Music
The teaching and learning of Music at Little Digmoor links directly to our whole school curriculum intent.
We believe music is an important, powerful and unique form of communication which enables personal expression, reflection and emotional development. As an integral part of all cultures, past and present, music helps pupils understand themselves and relate to others, forging important links between home, school, the local community and the wider world.
Our music curriculum provides a well-structured approach to the learning of music. The emphasis is on enjoyment and practical involvement and the children are encouraged and motivated to discover and develop their own skills as much as possible. We have chosen to use the Charanga music scheme because it is flexible and can be adapted to our children’s needs. Through its use of a broad and inclusive range of music and a wide and varied range of artists from across the world, we aim for our children to appreciate the diversity of music.
Children are taught music through a range of musical activities: understanding music, listening, singing, playing instruments, improvising, composing and performing
We are developing music at Little Digmoor in line with the New Model Music Curriculum which can be found here.
From September 2024, music lessons in class will focus on playing instruments. Through Early Years and Key Stage 1, children will learn to play a range of percussion instruments with increasing control and technique and will be introduced to a range of musical elements through this. Once in Year 2, children will learn tuned instruments, beginning with the glokenspiels which they will learn for two years so that they have time to develop their technique and repertoire. Once in Year 4, children will begin keyboard lessons, which they will continue until they leave Little Digmoor. We have chosen keyboards and glokenspiels as they have the same layout of keys and so the children can easily build on their skills and knowledge.
Singing lessons take place weekly in whole school sessions. In addition, Key Stage 2 children can join the choir which practices for end of term performances.
Interwoven through these activities are the musical elements of pulse, rhythm, pitch, tempo, dynamics, timbre, texture and structure. To find out what each of these words mean click here.
It is our intent to inspire all children, regardless of ethnicity, culture, religion, home language, family background, learning difficulties, disabilities, gender or ability to gain a love for listening to and participating in music, a firm belief in their own musical abilities and a desire to progress their musical skills