowledge – develop their theoretical musical knowledge including:

How to read and write music using staff notation.
How to follow expressive musical performance directions on sheet music.
How to read chord charts.
Key tier 3 terminology that overarches every scheme of work including the elements of music (rhythm, pulse, structure, timbre, texture and dynamics).
Context, origin and key features of a variety of genres and cultures including; African Drumming, Reggae, The Blues and Samba music.

Skills – develop their performance skills including:

Ability to keep a steady pulse and perform in time with other pupils.
Ability to apply theoretical knowledge of reading music to a practical, instrument-based task.
Ability to develop specific instrumental playing techniques. For example, finding notes on a keyboard, using the correct fingers, finding chords on the fretboard of a ukulele, developing strumming patterns, performing with correct technique on a djembe.
Ability to apply understanding of the elements of music to enhance a performance.
Ability to use transferable life skills to offer creative ideas to group work, have high expectations and self-motivate in order to use rehearsal time wisely.

Analysis and reflection – develop their ability to analyse and reflecting including:

Ability to offer creative ideas during group work and being able to make decisions.
Ability to offer constructive feedback to others based on a success criteria.
Ability to have own high expectations, resilience and own desire to succeed.
Ability to provide continuous formative self-reflection – analysing own progress by identifying own strengths and areas for development throughout the topic.
Providing summative end of topic self-reflection – analysing own progress by identifying own strengths and areas for development at the end of the topic and reflecting again both their own starting points and the given success criteria.

KS3 Overview

Year 7

Finding Your Voice

To understand the core knowledge of pitch and pulse
To understand how and why it is important to warm up the voice
To understand what diction is and perform with good diction
To understand what a scale is and take part in practical activities
To understand how singing is used in the world around us
To be able to sing as part of an ensemble with a steady pulse
To be able to sing in tune and maintain a part during two-part harmony
To perform as part of a group performance with accurate pitch and a steady pulse
To be reflective and evaluation work using musical keywords

The Roots of Rhythm and Pulse

To understand the core knowledge of rhythm and pulse
To be able to perform with a steady pulse as a member of an ensemble
To understand how to read, write and perform a variety of note value durations
To understand the difference between ‘rhythm’ and ‘pulse’
To understand the difference between ‘note’ and ‘beat’
To understand musical elements and how to add them to a performance
To contribute to group ‘Stomp-style’ composition by offering ideas and showing self-motivation
To perform as part of a group performance with rhythmic accuracy and a steady pulse
To be reflective and evaluation work using musical keywords

African Drumming Part 1

To understand the context of African music and African percussion instruments
To be able to hold a djembe correctly and performing 2 sounds with correct technique
To understand core knowledge of rhythm and pulse
To be able to perform with a steady pulse, including during polyrhythms
To contribute to a whole class African Drumming performance
To contribute to group work by offering ideas and showing self-motivation
To compose, prepare and organise an African Drumming group performance that is accurate, fluent and uses musical elements.
To perform as part of a group performance with rhythmic accuracy and a steady pulse
To be reflective and evaluation work using musical keywords

Perfect Pitch

To understand what pitch is and the difference between high and low pitch in the context of vocals and instruments
To understand what a scale is and be able to play one on tuned percussion and keyboard
To understand how to read and write music notation on the treble clef stave and work out the pitch of the notes
To understand the difference between melody and accompaniment
To be able to find notes on the keyboard and be able to play a melody with correct rhythm, pitch and with fluency
To contribute to group rehearsal time when preparing for a performance
To take part in a pair performance on keyboard, ensuring both rhythm and pitch are accurate
To be reflective and evaluation work using musical keywords

Instruments of the Orchestra

To understand the different families of instruments in an orchestra and the basic layout of a Western Classical Orchestra
To be able to identify (aurally and visually) the main instruments of the Western Classical Orchestra
To understand the role of a conductor
To understand how to read performance directions on a stave
To take part in a class performance focusing on a steady pulse and following the conductor
To demonstrate excellent etiquette during both rehearsal and performance
To contribute to practical work by offering ideas and showing self-motivation
To be reflective and evaluation work using musical keywords

Year 8

Let’s Samba!

