Departmental Aims

 

Our Music department team comprise of passionate teachers who are all skilled, experienced musicians with specialisms including strings, woodwind, voice, brass, guitar and percussion. We work closely to ensure our young people build on previous experience in an engaging, interactive and practical way.

 

We aim to:

 

• Engage students in learning about a wide variety of music genres, styles and contexts

 

• Build upon previous knowledge with specific music vocabulary, which becomes second nature to use and apply

 

• Create opportunities for students to practice, rehearse, perform and create music in a wide range of styles/genres

 

• Inspire a love of music and being part of a group

 

• Teach students how to notate music in an accessible and rewarding to enable them to progress to use and apply advanced composition techniques and performance directions.

 

• Explore the many ways music can be combined with other art forms and cross-curricular subject knowledge

 

• Encourage students to engage with forming and communicating personal opinions and judgements about the music they experience.

 

• Provide opportunities for students to meet professional musicians through workshops, trips and visits.

 

 

Year 7 overview:

 

We are aware that our students may have studied music either at primary school and/ or through alternative provision. To ensure students make progress, we draw upon a wide range of genres, skill-set and target criteria, to challenge all. Topic-related key words build subject knowledge acquisition and students are assessed on their ability to perform, analyse, create, notate, appraise and dissect the music they’re exposed to.

 

In Year 7 pupils begin their musical quest studying the following areas:

 

• Film and Programme Music

 

• Musical Theatre (Stomp!)

 

• Reggae

 

• Rap

 

• Vox

 

• World Music

Year 8 overview:

 

In Year 8, we build upon the foundations of musical understanding learned in Year 7 to refine skills and enhance creative, evaluative, analytical and performance abilities. Theory work continues to be actively supported by practical application. To provide a rich and rounded opportunity to develop individual strengths, students:

 

• Complete ABRSM graded music theory

 

• Perform using two instruments. All students develop vocal ability through the year.
  Students also choose their own specialist instrument from: guitar, piano, ukulele or drums.

 

• Project work.

 

At the end of Year 8 your child will be placed into a pathway for their Options Choices. Those who choose to continue studying music will commence preparatory studies in advance of BTEC certification in Year 11.

Music