Overview

Ermine Street Church Academy's music curriculum sets out pathways for progression that enable pupils to develop their musical knowledge. Progress in music requires pupils to develop musically across 3 pillars that interrelate in musicianship.

The first pillar is the ‘technical’ development necessary for pupils to translate their intentions successfully into sound. This will often involve instrumental playing or singing.

The second pillar is the ‘constructive’ pillar. This refers to knowledge of how musical components come together both analytically and in the creative process.

The third pillar, the ‘expressive’ pillar, is focused on the more indefinable aspects of music: quality, meaning and creativity.

We consider long-term memory to be the chief enabler of development. These changes may occur through the acquisition of tacit, procedural or declarative knowledge.

The different genres of music which are explored in the curriculum introduce our students to the wonderfully diverse story of music and build pupil’s declarative knowledge of musical culture and history. Music is drawn from a variety of traditions, including western and non-western classical music, folk, and a variety of modern traditions including rock, pop and jazz. Pieces are drawn from all over the world and from periods spanning seven centuries. Because the driving focus of each unit is musical, rather than being based on genre or style, music is not presented in chronological sequence.