To understand the context of Samba music
To understand, and recognise, Samba key features including instrumentation, syncopation, structure, call & response, polyrhythms, performance features
To understand how to read and perform a variety of note value durations
To understand musical elements and how to add them to a performance
To take part in a class performance with accuracy and fluency
To contribute to group work by offering ideas and showing self-motivation
To contribute to a group composition of a Call & Response, Main Groove and Break using a variety of rhythms successfully
To compose, prepare and organise a Samba performance that is accurate, fluent and contains all 3 sections
To perform with accuracy and a steady pulse with good understanding of Samba key features
To be reflective and evaluation work using musical keywords

Introduction to Music Technology

To understand how to navigate Mac OSX, access files on a shared drive and store work in an appropriate format and location
To understand how to operate the Garageband playback controls
To be able to recreate simple 4/4 drum pattern and chord progression using sequencing
To be able to copy and paste ideas within tracks
To understand how to use some simple production techniques including volume automation and panning
To be able to record in a simple melody idea from the keyboard.
To be reflective and evaluation work using musical keywords

The Blues

To understand where Blues music originated from
To understand, and recognise, Blues key features including improvisation, syncopation, and instrumentation
To understand how to build chords (triads) by counting semitones
To perform the 12-bar Blues using full chords on the keyboard
To develop ability to read music on a stave
To perform ‘The Downbeat Blues’ melody on keyboard
To improvise on the keyboard using notes from the Blues scale
To prepare and organise a Blues performance on keyboard that includes The Downbeat Blues melody, the 12-bar Blues chord progression and improvisation
To perform with a steady pulse and keeping in time with a partner and/or backing track
To input performance into Garageband
To be reflective when evaluating work and using musical keywords successfully

Ukulele and the 4-chord trick

To be able to recognise and name different parts of the ukulele
To understand how to hold and play a ukulele with correct technique
To understand what a chord is and be able to read chord charts
To use chord charts to work out where to place fingers on the ukulele
To learn how to play 6 chords on the ukulele: C, Am, F, G, D, Em
To understand how to follow strumming patterns and strum correctly (including syncopation)
To take part in whole class performances using correct technique in time with a backing track
To understanding how to read follow music notation including repeat signs, block rests and note lengths
To contribute to rehearsal by offering ideas and showing self-motivation
To perform with accuracy and a steady pulse with good understanding of Ukulele technique
To be reflective and evaluation work using musical keywords

Year 9

African Drumming Take Two

To understand more advanced knowledge of rhythm and pulse
To be able to perform with a steady pulse, including during polyrhythms
To be able to perform more complex, syncopated rhythms
To be able to sing traditional African songs, whilst also playing an accompaniment on the djembe
To contribute to a whole class performance
To contribute to group work by offering ideas and showing self-motivation
To compose, prepare and organise a group performance that is accurate, fluent and uses musical elements.
To perform as part of a group performance with rhythmic accuracy and a steady pulse
To be reflective and evaluation work using musical keywords

Reggae Release

To understand, and recognise, Reggae key features
To develop ability to read music on a stave
To perform Buffalo Soldier melody on the keyboard in time with a backing track
To prepare and organise a Reggae performance on Garageband using a backing track
To use music technology to produce an accurate recreation of Buffalo Soldier
To be reflective when evaluating work and using musical keywords successfully

Music for Film

To understand how music is used in the media and the world around us
To understand how music adds to a scene of a film by adding drama and emotion.
To understand what a leitmotif is and be able to play a leitmotif on the keyboard
To understand the difference between diagetic and non-diagetic music is
To understand how composers use the elements of music within film music
To develop ability to compose own creative ideas
To be able to layer up different parts (texture) and create fluency between sections
To input creative ideas into Garageband
To be reflective when evaluating work and using musical keywords successfully

The Rise of British Rock and Pop

To understand key features of music from each decade between 1950 and 1990.
To understand how British popular music developed throughout this era
To understand, and recognise, key instrumentation used in popular music and the roles of the instruments
To develop ability to read music on a stave and learn how to play a Britpop melody on the keyboard
To develop understanding of how to build chords (triads) by counting semitones
To prepare and organise a Britpop performance on keyboard / ukulele that includesboth a melody and chord accompaniment.
To perform with a steady pulse and keeping in time with a partner and/or backing track
To be reflective when evaluating work and using musical keywords successfully

KS4 Overview

2-year plan for 2023 leavers:

Pupils in Year 11 (2023 leavers) are studying the BTEC Level 1/2 First Award in Music.

Year 10

Term 1	· Basic theory · Compositional techniques · Introducing Soundtrap software · Mock compositions
Term 2	· Unit 4 (Introducing music composition)
Term 3	· Unit 4 completion and hand-in · Introduce Unit 5 (Introducing music performance)

Year 11

Term 1	· Unit 1 (The Music Industry) exam content · Continue with Unit 5
Term 2	· Unit 1 exam (12^th January 2023) · Unit 2 (Managing a Music Product) · Continue with Unit 5
Term 3	· Unit 2 completion and hand in · Unit 5 completion and hand in (including practical performance)

2-year plan for 2024 leavers:

Year 10

Term 1	Introduction · Basic theory · Compositional techniques · Introducing Soundtrap software · Mock compositions Unit 2 (Creating) · Unit 2 Task 1 (creative brief) · Begin Unit 2 Task 2 (development log)
Term 2	Unit 2 (Creating) · Continue Unit 2 Task 2 (development log) · Unit 2 Task 3 (presentation) · Unit 2 Task 4 (evaluation)
Term 3	Unit 1 (Performing) · Unit 1 Task 1a (initial research) · Unit 1 Task 1b (influence and impact) · Unit 1 Task 2 (rehearsal schedule) · Begin Unit 1 Task 3 (reflective journal)

