Music
Subject Leader: Tracey Ewer
Our vision
At Hartwell, we believe that music is a gift that brings joy, connection and spiritual enrichment. Rooted in our Christian ethos and school values, our music curriculum nurtures enthusiasm, wellbeing and a sense of community through shared musical experiences. We intend for all children to develop their musicality, creativity and confidence, regardless of starting point. Through active listening, singing, composing and performing, children learn to express themselves, collaborate respectfully and celebrate each other’s achievements. Our implementation includes high-quality teaching, inclusive resources and opportunities to perform and reflect. The impact is seen in children’s growing musical understanding, their willingness to take creative risks and their joyful participation in school life.
Intent:
- Inspire a love of music and develop musical curiosity.
- Build skills in listening, performing, composing and appraising.
- Provide opportunities for self-expression and cultural understanding.
- Develop confidence through performance and collaboration.
Implementation:
- Weekly music lessons using Sing Up.
- Opportunities for singing, instrument playing, composing and performing.
- Use of musical notation and vocabulary from KS1 onwards.
- Enrichment through assemblies, performances and extracurricular clubs.
Impact:
- Pupils enjoy music and participate enthusiastically.
- They can perform with control and expression.
- Evidence of progression in musical understanding and vocabulary.
- Assessment through performances, recordings and teacher observation.
The Subject Leader:
As Music subject leader at Hartwell, I am committed to ensuring that every child experiences the joy and richness of music as part of their spiritual, emotional and academic development. I support staff in delivering a vibrant and inclusive music curriculum that encourages creativity, confidence and collaboration. I monitor teaching and learning, provide resources and guidance, and help create opportunities for children to perform and celebrate their musical achievements within our school and wider community.
Pupil voice
Pupil voice in Music is a vital part of shaping a curriculum that is joyful, inclusive and meaningful. At Hartwell, we listen carefully to our children’s thoughts and experiences in music, valuing their enthusiasm, honesty and creativity. Their feedback helps us to plan engaging lessons, choose relevant resources and provide opportunities that reflect their interests and talents. By involving pupils in the development of our music provision, we foster a sense of trust, respect and belonging, ensuring every child feels heard and celebrated.
The Music Curriculum:
The objectives for Music are set out in the National Curriculum:
Key Stage 1
Pupils should be taught to:
- use their voices expressively and creatively by singing songs and speaking chants
- play tuned and untuned instruments musically
- listen with concentration and understanding to a range of high-quality live and recorded music.
- experiment with, create, select and combine sounds using the inter-related dimensions of music.
Key Stage 2
Pupils should be taught to:
- play and perform in solo and ensemble contexts, using their voices and playing musical instruments with increasing accuracy, fluency, control and expression
- improvise and compose music for a range of purposes using the inter-related dimensions of music
- listen with attention to detail and recall sounds with increasing aural memory
- use and understand staff and other musical notations
- appreciate and understand a wide range of high-quality live and recorded music drawn from different traditions and from great composers and musicians
- develop an understanding of the history of music.
EYFS
In EYFS, music is woven into daily learning to spark creativity and joy. Children explore sounds through singing, rhythm games, and simple instruments, developing listening skills and early musical awareness. Music supports language development, coordination, and confidence, while encouraging self-expression and collaboration in a playful, nurturing environment.
NMPAT First Access project
Our Year 4 children take part in the NMPAT First Access music project, giving every child the opportunity to learn a musical instrument as part of whole-class tuition. Led by a specialist music teacher, this exciting programme helps children develop key musical skills such as rhythm, pitch and performance, while building confidence, teamwork and a love of music.
Sing Up
At Hartwell, we use the Sing Up scheme to deliver our music lessons. The scheme supports all the requirements of the national curriculum. We have chosen this scheme because it provides an integrated, practical, exploratory and child-led approach to musical learning.
From Reception to Year 6, the learning consists of 3-week or 6-week units each half term, focussing on a range of musical skills. Each unit is focused around one song, with many comparisons made within a unit. Here is a link to our units of work:
All musical learning 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.
- Pulse – the regular heartbeat of the music; its steady beat.
- Rhythm – long and short sounds or patterns that happen over the pulse.
- Pitch – high and low sounds.
- Tempo – the speed of the music; fast or slow or in-between.
- Dynamics – how loud or quiet the music is.
- Timbre – all instruments, including voices, have a certain sound quality e.g. the trumpet has a very different sound quality to the violin.
- Texture – layers of sound. Layers of sound working together make music very interesting to listen to.
- Structure – every piece of music has a structure e.g. an introduction, verse and chorus, ending.
- Notation – the link between sound and symbol.
The musical progression through KS1 and KS2 is demonstrated in the documents below. The instrumental work is differentiated allowing children to move through the relevant parts as they need to.
Sing Up - Progression of skills
Extra-Curricular Activities
We believe that music enriches the lives of people, and so we wish to involve as many children as possible in musical activities. The clubs we are currently running are:
- Choir (KS2)
- Orchestra (KS2)
We facilitate performance opportunities throughout the year for groups of children to perform to a live audience. These include the Music Recital, Young Voices/Big Sing and Year 4 First Access assemblies. The children also work towards a performance within their Key Stage (EYFS/KS1 – Christmas, LKS2 – Easter, UKS2 – Summer).
Useful documents
Vocabulary
At Hartwell, we believe it is important to teach children musical vocabulary so they can speak confidently about the music they listen to. The document below lists key words for each year group:
Vocabulary progression in Music