Music Department

Head of Department: Ms S. Walker
Departmental Teachers: Ms K. Halliwell

Department Information:

Music plays a very special part in the life of our students at SAINTS.  Music is a universal language and often brings people together.  It also provides an opportunity for all students to enjoy and explore a very creative subject.  Performance occasions are offered throughout the year and this enriches the students’ school and life experiences.

Music is taught by specialist teachers as a compulsory subject to all students for Year 7 to Year 9 (KS 3).  Music is then available as an option choice at GCSE and A levels.  The Edexcel exam board is used at SAINTS.

Music at SAINTS is all about listening to and playing a wide variety of music.  It covers performing, composing and listening to styles from around the world as well as classical and popular music.  Music technology is used in our exam level lesson to aid with the composition work.  It is very exciting to see our students create their own musical masterpieces!

Students at SAINTS have plenty of opportunity for performance.  In addition to regular performances in their music lessons, students have the opportunity to take part in our “SAINTS’ Got Talent” show, International weekend, the December Christmas Concert, our annual Musical Production, our House Music competition and our end of year “Performance Evening”.  Music is also offered as a club in the afternoons such as “Rock Band” and “Music Club”.

Individual instrumental tuition is made available to all students after school hours.  Tuition for exam level students is compulsory as a weekly 30 minute lesson.  Musical activities are well supported with our orchestra, choir, small instrumental ensembles, a jazz band and rock groups all rehearsing throughout the year for different performance occasions.

SAINTS is an examining centre for ABRSM exams, hosting an annual visit by an examiner.  Each year, a number of students take an ABRSM exam and our proud holders of ABRSM certificates of different levels.

It has been said that music is what “life sounds like”.  We can certainly testify that there is a lot of “life” at SAINTS!

Students are introduced to the study of music through a range of projects, covering composition, performing, listening and appraising.

Topics Taught:

Year 7

• Organising sound – analysing elements of music and focusing on rhythm work;
• Developing musical ideas - repetition, sequence, layering, polyrhythm;
• Melody and Accompaniment—conventional notation, scales and drones, call and response, a capella;
• Appreciation - research and performance in the style of Indonesian gamelan and various forms of folk music.

Year 8

• Research and performance in the style of Latin American music, focusing on the element of rhythm;
• Performance and composition in the style of Japanese music, focusing on scales and tonality;
• Research and performance in the ragtime style, focusing on chords and structure;
• Composition of simple songs using chord progressions.

Year 9

• Performance and group composition in a samba style, focusing on rhythmic layering;
• An exploration of ground bass and variation form, leading to arrangements of known material;
• Research and composition in a minimalist style;
• Understanding chords through basic Blues work;
• An Introduction to music technology.

Years 10 & 11

GCSE Music is all about listening to and playing a wide variety of music. It covers performing, composing and listening to styles from around the world, as well as classical and popular music. There are also many opportunities to use technology, especially for composition.

Students who take this course should enjoy making music alone and with others, in school and elsewhere are open-minded and can listen to different styles. They should enjoy composing or arranging music and are motivated to get involved in extra-curricular activities.

There are three sections but it is a course that aims to be accessible to anyone with any level of skill, and with any musical interests.

Performance (30%)

By the end of the two years you will have to play or sing a solo of some sort, but it can be on guitar, drumkit, singing to a backing track, or even one-handed on the keyboard! You also have to perform with a group but this too can be in any style, and can take place outside school so long as the teacher can hear and record it.

Composition (30%)

By the end of two years, you must produce two pieces of music based on two of the Areas of Study, but during the course you will have built up a store of ideas and samples to choose from. You can use technology to help you although you cannot compose just by looping computer generated samples together.

Listening (40%)

There is one paper in June which requires you to listen to different extracts of music and give short answers to questions about each one. There are four Areas of Study: classical western music from Baroque to 20th century; club dance, musicals and Britpop; classical Indian music, traditional African music and popular musical fusions from around the world.

Homework:

Homework is set for no more than 20 minutes per fortnight. To include researching relevant musical terms and styles and studying notation.

Assessment:

All projects assessed and recorded on individual student assessment sheets. Targets for improvement are set throughout and at the end of each project

Recommended Equipment:

• HB Pencils (x2);
• Ruler & Eraser;
• Ball point pen either black or blue.

Resources:

The Department provides students with access to 'Music Matters 1, 2 & 3' text books & CDs to listen to as well as 'Opious 1, 2 & 3'. The department is equiped with Keyboards, xylophones and unpitched percussion instruments.