Year 11

Term 1	Unit 1 (Performing) · Continue Unit 1 Task 3 (reflective journal) · Unit 1 Task 4 (performance) · Unit 1 Task 5 (evaluation) Unit 3 (Performing Arts in Practice) · Introductory learning
Term 2	Unit 3 (Performing Arts in Practice) · Discuss the brief in general terms, and how this could affect the outcomes. · Create ideas for proposal. · Unit 3 Task 1 · Unit 3 Task 2 · Unit 3 Task 3 · Unit 3 Task 4 · Unit 3 Task 5 · Unit 3 Task 6
Term 3	Unit 3 (Performing Arts in Practice) · Unit 3 Task 7

Reading

Reading opportunities must be set in line with the schools reading strategy (CARE). The music curriculum supports reading in the curriculum in a variety of ways the use of (and teacher modelling of) tier 3 vocabulary, an opportunity for pupils to be read to (for example when sharing unit learning outcomes or musical context), a differentiated consideration of reading ages when supplying resources and giving pupils the opportunity to read after expectations have been shared through modelling. The music curriculum also has high expectations that pupils answer questions in full sentences wherever appropriate, and pupils have the opportunity to have a second opportunity to answer a question once content of the answer is secure. A large part of reading in the music curriculum is in the form of reading music notation, a language in its own right. Pupils learn how to read this universal language and apply this knowledge to both practical tasks and knowledge checks. Pupils also learn how to read musical performance directions and expression in the form of musical symbols or Italian music terminology. Pupils are in mixed ability groups in music, so many strategies may need to be implemented for differentiation.

Assessment

At Corpus Christi, we believe that high quality summative assessment must primarily enable pupils to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding acquired throughout the implementation of the planned curriculum. Subsequently, this will allow teachers to measure the progress made by pupils through the curriculum, in relation to learning outcomes set out in schemes of work. In measuring the extent to which pupils have acquired knowledge and a secure understanding, teachers will be able identify gaps in learning, to inform future teaching and planned interventions.

In the music department the Head of Music has a clear, shared rationale and ensures that assessments are checked and verified with their line manager. The Head of Music also ensures that there is a clear and shared rationale for the awarding of progress grades. This will incorporate the use of formative assessment, enabling teachers to use their daily feedback through questioning and marking, to inform decisions related to progress grades.

At Corpus Christi, all assessments in music must be suitably challenging whilst meeting the needs of all pupils. In the music department suitable points for summative assessment are chosen by the Head of Music ensuring that they are embedded into the planned curriculum. As pupils are taught in mixed ability groups, assessments are differentiated by outcome (with extra challenge wherever necessary) to ensure that all pupils can demonstrate their understanding and can make outstanding progress through the curriculum. It is the responsibility of each teacher to ensure their classes are suitably ready for assessments and all content has been covered thoroughly, considering the needs of all pupils.

The schemes of work allow teachers to frequently monitor pupil’s progression internally within the department, because pupils must demonstrate their learning and understanding in a practical way most lessons. Advantageously, this provides the teacher with a clear measurement of pupil achievement and their ability to perform, make and respond in relation to the progress pathway criteria and/or the KS4 mark scheme. Frequent monitoring will inform teacher planning, differentiation or intervention strategies that need to be implemented so that pupils progress.

Assessment and self- evaluation during KS3 and 4 will be fluid as our pupils will be encouraged to become reflective practitioners. Self-reflection is taught in amongst the schemes of work and will allow pupils to observe modelled teacher reflection as well as give them opportunities to coach their peers in a constructively similar way. This will be overseen by the class teacher and modelled so that pupils can self-assess productively. Teacher assessment will inform planning in the curriculum and assessment cycles

In KS3 music pupils are assessed on both skill and knowledge for each topic and assessment is both formative and summative. For skill, pupils are formatively assessed on their practical progress and development throughout the topic as well as a summative end of topic practical assessment. For knowledge, questioning and knowledge recall contributes to formative assessment and for summative assessment pupils complete a self-reflection and a knowledge check test. At the end of each topic, teachers will record 3 scores:

The knowledge check mark (%)
An effort score for that topic (1-4)
An attainment score for practical work, considering both rehearsal and final performance (1-4).

When it comes to whole school data reporting, the school progress grade (1-4) is given based on a holistic approach from all topics completed so far that year. It considers practical attainment as well as pupil starting points therefore represents progress made to date.

For further information regarding our Music curriculum please contact:
Miss Lofthouse, email: slof@ccc.lancs.sch.uk or telephone school reception: (01772) 716912.