Music
What is Music?
‘Music is all around us. It is the soundtrack to our lives. Music connects us through people and places in our ever-changing world. It is creative, collaborative, celebratory and challenging. In our schools, music can bring communities together through the shared endeavour of whole-school singing, ensemble playing, experimenting with the creative process and, through the love of listening to friends and fellow pupils, performing. The sheer joy of music making can feed the soul of a school community, enriching each student while strengthening the shared bonds of support and trust which make a great school... Music has a rare and unique ability to bring people together; music making can make a whole class, school and community feel connected to others and part of something bigger’ - DFE Model Music Curriculum 2021
Why do we teach Music at HAWI?
Music is a universal language, which expresses ideas and emotions. Music teaches creativity, refines discipline and patience, boosts self-esteem, and introduces our students to different cultures. The HAWI music curriculum prioritises the powerful musical knowledge that we believe our pupils are entitled to, so that we ensure pupils are engaging with music that reflects their own interests as well as going beyond them. The intent behind the music curriculum is to engage and inspire students to develop an understanding of music as an art form and inspire students to develop a love and appreciation of many different musical genres.
How do we teach Music at HAWI?
The spiral curriculum revisits the three areas of study of performing, composing, and listening, throughout the key stages. The areas of study are taught through units of work which explore music across a range of historical periods, genres, cultures and traditions, allowing students to develop a broad and powerful musical knowledge. Across the key stages our curriculum is taught using ‘Big Questions’ based on each unit which students are challenged to answer as their musical knowledge develops. In every lesson throughout the performing, composing and listening units, music theory is taught. This includes understanding musical notation, which can grant access to a lifelong passion for music making. Alongside music theory, musical creativity is a priority, with students being encouraged to express themselves through music making, whether that is through playing an instrument or singing.
How do we make Music memorable at HAWI?
Alongside class music lessons, there are a wealth of opportunities for students to develop a passion for music at HAWI, and to make musical memories during their time at school. We have visiting instrumental teachers who deliver weekly one-to-one lessons to our students on drums, guitar, piano, singing, strings, woodwind and brass. There is a busy schedule of extra-curricular activities taking place each week. No matter what a student’s instrumental / singing ability or previous experience is, they have the chance to become part of choirs, orchestra and bands, or even the HAWI Rap club. As well as our extra-curricular activities, there is also optional enrichment in music where students have the opportunity to develop their music technology skills, or learn to play a brass instrument from scratch. This is a fantastic opportunity for our students, some of whom go on to continue developing this new skill in one-to-one lessons with our visiting instrumental teachers. Our extra-curricular and enrichment ensembles work together to perform music from a variety of genres in concerts and performances throughout the year, including the Winter Celebration, which brings together every student in year 7 to form a huge choir, the annual musical theatre show, which brings together the music, drama and dance departments, and the Summer Arts Festival, which involves a week of activities, culminating in a concert for our ensembles as well as some soloists.
If your child is interested in receiving instrumental music lessons, please download the following form, complete and email to k.whitefield@harriswimbledon.org.uk
Instrumental Tuition Booking Form
Please click here for Year 7 curriculum guide
Please click here for Year 8 curriculum guide
Please click here for Year 9 curriculum guide
Please click here for Year 10 curriculum guide
