Music

Statement of Intent

At Wincle CE Primary School, we recognise the value of creative subjects and ensure that a structured, effective music curriculum is delivered to every Key Stage. Music is recognised as being beneficial to both well-being and cognition and our curriculum aims to enhance these benefits by attuning children’s natural, musical instincts and providing them with plentiful opportunities to explore, create and share music together.

At Wincle CE Primary School, we follow the Kapow Primary Music scheme which is designed to help pupils recognise themselves as musical and to nurture a lifelong love of music.

The scheme develops the skills, knowledge, and understanding needed to become confident performers, composers, and listeners. The curriculum introduces pupils to music from across the world, encouraging respect and appreciation for the music of all traditions and communities.

Pupils build musical skills through singing, playing tuned and untuned instruments, improvising, composing and listening and responding to music. They develop an understanding of the historical and cultural context of the music they encounter and learn how music can be notated.

The scheme also supports the development of transferable skills, including teamwork, leadership, creative thinking, problem-solving, decision-making and presentation and performance abilities. These skills are integral to pupils’ development as learners and have wide application in their lives beyond school.

The National curriculum organises the attainment targets for Music under:

Listening and evaluating.
Creating sound.
Notation.
Improvising and composing.
Performing – singing and playing.

Accordingly, Kapow Primary’s Music curriculum has been structured with these strands running through each unit. The strands ensure balanced coverage of the different areas of Music and that both substantive and disciplinary aspects are covered.

Listening and evaluating

Listening to music is important to develop an appreciation for music but listening with a critical ear also allows pupils to recognise how music is constructed and how it impacts the listener. Listening and evaluating is therefore the precursor to Improvising and composing and Performing. By exposing pupils to a diverse range of music from various cultures and historical periods, this strand also promotes an understanding of the history of music.

Creating sounds

Learning technical proficiency with an instrument takes time, and the ability to create and control sound is fundamental to making music. This proficiency requires knowledge of specific instruments, including how to hold and play them, as well as the development of fine (and sometimes gross) motor skills and postural awareness. When it comes to singing, controlling breathing and voice modulation to create dynamic contrasts is crucial.

Notation

In order to compose and perform longer pieces of music, pupils need to understand notation as a means of communicating musical ideas. They will learn that the position of notes on the stave indicates their pitch, and that the symbols used represent the duration of each note or rest. Our aim is for pupils to be able to 'work out' how to read a simple piece of music from a given starting note by applying the principles of staff notation, rather than reading music by sight or simply memorising musical pieces.

Improvising and composing

Improvisation in music involves creating music spontaneously, without prior planning or written notes. This helps pupils build confidence, express themselves freely, and develop flexibility in their musical thinking. Composition tasks require students to plan and structure their musical ideas. This structured approach strengthens their ability to organise thoughts systematically and often use notation to record their ideas.

Performing - singing and playing

Performing provides pupils with a practical reason to hone and apply their musical skills. It promotes group practice and collaboration, as pupils work together to achieve an aim. This experience not only boosts pupils' confidence and self-esteem but also enhances their awareness of themselves and others within the group.

Kapow Primary’s Music curriculum recognises that the categorisation of knowledge is an important part of curriculum design. The curriculum is designed to ensure pupils acquire and revisit all types of knowledge through a carefully sequenced spiral structure. Each unit identifies key declarative knowledge and allows pupils to apply procedural knowledge in meaningful, age-appropriate contexts, as well as tacit knowledge gained through experience of music and informal listening.

Declarative knowledge

Declarative knowledge in music refers to the factual and conceptual understanding that students need to interpret what they hear, play and create. It includes musical vocabulary, notation and awareness of genres, instruments and traditions.

For example, pupils learn that:

Pitch refers to how high or low a sound is.
A crotchet represents one beat in standard musical notation.
Percussion instruments produce sound when struck, shaken or scraped.
Blues music originated in African-American communities.

This knowledge supports pupils in discussing, analysing and creating music with confidence. It provides the mental models necessary for understanding how music is structured and communicated, whether through symbols, terminology or cultural context.

Procedural knowledge

Procedural knowledge in music refers to the practical skills that pupils develop through hands-on experience, including how to produce, control and communicate sound using their voices, instruments or digital tools.

For example, pupils learn how to:

Hold and play an instrument correctly.
Produce different sounds (e.g. loud/soft, high/low) using body, voice or equipment.
Follow and interpret musical notation to perform a piece.
Compose and structure their own music using known techniques and elements.
Sing with control, including breathing and voice modulation.

This knowledge is central to musical fluency and is built progressively across year groups. As pupils revisit key techniques and contexts, they refine their ability to perform and compose with increasing accuracy and expression.

Tacit knowledge

Tacit knowledge in music refers to the intuitive understanding pupils develop through experience, exploration and informal listening, rather than through direct instruction. It includes the unspoken, felt aspects of musicality that grow through repetition, imitation and engagement.

For example, pupils may:

Clap along to the pulse of a song without being taught what pulse means.
Move their bodies in ways that reflect the rhythm or mood of a piece.
Begin to match pitch or sing in tune by listening and copying.
Develop a sense of how music expresses emotion, simply by reacting to contrasting pieces.
Use sound creatively and responsively in play or improvisation before learning formal composition techniques.

Tacit knowledge often develops first, especially during EYFS (Reception) and KS1. It forms the foundation for more explicit learning and helps children make sense of the music they later study more formally.

Click to download our that outlines the knowledge and skills our pupils will learn.

Click to download our long term plan.

Music Curriculum Map.pdf

long term mixed age plan.pdf