In teaching music we aim to:

• encourage children to sing with enthusiasm, free from inhibition, from an early age
• cultivate listening skills
• offer pupils an opportunity to develop strengths in all appropriate areas of musical expertise
• encourage children to work individually and to co-operate with others
• develop self confidence in all musical activity
• build on all social, cultural and spiritual development through music
• develop a love and understanding of music through active involvement in performing, composing, appraising and listening.

Performing skills

Children will be taught to sing a wide range of songs and to use their voices expressively. They will have the opportunity to play tuned and un-tuned instruments with increasing control and perform with others, with an awareness of audience.

Composing skills

Children will create musical patterns and will be shown how to explore, select and organise musical ideas.  These will be recorded in a variety of ways, (e.g. pictorial score/formal notation, by means of a recorder, tape recorder or video).

Appraising skills

Children will be given the opportunity to explore and explain their own ideas and feelings about music, using music, dance, expressive language and musical vocabulary. They will analyse and compare sounds and will become more confident at suggesting improvements for their own work and that of others.

Listening and applying knowledge and understanding

Children will develop their ability to listen with concentration and to internalise and recall sounds with increasing aural memory. They will develop a growing awareness of all musical elements (including pitch, duration, pace, dynamics, texture, silence.) They will learn that time and place can influence the way music is created, performed and heard. They will learn that music is produced in different ways and is described through invented as well as standard notations.