Music
Intent
At Holden Clough, we believe that music is a vital part of a well-rounded education, fostering creativity, enhancing cognitive development and building a sense of community among our students and staff. Our vision is to cultivate a dynamic and inclusive musical environment where every child can discover their unique musical voice and develop a lifelong appreciation for music. Music education at our school is more than learning to play instruments and sing songs. It is about inspiring confidence, encouraging self-expression and developing essential skills that extend beyond the classroom. Through music, our students learn discipline, collaboration and emotional intelligence. We are committed to providing a rich and varied music curriculum that reflects the diverse interests and abilities of our students.
Implementation
Our music curriculum is structured around four key areas: singing, listening, performing and composing:
- Singing: Fortnightly singing assemblies for both Reception-KS1 and KS2 are taught by the music lead and cover the Holden Clough singing repertoire, allowing pupils to learn vocal warm-ups and how to look after their vocal health, as well as to practise their breathing, posture, dynamics and phrasing.
- Listening: The Holden Clough listening repertoire is a carefully selected list of music that includes Western Classical Music and a variety of popular music and traditional music from around the world that reflects the community our school is in. Teachers explore these pieces with their classes during weekly music lessons whilst discussing the inter-related dimensions of music and engaging with listening activities.
- Performing: Holden Clough works closely with Tameside Music Service who provide whole-class instrumental teaching programmes. Our students learn keyboard-based instruments (glockenspiels in KS1 and keyboards in KS2) throughout their time at our school, therefore allowing them to become proficient in both the piano and staff notation in the treble and bass clefs before KS3. These sessions are delivered in our excellent keyboard suite.
- Composing: Composition is taught during the whole-class instrumental teaching programmes delivered by Tameside Music Sevice. The wide variety of pieces the children are exposed to in both the singing and listening repertoires supports the pupils in developing the craft of creating melodies and fashioning these into short pieces.
Enrichment
We also offer all pupils at Holden Clough a variety of enrichment opportunities, including clubs, trips and whole-school music days.
Clubs: choir, string orchestra, performing arts club.
Trips: Young Voices at the Co-op Live Arena, trips to the Palace Theatre, Victorious Voices.
Impact