Music at Windy Arbor

I am a musician because I can listen, perform and discuss different kinds of music and pick out musical elements.

I can compose tunes and lyrics by singing, moving and playing instruments.

At Windy Arbor we value music and creativity acknowledging the benefits that this has on our children. We deliver a creative music curriculum which is practical and cyclical to provide a deep understanding of musical learning.

Our Music Curriculum Aims;

• To play and perform in solo and ensemble contexts, singing and playing musical instruments with increasing accuracy, fluency, control and expression
• To improvise and compose music for a range of purposes using the inter-related dimensions of music
• To listen with attention to detail and recall sounds with increasing aural memory
• To use and understand staff and other musical notations
• To appreciate and understand a wide range of high-quality live and recorded music drawn from different traditions and from great composers and musicians
• To develop an understanding of the history of music
• To have the opportunity to learn a musical instrument as part of Whole Class Instrumental Teaching

At Windy Arbor we use the Charanga scheme. This is because all musical learning in this scheme is built around the Interrelated Dimensions of Music: pulse, rhythm, pitch, tempo, dynamics, timbre, texture, structure and notation. These dimensions are at the centre of all the learning; they are musical building blocks. The scheme is an integrated approach to musical learning where games, the interrelated dimensions of music, singing and playing instruments are all linked (spiral of learning). Each year group has a set of Charanga units that they teach along with a topic-specific unit.