Music
Music at Garway Primary School
At Garway, we value music as a universal language that embodies one of the highest forms of creativity. Our aim is to engage and inspire pupils to develop a love of music and their talent as musicians, and so increase their self-confidence, creativity and sense of achievement.
Music is taught across the school by Bryony Connolly, our specialist music teacher, ensuring exceptional music provision for all our children. Our music curriculum links to our science and humanities topics to provide meaningful contexts for the study of great musicians and the historical and cultural development of music.
Curriculum Overview Music 2023
Garway Primary School Music Progression Map
Class 4 creating music to accompany a film – ‘The horse in motion’ (1878)
Class 3 learning a Tudor dance
Class R and Class 1/2 creating patterns in music
Daily music
All children learn an instrument which is practised daily in class. At KS1, the chosen instrument is the ocarina. At KS2 it is the descant recorder, violin or ukulele.
Singing
Singing forms a big part of our school life. The whole school sings daily in assemblies. We have a thriving school choir which frequently performs to a very high standard at school and community events.
Clubs
Children have the opportunity to take part in after school music clubs each term and these range from Choir to Band/Orchestra to Musical Theatre.
Enrichment
All children take part in whole school performances at least once every term as well as having the chance to experience other musical enrichment both in and out of school.
Garway School Choir performing in the local community
Class 5/6 taking part in Young Voices
Visiting professional musicians
Peripatetic music lessons
In addition, pupils can learn a range of instruments through individual or small group lessons provided by specialist peripatetic music teachers such as piano, cello, violin and guitar. For those interested in learning an instrument, click here for more information about choosing an instrument from Encore, Herefordshire’s Music Education Hub service provider.
Making music in the wider community
Encore Music is the lead organisation for music education in Herefordshire – here is further information about the music groups that they run in the county.
The benefits of a music education
Below is an extract from the Voices Foundation website which cites many examples of research about music and it’s benefits:
Why do we need music?
- Music is central to the human experience and present in the everyday lives of people of all ages and cultures (Welch et al., 2020).
- Engaging with music may enhance cognitive functions that are key to children's learning, such as planning, working memory, inhibition, and flexibility (Dumont et al., 2017).
- Many of the brain functions used when taking part in music are also used by children to achieve key developmental milestones. Speech and music, for example, have several shared processing systems. Musical experiences can impact language perception, which affects learning to read (Hallam, 2010).
- Studies have found that children who participate in music activities perform better in English, Maths, and Science, regardless of their socioeconomic background and previous academic record. In some cases, the difference between children who do and do not participate in music activity can equate to several months' academic progress (Guhn et al., 2020).
- Children who participate in long-term musical programmes have shown higher empathy than similar children who do not (Rabinowitch et al. 2013).
- Through music activity, children can share emotions and express themselves non-verbally. Participating in music activity creates opportunities for children to be heard and it may consequently improve children's self-esteem and confidence to express themselves in non-musical ways too (Mak & Fancourt, 2019).
- Educators, parents, and guardians can quickly and powerfully communicate instructions or set a mood by giving a musical signal or playing a particular song. As a result, they can use music to help children regulate their behaviour, calm their emotions, or achieve a task more efficiently. This can result in a more productive use of school time, improved focus, and increased learning (Blasco-Magraner, 2021).