Music in the Primary School Current Situation National Curriculum 2014 KS2 CPD Programme /Sing Up PPA time Hubs CPD (Continuing Professional Development)

National Curriculum - Music

Warm Ups Importance of the circle/horseshoe Social, passing activities Developing listening, exploration, beat & rhythm, co- ordination, pitch awareness The freedom and atmosphere to make ‘mistakes’ (laughter, working to improve rather than giving up) Through these circle time/starter activities, children are: “…..building skills which are ‘disguised drills’ – enabling children to develop such skills in an enjoyable way.” Hennessy (2015:224)

Funga alafia Funga - Dance/Alafia - greeting/Ahshay - amen Ah-shay Ah-shay. Funga - Dance/Alafia - greeting/Ahshay - amen (Touching your head, and extending the arms outward, touching the lips and extending the arms, touching the heart and extending the arms, and rubbing each hand/arm in turn on the opposite forearm. And the gestures have a meaning: “With my thoughts I greet you. With my words I greet you. With my heart I greet you. There’s nothing up my sleeve.” Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTegkMJq15M

The Generalist Teacher Primary teachers and student teachers have an expectation that the majority of subjects will be taught by them. A few subjects – of which music is the main example – are perceived to be more specialised and therefore only teachable by a specialist. Teachers should consider what it is about music that promotes such perceptions, whether they are justified….especially as music has a more prominent role in most peoples lives than any of the other curriculum areas. One could argue that reading has a more prominent role – so consider how many times in the last 24 hours one has picked up a book compared to listened to or made music. It would be wrong to make a case for music being predominant in people’s lives – but it is at least worth considering what a major part music plays for all on a day to day basis.

Expert or Generalist? “It is worth bearing in mind that many visiting musicians are not qualified teachers, and that they may have less understanding than school teachers about how pupils learn, what they can achieve, and the expectations that the government makes of schools” (Mills 2009: 5)

THE NATIONAL CURRICULUM FOR MUSIC (2014) Beat and Rhythm

Beat and Rhythm By KS2 children should have experienced simple beat and rhythm games, be able to ‘feel’ the pulse and composed and performed simple beat and rhythm pieces (their own, others’)

The ‘inter-related dimensions of music ‘ (NC Music 2014)

TRAILS: The starting point: Find sounds for objects, events, characters, moods, etc. in a real or imagined event/journey. Younger children begin with familiar experiences – older children can move into the imagined and unfamiliar.

Make an audio-recording of the trail and play back as soon as possible to the children. Make the recording available to other audiences.

The process The following list may be progressive – but earlier bullets should not be abandoned Explore vocal representations – incorporate body, ‘found’, percussion and instrumental sounds Explore events within the overall event (as in developing a story) Find easy to complex rhythms (short phrases) to enhance each stage of the trail Move rhythms onto tuned percussion/melodic instruments Sing the phrases where appropriate

Trails cont. By KS2 children will have their own developing musical skills that they should be encouraged to bring into the music lesson. For example, a composition has a car journey. How might a child who plays a clarinet contribute? A good example of a composition where the composer has created a melody but used timbre to retain the sound effect of the character is ‘Flight of the Bumble Bee’ by Rimsky Korsakov

Find sounds to describe picture

Videos to try https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvR8LGOUpNA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRvYWBP7vfE

Follow Up Read: Hennessy, S. (2015). Creativity in the music curriculum, in Wilson, A. (Ed.), Creativity in Primary Education. 3rd Edition. Exeter: Learning Matters. (pp 225-233) Further guidance at: https://sites.google.com/site/primarymusicitt/understanding- musical-development-and-progression

Technology (both hardware and software) changes rapidly. It is therefore important to focus on the principles of using technology, rather than a particular program, app or platform. Sequencing/mixing sounds and phrases Utilising virtual sounds Research Listening Sampling/Audio Editing Multi-media Recording Utilising alongside traditional (acoustic) sources Further support for music technology can be found at www.dwheway.wikispaces.com

Audio Editing and Composing using Music Mike Create (‘mmcreate’) Simple click to record and playback New recording over-rides former Learn about musical elements whilst re-designing sounds Explore and record simple sound structures/soundscapes App which children can explore away from the classroom Email recordings (within class/amongst friends), and share within other editing platforms (such as Audacity) mmcreate builds on creative music processes – exploring, changing/refining, combining, reflecting/revising, appraising readiness, presenting, performing, responding (to own/others), sharing. It offers the opportunity to explore sound at a variety of levels and is an excellent pre-cursor to more complex audio editing apps and programs, as well as building a repertoire of sound. Alternatives: Audacity, GarageBand, Cool Edit, Wave Pad

Mixing recorded sounds in Audacity Once sounds have been collected, the children begin the process of selecting, rejecting and mixing. Here – 8/9 year olds explored ‘train’ sounds, and ended with a Harry Potter sound track NB: Note the violins

Creative Music Technology Starting points for sound: Exploring Vocal – therefore inclusive Exploring percussion Exploring ‘found’ sounds Exploring one’s own instrument Computer as sound source alone or in combination with acoustic instruments Composing: Exploring sound sources Recording sounds to stories, poems etc. Changing sounds through musical elements solo/combined Themes emerge or start with pre-determined theme Combining sounds in linear and textural ways

What have we covered?

References David’s Wikisite – lots of support files: www.dwheway.wikispaces.com Hennessy, S. (2015) in Wilson, A. (2015) (Ed): Creativity in the Music Curriculum. London: Sage Mills, J. (2009) Music in the Primary School. 3rd edn. Oxford: Oxford University Press Music ITT site: available at https://sites.google.com/site/primarymusicitt/understanding-musical-development-and-progression National Curriculum for Music Key Stages 1 and 2 available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/239037/PRIMARY_national_curriculum_-_Music.pd

Reading List Core texts   Core texts DFE (2011) The Importance of Music: A National Plan for Music Education https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/180973/DFE-00086-2011.pdf Mills, J. (2009) Music in the Primary School. 3rd Edition. Oxford: OUP National Curriculum Music 2014 https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/239037/PRIMARY_national_curriculum_-_Music.pdf Recommended Reading - Barnes, J. (2015) (3rd Ed) Cross Curricular Learning 3-14. London: Sage. (pp 65 – 82)  - Burnard, P. & Murphy, R. (2013) Teaching Music Creatively. London: Routledge (Chapters: 4, 9) - Hennessy, S. (2015). Creativity in the music curriculum, in A. Wilson (ed.), Creativity in Primary Education. 3rd Edition. Exeter: Learning Matters. (pp. 134–47) - Mills, J. (2005) Music in the School. Oxford: OUP - Ofsted (2009) Making more of music: an evaluation of music in schools 2005/08. Available at http://www.musicmark.org.uk/sites/default/files/content-assets/pages/files/OFSTED%20Making%20more%20of%20music%20primary.pdf - Ofsted (2012) Music in schools: wider still, and wider: Quality and inequality in music education 2008–11. Available at: www.ofsted.gov.uk/publications/110158 Ofsted (2013) Music in Schools, What Hubs Must Do: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/music-in-schools-what-hubs-must-do - Young, V. An introduction to music (chapter 9) in Driscoll, P., Roden, J. & Lambirth (2015 2nd edition) The Primary Curriculum: a creative approach. London: Sage