Music at Tower Road Academy.

Music is a vital part of a broad and balanced curriculum for all pupils. At Tower Road, the intention is that children gain a firm understanding of what music is through listening, singing, playing, evaluating, analysing and composing. Our aim is to make music an enjoyable learning experience, encouraging children to participate in a variety of ways. Music can engage, motivate and inspire pupils, along with building confidence; it is a universal language that embodies one of the highest forms of creativity. Charanga is used to provide extra support and resources to enhance music teaching. It features many examples of music styles and genres from different times and places. These are explored via active listening, performing and composing activities, which enable understanding of the context and genre. There is the opportunity to learn ukulele in Key Stage 2, as well as high-quality lessons with peripatetic teachers being available. Our children will leave Tower Road with musical knowledge and the ability to make music with others, which helps to develop identity and builds self-esteem.

Quotes from our children.

“Listening to ‘Happy’ in our music lessons is really good as it takes us away from all the sad things that are happening at the moment, that’s why I look forward to music lessons.”

“I like to be able to dance and move to the beat.”

“I have learnt where the notes are on the glockenspiel and I can play it quite well now.”

“I like sharing the glockenspiel with my friend.”

“Now I know what I’m listening for in a piece of music, I can appreciate music a lot more out of school.”

Music makes everyone happy, including the teachers! The children were asked if they thought their teachers liked music...

“X likes to express …self during music lessons!”

“Her face is smiling. She joins in and plays the instruments.”

“She smiles a lot more and is very enthusiastic. She likes to film us and is always saying well done.”

“X smiles a lot. She dances and moves to the music.”

“She definitely likes teaching music. She has a smile on her face and dances along, getting everyone engaged in the class. She finds the rhythm and pulse with us.”

How to help with music at home.

• Play music.
• Children love music and they love learning new songs or nursery rhymes. How many times has your young child come home from nursery school reciting a new nursery rhyme they have learnt? Simply just playing music in the background whilst your child is doing something or teaching them new songs together is a great way to enhance your child's intelligence. Try to help your child interact with music as often as possible. Ask them questions about the music they can hear and ask them what it makes them feel like doing. Striking conversations about music is a great way to help develop your child's imagination and stimulate different emotions.
• Sing together.
• Singing along to songs together with your child is another great way of spending some fun time together. You don't have to have an angelic opera voice to sing simple songs with your children (I have probably got the worst singing voice in the entire universe!) It is simply about sharing the time together and having some fun. Children are extremely perceptive and can easily memorise songs that are presented to them on a regular basis. This will also help your child learn some basic melodies and hear basic rhythms.
• Dance together. 
• Dancing together can be so much fun and stimulate many different emotions. Listening to different beats and practising different moves together will not only trigger happy emotions but will alleviate any stresses both you and your child may have. Always praise your child and remember it is all about having fun together.
• Make music together.
• Making music together can be a lot of fun and stimulates creativity and imagination. You can create your own musical instruments from different objects around the house. Use different surfaces and instruments to create different percussion sounds or make trumpets using straws, kitchen roll tubes or rolled up cardboard. If you are lucky enough to play a musical instrument spend some time playing to your child and have them improvise their own musical instrument. Creating music together will encourage a love of music and the development of many skills including creative skills, imagination and confidence building.
• Play musical games.
• Children learn through senses and social interaction so playing musical games with your child is a very natural way to encourage their learning. Exposing your child to different sounds and playing fun games such as creating the best animal sounds' or 'creating sounds from different textures such as paper, foil and tissue ' will spark your child's imagination in a fun way. Musical chairs and musical bumps are also great games to play and certainly do not have to be limited to birthday parties. You can introduce music to practically any game or any activity you share with your child throughout the day

Great Music links for children. 

https://www.theschoolrun.com/best-music-home-schooling-resources

https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/bring-the-noise

https://www.apple.com/mac/garageband/  (garage band app available on Apple products)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/subjects/zwxhfg8