Music
What is Music?
Music is a subject that combines practical and theoretical based learning focusing on the three core musical skills of Performing, Composing and Appraising. Harris Sutton are proud to have been awarded the Bronze Schools Music Education Plan. This award displays the current curricular and extra-curricular provisions we have for our students at HASU. This academic year we will be working hard to earn the silver award.
Why Do We Teach Music At HASU?
Music teaches students to be creative and imaginative. Music also helps students to develop their confidence and self-esteem. They learn how to problem solve, and they learn how to work both independently and as part of a group. These are key skills that all of our students will need in whichever sphere of work they choose to pursue in the future. In addition to this, Music is a universal language and allows students to express themselves in new and exciting ways.
Music plays a hugely significant part in all of our day-to-day lives; whether we are listening to music on our devices, on the radio, at a concert, or even if we hear it in TV and films. At Harris Academy Sutton we want to instil a lifelong love of music in our students and give them the tools to critically analyse and appraise the music that they hear in their lives. This deeper understanding will greatly enhance and enrich their enjoyment of all of the music that they hear. We want our students to be musically literate and understand how music has developed and evolved over time, as well as opening their minds and ears to a whole range of genres and styles of music from all around the world.
In addition to their classroom Music lessons students at Harris Academy Sutton also have the opportunity to have individual peripatetic lessons with our fantastic team of professional instrumental teachers as well as having the chance to take part in our many extra-curricular ensembles.
How Do We Teach Music At Key Stage 3?
Music is primarily a practical subject at Key Stage 3. Students get to perform on a wide range of instruments, including ukuleles, guitars, keyboards and drums. Students also sing in their lessons. We are fortunate enough to have a state-of-the-art suite of Apple Mac computers which the students use to perform and create music in a range of styles. Students learn how to perform music from a variety of different contexts. They also learn how to create, develop and extend their own musical ideas into complex compositions. Whilst predominantly practical at Key Stage 3 students also learn about music theory through the rigorous and broad schemes of work that they study, such as learning to read and write musical notation and being able to use key musical terminology to describe and critically evaluate music that they hear. All students will finish Key Stage 3 equipped with the necessary skills to be able to access the GCSE Music course in Years 10 and 11 if they elect to take the subject at Key Stage 4.
How Do We Teach Music At Key Stage 4?
Students will have the option of studying Music at GCSE as part of our broad and balanced Key Stage 4 curriculum. We follow the Eduqas GCSE specification at Harris Academy Sutton which looks at the three core musical skills: Performing, Composing and Appraising. Students have five lessons per fortnight at GCSE and each lesson focuses on one of these core areas. Students have one performing lesson, two composing lessons and two appraising lessons each fortnight. In Performing lessons students develop their solo and ensemble performing skills. In Composing lessons students learn how to develop and extend increasingly complex musical ideas. In Appraising lessons students further develop their theoretical musical knowledge, how to critically analyse music and how to identify key musical features in a wide variety of musical genres.
What exam board do we study at Key Stage 4?
Students studying Music at HASU follow the Eduqas Specification.
