At Burley Gate Primary School, we have designed our Music curriculum with the intent that all children, regardless of background, will begin to learn to play musical instruments, sing with confidence and accuracy, listen to a wide range of music with an open mind and with increasing understanding, and experiment and develop creativity.

Music Express provides a completely new set of teaching activities to support the revised English National Curriculum from September 2014. Music Express also fully supports the National Curriculum for Wales and for Northern Ireland as well as the Scottish Curriculum for Excellence.

To see how Music Express can be across the wider curriculum, download our cross-curricular document here.

Devised especially for classroom teachers, whether generalist or specialist, Music Express is:

• topic-based
• cross-curricular
• musically diverse
• fully resourced
• accessible to non-music readers

The essence of Music Express is to create a topic-based, cross-curricular approach to support children's learning in music and across other subjects through music. A steady progression plan has been built into Music Express, both within each year and from one year to the next, ensuring consistent musical development.

By using Music Express as the basis of a scheme of work, schools can ensure that they are fulfilling the aims for musical learning stated in the English National Curriculum:
The English National Curriculum states 'That all pupils: perform, listen to, review and evaluate music across a range of historical periods, genres, styles and traditions, including the works of the great composers and musicians.'

Music Express includes many examples of music styles and genres from different times and places, including the classical Western canon. These are explored through the language of music via active listening, performing and composing activities, which enable understanding of the context and genre. Examples include vocal melodies from Medieval times, Tudor court music, Romantic ballet music, Twentieth century pop, as well as traditional and classical forms from across the globe.

The English National Curriculum states 'That all pupils: learn to sing and to use their voices, to create and compose music on their own and with others, have the opportunity to learn a musical instrument, use technology appropriately and have the opportunity to progress to the next level of musical excellence.' Music Express provides a classroom-based, participatory and inclusive approach to music learning. Throughout the scheme, children are actively involved in using and developing their singing voices, using body percussion and whole body actions, and learning to handle and play classroom instruments effectively to create and express their own and others' music. Through a range of whole class, group and individual activities, children have opportunities to explore sounds, listen actively, compose and perform. In some age 7–11 units the class ensemble can be extended using additional scores which are available for those children learning to play non-classroom instruments.

The English National Curriculum states 'That all pupils: understand and explore how music is created, produced and communicated, including through the inter-related dimensions: pitch, duration, dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture, structure and appropriate musical notations.'

Music Express builds experience and develops understanding of the dimensions (elements) of music throughout the scheme. Each unit has as its focus one process such as performance or composition, or one dimension, such as pitch, but the learning progresses within the context of all the inter-related processes and dimensions of music. A wide variety of notations, including picture, graphic, rhythm and staff notation are integrated, wherever appropriate, with practical music-making activities throughout the scheme. Notations are used progressively to promote understanding and use of the representation of sound in symbols by all children.

We aim to ensure that our Music teaching and learning activities are an open-ended exploration of creativity in which children are encouraged to think critically and generate ideas, broadening their horizons by developing an understanding of the work of other composers and performers from around the world and through history. Music provides many opportunities for children to learn experientially, work independently and with others, widen their horizons, develop communication and language skills, and explore their own creativity.

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