Music in Years 7, 8 and 9.

WHAT IS MUSIC?

Music is essentially the study of organising sounds in time. Music is also a powerful image, a unique form of communication that can change the way people feel, think and act. It brings together intellect, feeling, personal expression, reflection and emotional development.

The music department has its own mission statement of "Do It" - keep musical practical. Our philosophy is to broaden students' knowledge by the following process: what music feels like, sounds like and looks like.

The end result is an ability not only to sing and play from different forms of notation, but also to understand how music is put together and how it is an important emotional and creative vehicle.

What will your child study?

The basic curriculum is organised into projects, each of which usually runs for half a term. Students are taught to control their voice (sing!), explore instruments and develop their independent and group skills. Students are strongly encouraged to attend extra-curricular music groups (for current list see below) in addition to classroom music and to bring their instruments to lessons.

YEAR 7
Students investigate the elements of music where they explore the building blocks of music. Students will also investigate the instruments of the orchestra via professional and peer demonstration. Composition work through percussion instruments, voice and keyboards will be used to consolidate key concepts concerning pitch, rhythm, basic harmony and texture. All Year 7 students will also be involved in the Seasonal Words and Music Performance of a large scale vocal cantata (Scrooge, Do You Hear What I Hear).

YEAR 8
Recapping the students' previous work, we study Indonesian gamelan and Jazz/Blues to introduce the concepts of scales (pentatonic and blues) and indeed harmony. Looking at typical chord progressions used in such music to provide structure and also looking at appropriate instrumental combinations. The final topic of Year 8 is a STOMP project (a larger scale percussion based project that culminates in a public performance). We continue to work on vocal skills, in this year we base our repertoire around pentatonic spirituals, jazz and blues.

YEAR 9
Students recap previous work and consolidate their technical skills on the keyboard via "dance music" - looking at using the track sequencer and moving towards computer based sequencer and notation packages. The second project leads us to the world of the musical and from there to film music. We will be looking at composition technique and typical structural forms and conventions. Finally we will be focusing on Western Classical Music and preparing skills for potential GCSE study.

How will your child be assessed?

· Your child's work will be regularly assessed and recorded
· Your child will be made aware of the criteria for success against which such assessments will be made
· Use of praise and constructive comment is at the heart of the music department's assessment policy

How do we achieve differentiation?

· By providing extension work for gifted and talented
· By using a variety of teaching methods
· Using LSA support where appropriate
· Using open ended and differentiated tasks to also progression of individual students

Extra-Curricular Music

The music department has a very strong Peripatetic Music Service covering most orchestral and popular instruments as well as voice. We are particularly proud of our extra-curricular program and encourage all students to take part. We perform regular concerts in both school and out of school locations. Every three years our choir joins with those of teh other Quaker Schools to perform a joint choral work.

A typical timetable for weekly music events is shown below but the details will vary from term to term.

For more details about extra-curricular music click here.