Music
Intent
Together with the rest of the Expressive Arts subjects, Music offers students a multitude of benefits; confidence building, collaboration, creativity, a sense of well-being to name a few, that cascade positively into all aspects of their learning journey. At STM our music curriculum goes beyond what is taught in the classroom and our holistic view of a musical education fully encompasses our ‘Aspire’ mission statement.
Authentic – we encourage our students to be their true expressive selves and the freedom to explore their creativeness.
Sacred – our students interact with and support a fully inclusive approach to the arts and how they support the liturgy. We explore how music is used and constructed and how it engages with faiths and spiritual philosophies from around the world.
Passionate – the Arts are practical, engaging subjects and the passion for these can be seen in and out of the classroom. Performances take place in school, formal and informal, and provide the opportunity to show their best selves and celebrate creative passion.
Inspirational – we endeavor to show the students what they can achieve from the Arts by modelling excellent practice, providing them with opportunities to see professional work and recognise the potential of where it can take them in the future.
Resilient – we help our students to appreciate that it is okay to make mistakes, and to appreciate that our greatest learning comes from these mistakes.
Empathetic – we instill in our students the importance of empathy and respect for all. These personal qualities are at the heart of all work and help create trusting collaborations.
We aim to foster a lifelong love and appreciation of all Expressive Arts subjects, including encouraging students to shape their culture capital and to consider careers in these areas later in life.
Implementation
Our students engage actively with the curriculum to develop an understanding and appreciation of a wide range of musical styles and traditions, from many different cultural and historical contexts. Each unit in KS3 is sequenced carefully, to secure progression via an integrated approach to the 3 main disciplines of listening (understanding music), performing and composing. This style of delivery means that these components are constantly revisited and the implementation of knowledge organisers, retrieval practice, adaptive teaching strategies and a constant awareness of metacognition strategies, help to embed the knowledge underpinning the application of skill and provides our students with a pathway to the KS4 curriculum.
Our KS4 curriculum has been designed around the AQA specification. As well as following programs of study to support this, the students are encouraged to explore and develop their own specialisms. This offers our musicians a bespoke learning plan, rather than a ‘one size fits all’ approach to coursework.
Impact
Our tradition of excellent GCSE results, across many years, is one indication of the positive impact of the curriculum delivered and the opportunities offered here at STM. Many of our students go on to study Music at A-level and beyond, becoming recording engineers, professional performers and teachers of music.
All students are encouraged to take part in our fully inclusive musical enrichment program and the impact of these can be seen ‘and heard’ throughout the school. ‘More Jazz’, ‘Mass Band’ and ‘More Voice’ are our main ensembles and each year many bespoke ensembles grow from within these; string orchestras, barbershop vocal quartets, talent shows, rock bands, ukulele band, pop ensembles, soloists performances, which have been showcased in school, the wider community and further afield during tours of Austria, Germany, Spain and Italy.
We enjoy strong links with the Derbyshire Music Hub and work closely with Mad Hatters, one of the town’s main musical theatre companies. Having such close attachments helps provide strong links with the community and encourages strong pupil participation.
Musicals are a fantastic opportunity for our whole faculty and indeed the entire school to work together. It’s a great way for students across all year groups to work towards the final production across a multitude of roles and responsibilities; acting, supporting band, lights, sound, stage crew, costume, make-up, advertising, refreshments – all crucial to the success of the final performances!
At STM we are lucky to have a very experienced and professional peripatetic team who deliver excellent one to one instrumental and vocal instruction. They each bring with them their full arsenal of expertise and support us fully in our musical ventures.
