MUSIC
Music is vital part of our children’s education. At Harvey Road Primary School we strive to ensure that every child will leave with an appreciation of music, whether that be as an audience member, performer or musician.
We believe that by enhancing skills in creative and performing arts we develop a child's individuality and self-confidence. All children have opportunities to experience and perform in regular singing assemblies and as part of theatrical performances. They will also develop a broad understanding of music in the real world as well as aspects of theory, reading sheet music and playing a variety of musical instruments.
All children have opportunities to perform for the whole school and wider audiences in our school productions, events and a range of music festivals, including Voice in a Million at Wembley Arena and the Hertfordshire Schools’ Gala at the Royal Albert Hall. We also have a variety of professional musicians, who provide specialist music lessons that develop and encourage the children’s aspirations. Music is taught through a curriculum which encompasses the musical skills of composing, listening, appraising and performing.
The music curriculum includes the exploration and analysis of:
- Pulse - a steady beat
- Rhythm - long and short sounds over a steady beat
- Pitch - high and low sounds
- Tempo - fast and slow
- Dynamics - loud and quiet
- Timbre - the character of a sound
- Texture - layers of sound, how thick or thin music is
- Structure - how the sections of a song or piece of music are ordered
Our aim is to awaken the musician within, to inspire children to enjoy music for what it is and to be able to appreciate it to build a better understanding of the world around them.
On leaving Harvey Road Primary School a successful learner in this subject will be able to:
- play and perform in solo and ensemble contexts, using their voice and playing a range of different musical instruments, with increasing accuracy, fluency, control and expression
- improvise and compose music for a range of purposes
- listen with attention to detail and recall sounds with increasing aural memory
- develop an understanding of the stave and other musical notations
- appreciate and understand a wide range of high-quality music drawn from different traditions and from great composers and musicians
- develop an understanding of the history of music
In addition to children studying music within the curriculum, they can also have music lessons provided by Hertfordshire Music Service. They have the opportunity to learn one instrument during the school week and can choose from the piano, woodwind, string or brass instruments. For further information please visit https://www.hertsmusicservice.org.uk/hertfordshire-music-service.aspx
