Music at WDPS
Intention: Our music curriculum engages, challenges and inspires our children to develop a love of music that sparks their creativity as musicians. Our children explore music in its many facets from nursery all the way through to the end of year 6. The years in between are where children hone their skills within singing and instrumentation by learning to listen with discrimination, review music and explore how music is composed. Children have the opportunity to perform solo and within ensemble contexts, which builds confidence due to the social aspect and immediate sense of achievement. We intend to nurture and develop our children's confidence in expressing themselves in response to a range of music, through providing them with a creative space where they can explore and appreciate the world of music.
Approach
At William Davies, our approach to music involves emersing pupils in a music-rich environment. Children listen to music in different contexts and are exposed to a wide range of genres, cultures and times in history, through music. All children visit the Royal Festival Hall, where they watch a performance by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as having professional musicians lead workshops in school where possible.
All classes have regular singing lessons from a specialist teacher, which often build to a performance at the end of each term, or for a celebration assembly. Classes also have regular instrumentation lessons, by a specialist music tutor, where they are taught to play a range of different instruments and explore different genres. As well as singing, listening to music, learning to play instruments, rehearsing and performing, children also explore the art of composition and foster an appreciation for musicianship.
