Music Aims

The National Curriculum for music aims to ensure that all pupils:

  • perform, listen to, review and evaluate music across a range of historical periods, genres, styles and traditions, including the works of great musicians and composers
  • learn to sing and to use their voices, to compose and make music with others, have the opportunity to learn a musical instrument, and have the opportunity to progress to the next level of musical excellence
  • understand musical notations and how music is constructed, produced and communicated through its inter-related dimensions: pitch, duration, dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture and structure.

Key Stage 2

Pupils should be taught to sing and play musically with increasing confidence and control. They should develop an understanding of musical composition, organising and manipulating ideas within musical structures and reproducing sounds as part of an aural memory.

Pupils should be taught to:

  • play and perform in solo and ensemble contexts, using their voice and playing musical instruments with increasing accuracy, control and expression
  • improvise and compose music using the inter-related dimensions of music separately and in combination
  • listen with attention to detail and recall sounds with increasing aural memory
  • use and understand the basics of staff and other musical notations
  • appreciate and understand a wide range of high-quality live and recorded music from different traditions and from great musicians and composers
  • develop an understanding of the history of music.