Music is designed to promote children’s self confidence, creativity and listening skills. At Riverside, we aim to support children in performing, listening and reviewing music. Children are encouraged to develop skills using a range of instruments, including their voices. Children are encouraged to use musical terminology such as pitch and tempo.

At Key Stage 1 children are taught to:

• Use their voices expressively and creatively by singing songs and speaking chants and rhymes.
• Play tuned and untuned instruments musically.
• Listen with concentration and understanding to a range of high-quality live and recorded music.
• Experiment with, create, select and combine sounds using the inter-related dimensions of music.

At Key Stage 2 children are taught to:

• Play and perform in solo and ensemble contexts, using their voices and playing musical instruments with increasing accuracy, fluency, control and expression.
• Improvise and compose music for a range of purposes using the inter-related dimensions of music.
• Listen with attention to detail and recall sounds with increasing aural memory.
• Use and understand staff and other musical notations.
• Appreciate and understand a wide range of high-quality live and recorded music drawn from different traditions and from great composers and musicians.
• Develop an understanding of the history of music.