Music Curriculum Support

Peter Walker: Primary/Special Schools Music Curriculum Coordinator peter.walker@brighton-hove.gov.uk

Day primary music courses for teachers and teaching assistants:

Classroom music at KS1
Wednesday 17 October 2007, 9am - 4pm, County Oak Avenue

Classroom music at KS2
Wednesday 31 October 2007, 9am - 4pm, County Oak Avenue

Primary music ICT
Wednesday 5 March 2008, 9am - 4pm, County Oak Avenue

We offer a wide range of support to primary and special schools to assist teachers in raising standards in music. This is mainly through:

Advice
Lesson observations and demonstrations
Class, year group and whole school workshops
Teaching materials
Support in creating and updating schemes of work and self assessment
Courses for teachers

Most recently we have developed a computer based music scheme with detailed lesson ideas for reception up to year six which is ideally suited to the new interactive whiteboards.

The classroom music support we undertake in our schools underpinned by national developments:

Music is now widely seen as a vital part of every child’s education.
The National Curriculum and QCA music scheme are now well established as vital tools in the drive to raise standards.
The publication of the Music Manifesto and the introduction of Wider Opportunities programmes have pushed the debate forward and are having a profound effect on the profile and practice of music education.
Click here for the Music manifesto website

The Music Manifesto

All primary and special school teachers are able to contact our primary music curriculum coordinator directly for a range of support:

Wider Opportunities

Wider Opportunities is a national programme, led by the Department of Education and Skills, with the aim of encouraging young children at primary school level to learn a musical instrument. A pilot has been developed by a team of tutors, in collaboration with Phil Mullen of Goldsmith University.

Aims:

To deliver a year of inspirational instrumental teaching
To foster musical creativity and to value each contribution
To develop an awareness of the different styles of world brass
To empower the children
To build a team of motivated young musicians to develop an ongoing ensemble
To introduce compositional and arrangement elements from music technology in a practical way.

A taster session is offered to children and through a combination of tutor recommendation and student selection each child is allocated either a trumpet, french horn, trombone or euphonium.

In addition to learning a brass instrument, there are opportunities to play percussion instruments, use the voice and work with music technology.

Throughout the pilot, children:

learn to play a brass instrument with an understanding of basic technique
have an opportunity to compose within the group
are introduced to music notation
learn a number of pieces
listen to a range of brass styles from around the world
learn to play contemporary styles such as hip hop and reggae, as well as samba and classical.

Discovery Recital Programme

The aim of the Discovery Recital programme is to offer children the opportunity to experience the enjoyment of hearing ‘live’ music whilst developing greater understanding of the nature of music. Our Discovery Recital programme offers infant, junior, primary and special schools the opportunity to book a 40 minute instrumental recital aimed at either Key Stage 1 or Key Stage 2. Each recital is focussed on supporting the National Curriculum for music and addresses areas such as listening and responding.

The programme takes place during a week in November and we will write to schools during the Autumn Term with details and an application form.

Music Curriculum Support in Secondary Schools

We are looking to ensure we engage pupils actively in their learning to encourage participation in a wide range of activities, focusing specifically on:

Raising pupil attainment
Closing attainment gaps
Improving the quality of teaching and learning
Improving the effectiveness of whole-school policy and management
Challenging low attainment and under performance

Joint working between BHMPA and the secondary strategy has promoted collaborative work between schools through networking and the annual conference, where we look to address specific aspects of the curriculum such as Assessment for Learning in Music, use of ICT, improving teaching of singing amongst other key areas.

This year a group of schools have piloted the use of Esaams, a software package for supporting assessment for learning in performing arts. We also provide support to schools through the development and delivery of projects and workshops and collaborations with professional musicians and music organisations. Recent projects include Connecting: Brighton & Hove, Rhythmix and New Music Brighton/London Sinfonietta composition workshops.