The children at Dulwich Wood thoroughly enjoy and appreciate every opportunity that they have to develop their musicianship. Music is central to our celebrations at Dulwich Wood and is widely used across the school. We follow the Charanga scheme of work, which offers a unique and extensive range of lessons covering a range of genres. Music is taught in an integrated, practical, exploratory and child-led approach to learning.
In order to develop musicianship across the school our music programme covers an extensive range of skills and knowledge, such as in singing, children are taught about warm ups; breathing; posture; dynamics; phrasing; context and vocal health.
They have the opportunity to listen to a wide range of music such as western classical music; popular music – Pop, Jazz and Rock ‘n’ roll; traditional music from a variety of countries such as: Brazil (Samba), Trinidad (Calypso) and Punjab/UK (Bhangra).
They are able to experience composing -the creative process with its wide horizons of possibility. This gives pupils an opportunity to contribute to musical culture in unique and valuable ways. As pupils travel through the Key Stages, they will develop the craft of creating melodies and fashioning these into short pieces.
The children at Dulwich Wood are given plenty of opportunities to perform whether it is for Harvest assemblies, Christmas performances or in the whole school carnival; they always enjoy it! These opportunities allow them to develop stage craft – a sense of confidence/ownership and consider the programme. They are encouraged to support each other with peer feedback and to seek out opportunities for collaboration.
In addition, the following specialist music lessons are included within our music curriculum:
- Year 2 – Recorders
- Year 3 – Ukuleles
- Year 4 – African drumming
- Year 5 – African drumming
- Year 6 – Samba
We also have an after school steel pans club, a lunchtime choir club and violin lessons – both taught through community links from neighbouring schools.
If you’d like to discover more about how we teach music at Dulwich Wood you can read our guidance in full by downloading the link below.