OUR VISION
鈥淭o provide all students the opportunity to express themselves through music while developing creativity, cultural awareness and the wider skills that support them in becoming well-rounded individuals鈥
Music is a universal language that has shaped cultures, communities and identities throughout history and continues to play a vital role in society today. It allows people to express ideas and emotions, communicate across boundaries, and engage creatively with the world around them.
Studying music develops confidence, creativity and discipline, while nurturing essential skills such as teamwork, problem-solving and critical thinking. Through performing, composing and listening, students learn to persevere, reflect and take pride in their achievements.
Within secondary education, music provides a powerful balance to academic study, supporting wellbeing and personal growth while enriching students鈥 cultural understanding. It offers every learner the opportunity to discover their voice, develop their talents and build a lifelong appreciation of the arts.
Why it is important to study music?
Studying music is an important part of a broad and balanced education. Music enables students to express themselves creatively, develop confidence and communicate ideas and emotions in unique and meaningful ways. Through performing, composing and listening, students build discipline, resilience, collaboration and critical thinking skills that support learning across the curriculum. Music also helps students to understand and appreciate different cultures, traditions and histories, broadening their perspectives and fostering respect for diversity. Above all, music enriches students鈥 lives, supports their personal development and contributes to them becoming well-rounded individuals.
OUR TEAM
Mrs R Carey – Head of Faculty
Ms L Franks – Teacher of Music, Head Of Lower School
YEAR 7
Pupils have one lesson of Music per week and will explore聽the 3 pillars of music, performing,聽composing聽and listening and appraising.
| Autumn | Spring | Summer |
| Spicy Samba 鈥 Whole class/small group ensemble performance. Rhythm focus, performance within groups, composing own call and response and 鈥榤ain groove鈥 sections | Folk Music 鈥 Performing, singing and instrumental well-known folk pieces (mostly British). Understanding tonic and dominant. Using the Dorian scale to compose a simple 4-bar melody | Programme Music 鈥 Focus on musical devices and composers鈥 intentions, composing a piece of programme music |
| Instrumental Skills 鈥 Developing skills as an instrumentalist, focus on ukulele/keyboard, staff and tab notation |
YEAR 8
Music is taught on a rotation with Art & Drama so students will study the following 2 units of work.
| Rotation 1 | Rotation 2 | Rotation 3 |
|---|---|---|
| Musical Patterns 鈥 exploring riffs and hooks bass lines within music, understanding recurring patterns | Blues to Rock ‘N’ Roll- exploring the chord structure and harmony of the 12 bar blues and how it developed into Rock N Roll and other genres |
YEAR 9
Music is taught on a rotation with Art & Drama so students will study the following units of work. These also act as an introduction to GCSE level content.
| Rotation 1 | Rotation 2 | Rotation 3 |
|---|---|---|
| Film Music Exploring the works of great film composers, looking at the use of the leitmotif and understanding how what we hear changes what we see, developing the use of musical devices. | The 4 Chord Trick Exploring harmonic structure of pop songs, how to develop chords and use a variety of chord progressions. Listening to various pop songs and identifying the compositional devices used within them. |
GCSE MUSIC
| Year | Autumn | Spring | Summer |
| Year 10 | My Music Solo performance Composing skills – developing initial ideas Development of Pop Film Music Development from year 9- focus on using leitmotifs, the composer intent | Concerto Through Time Looking at harmonic and melodic structure and relationship between the two Composing using musical devices used in concertos Solo Performance | Rhythms of the world Exploring different countries and the music associated with them Mini composing tasks related to specific world music genres. Ensemble Performance |
| Year 11 | Set Composition Starting the OCR set brief, exploring ideas, and creating draft ideas. Rhythms of the world Recap, exploring the instruments’ features | Ensemble Performance/Free Composition Revisit Concerto Through time | Refining Compositions Exam Preparation Respond and develop all feedback given on compositions. Ensure all performances are complete. |
Contact Details
For further information, please contact rachel.carey@castlephoenixtrust.org.uk