Loreto College St Albans

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Music

Intent

We want all students to develop their love and understanding of music regardless of their background or any prior access to the subject. As a Music department our intent is to become an alternate universe where the pupils are allowed to become almost unrecognisable from who they are outside of it. The shy becoming confident, the lonely being included and the lost becoming found. Music is inherently a practical subject and therefore we aim to develop the students’ knowledge and understanding of the subject by having them actively engage in lessons which present particular concepts in many forms. We aim to build students’ self-esteem and harness their creativity allowing them an opportunity to express themselves in an art form. In Music we aim to develop their Social Moral and communication skills the subject will create a link between the community and the school.

As students often present in year 7 with a very wide range of prior musical experience and ability, the KS3 Scheme of Work is designed to be flexible and can be easily adapted by the teacher to take into account the motivation and ability of any particular class. Throughout each lesson, we look to develop the students’ knowledge and understanding in four areas – performing/singing, improvising/composing, Critical Engagement and SMSC (Spiritual, Moral, Social, Cultural) and we approach this through a number of different genres of music and a range of musical activities. During KS3, activities may be specifically focused on one of these areas for the whole class or sometimes we may encourage groups of students to focus on different areas depending on their need. By the end of year 9, we aim to have taught the majority of the students how to creatively engage with music, developing their understanding of how music can be manipulated to reflect different moods and atmospheres. They will also have at least a basic understanding of music theory, taught through the different activities they will have experienced, as well as the musical contexts of the styles we have covered.

From Year 10, as well as continuing to develop the four areas, we also aim to develop the students understanding of music theory and context with the addition of the study of set works, looking much more at how different style and genres of music interlink. This builds directly on the knowledge and understanding of how music works that they have learnt in the lower school but they are now learning to apply this more formally. This continues into Year 12 with the addition of 4 part harmony.

Music Curriculum Maps

 

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