Music is uniquely an aural art form. Music exists distinctively in every culture and is a basic expression of human experience. Students’ active participation in Music fosters understanding of other times, places, cultures and contexts. Through continuous and sequential music learning, students listen to, compose and perform with increasing depth and complexity. Through performing, composing and listening with intent to music, students have access to knowledge, skills and understanding which can be gained in no other way. Learning in Music is aurally based and can be understood without any recourse to notation. Learning to read and write music in traditional and graphic forms enables students to access a wide range of music as independent learners.
Music has the capacity to engage, inspire and enrich all students, exciting the imagination and encouraging students to reach their creative and expressive potential. Skills and techniques developed through participation in music learning allow students to manipulate, express and share sound as listeners, composers and performers. Music learning has a significant impact on the cognitive, affective, motor, social and personal competencies of students.
As independent learners, students integrate listening, performing and composing activities. These activities, developed sequentially, enhance their capacity to perceive and understand music. As students’ progress through studying Music, they learn to value and appreciate the power of music to transform the heart, soul, mind and spirit of the individual. In this way, students develop an aesthetic appreciation and enjoyment of music.
Foundation and Year 1 students focus on the elements of music and undertake tasks appropriate for their level of development. They explore the arts and learn how artworks can represent the world and that they can make artworks to represent their ideas about the world. They share their artworks with peers and experience being an audience to respond to others’ art making
Year 2, 3, 4 and 5 students build on the experience of their previous years. There is a strong focus on making and responding to artworks independently and collaboratively with their classmates and teachers. They extend their understanding of the elements of music as they develop their aural skills.
Years 6 and 7 students make and respond to the arts, explore meaning and interpretation, and social and cultural contexts of the arts. They evaluate the use of forms and elements in artworks they make and observe.
Primary Schools Music Festival held at The Adelaide Festival Theatre in September, towards the end of Term 3. Festival of Music/Senior Choir will be open to committed students in Years 5, 6 and 7. Priority is given to Year 7 and Year 6 students in the first instance. Rehearsals are held in the music room on Thursday afternoons
Junior Choir is held during Tuesday lunchtime for students in Years 3 and 4. This is voluntary for both students and myself as it is during our lunch time. Consistent committed members will be invited to perform at Holdfast Mini Fest, held at Paringa Park Primary early in Term 3.
Ukulele club/practice club is for Year 3-7 students who wish to practice their pieces from class. If they chose to come with a group of friends with an idea of what they would like to play, I will try and support them as best I can. Again, this is during our break time and not a lesson as such and both the students who attend and I are there on a voluntary basis.
All foundation, Year 1 and Year 2 students will participate in JP singing on a rotating roster on Friday afternoons in the STEM room. Typically, this is a couple of sessions a term.
“Learning music can help students’ self-confidence, self-discipline and team work. Music helps students progress in other important learning areas such as Maths and English,” (Music Australia 2021). Research shows that “countries with a strong focus on music education tend to have higher scores in literacy and numeracy. Engaging music programs have been shown to help with attendance and can be particularly beneficial for students who are not achieving well in school”
Music Australia 2021
“All of this evidence for music’s extrinsic benefits make a strong case for music education, but should not overshadow the sheer joy people experience making music, nor the value of the artform itself,”
Music Australia 2021
I would teach children music, physics and philosophy; but more importantly music; for in the patterns of music and all the arts, are the keys to learning.
Plato