Music

'Music is a universal language that embodies one of the highest forms of creativity. As pupils progress, they should develop a critical engagement with music, allowing them to compose, and to listen with discrimination to the best of the musical cannon.'(The National Curriculum)
Music is more than a subject - it surrounds us, fuels our emotions, is engrained in every culture and is necessary to human existence and navigating life. Skills that can be learnt and fostered within the music curriculum are diverse and can be used everywhere; listening skills, collaboration, concentration, self-control, time management, problem-solving, patience, adaptability, to name just a few.

 At St Margaret Clitherow School we encourage every child to develop appropriate skills through which they can express ideas, thoughts, enjoyment and feelings through music making. At present, we employ a specialist music teacher for one day per week. He teaches classes from Nursery to Year 6. We follow Music's Cool Scheme which is a primary curriculum programme for schools, providing high quality music lessons, linked to the National Curriculum and delivered by music specialists in over 30 Brent primary schools. We make music an enjoyable learning experience. We encourage children to participate in a variety of musical experiences through which we aim to build up the confidence of all children. Our teaching focuses on developing the children’s ability to sing in tune and with other people. Through singing songs, children learn about the structure and organisation of music. We teach them to listen and to appreciate different forms of music. As children get older, we expect them to maintain their concentration for longer and to listen to more extended pieces of music. Children develop descriptive skills in music lessons when learning about how music can represent feelings and emotions. We teach them the disciplined skills of recognising pulse and pitch. Also, we teach the children how to work with others to compose music and perform for an audience.

At St Margaret’s, all our children participate fully in making music. This involves exploring and inventing, playing an instrument, using voices and listening to others. We offer both string and woodwind instrument tuition. Each term every child has the opportunity to be involved in a musical presentation, which gives them the valuable experience of performing for friends, family and the local community.

 Children also take part in a weekly Hymn Practice session.

 We organise music lessons for the children who are interested in learning a new instruments. The children are taught by BSM tutors who come to the school twice a week. We currently, have children who are learning to play the guitar and keyboard. We are hoping to extend to woodwind instruments in the future.