Music

“Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth.”
Psalm 96:1

At St. Clare’s, we encourage our children to view music as a powerful form of worship and expression. We emphasize that learning music allows everyone to connect with God and share their creativity with others. By sharing their talents, our students let their light shine, inspiring those around them and enriching our community through their gifts.

Catholic Social Teaching is integral to our whole curriculum. Here are some examples of where this can be seen in Music:

Dignity of the Human Person – This means every child has their own talents which they should be given the opportunity to explore and develop.  Many of our children love to develop their musical talents through singing, playing an instrument and composing.

Solidarity and the Common Good –  common good is built through music.  Listening to pieces of music in different styles and from across the ages is a really positive experience that brings people together. Exposing children to music from around the world builds solidarity; we are one world in music.

Family and Community In worship we raise our voices to God in song as a school community and we learn to both say and sing traditional prayers of the church.

The Option for the Poor and Vulnerable At St. Clare’s, every child learns to play an instrument with a specialist music tutor in Year 3 and 4. This is at no cost to the child or their family as we believe every child has the right to learn, play and develop their musical curiosity.

Intent

Music is a practical and creative expression of ideas, thoughts and feelings. Music provides opportunities to promote children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. It contributes greatly to the general ethos of the school.

At St Clare’s, our intent is to enable children:

• To 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

• To learn to sing and to 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

• To 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.

 Implementation

The music curriculum ensures children sing, listen, play, perform and evaluate. This is embedded in the classroom activities as well as singing assemblies, various concerts and performances and the learning of instruments.  Playing various instruments enables children to use a range of methods to create notes, as well as how to read basic music notation. They also learn how to compose, focusing on different dimensions of music, which in turn feeds their understanding when listening, playing, or analysing music. Composing or performing using body percussion and vocal sounds is also part of the curriculum, which develops the understanding of musical elements without the added complexity of an instrument.

Impact

Through Music, we endeavour to

• develop the whole person
• challenge, create and collaborate
• develop creativity and imagination through a range of complex activities
• improve the children’s ability to control materials, tools, instruments and techniques
• increase their critical awareness of the Arts in different times and cultures
• develop increasing confidence in the Arts
• foster an enjoyment and appreciation of the Arts and a knowledge of artists
• develop a range of subject-specific skills, such as understanding how music is made through a variety of interrelated dimensions and that it can be composed and written down

Wider Musical opportunities

Children also have the opportunity to take part in ‘Young Voices’ as an after school club, a national choir made up of hundreds of primary schools across the country. They learn a variety of songs from different cultures and genres, both old and modern and attend a concert at a major venue in the Spring term along with thousands of other children.

‘Through our unforgettable concerts, children discover their voices, gain confidence and create lasting memories.’

Young Voices 25

At the end of the school year, parents are invited, along with governors, to a concert that showcases each year group’s talents both singing and instrumental. Children relish the opportunity to ‘Let their Light Shine’ by playing and singing.

Each week, during whole school assemblies, children sing traditional and modern hymns,  linked to the church’s Liturgical year. These, along with our school song ‘This Little light of Mine’ become favourites as the children move through their time at St Clare’s.

Young Voices

Music Tuition

We use Resonate, Liverpool’s Music Hub, to plan and deliver music through Charanga teaching programme. In addition, Year 4 receive 1 hour’s tuition per week in Ukulele from a designated music specialist from the Hub whilst Year 3 receive tuition in Brass. As they progress through the school, children are also taught units of recorder and xylophone from the Charanga programme as part of their class music lessons.

Key Subject Documents