Music and Performance Curriculum KS3
Overview
The Music and Performance curriculum is broad and balanced and carefully planned to ensure that content is thoroughly revisited so that learning is consolidated and sustained. Castle view Enterprise Academy believes that the arts can play an exciting and leading role in providing a dynamic focus for the educational experience of its young people.
We aim to develop creativity and a lifelong appreciation for the arts. We aim to do this by providing rewarding activities that inspire, inform, stimulate, challenge and entertain. Arts activities will help develop the capacity to formulate and communicate ideas and feelings; they enhance perceptual skills through responding, developing and evaluating, and physical skills through control and use of movement. Involvement in the arts will help to foster a positive attitude among students by developing a wide range of qualities such as cooperation, enthusiasm, passion, inspiration, tenacity and ambition that can be taken into all aspects of life.
At Key Stage 3 all students study Dance, Drama and Music on a termly rotation to ensure they have a wider appreciation of the arts.
Within each discipline students study two units that allow them to develop and gain the knowledge and skills needed to pursue the subject further at Key Stage 4. Within the Music and Performance curriculum, students are encouraged to develop competence to excel in different areas of the arts and compare performances with previous ones to achieve their personal best.
Students will have the opportunity to take part in productions that range of talent shows to musicals where students actively apply all the skills taught in a range of roles and activities in both curriculum and extra-curricular time. Our broad curriculum caters for the needs of all and in Key stage 4 students have the opportunity to study both GCSE and vocational qualifications within Performing Arts to prepare them for future careers in the arts after secondary school life.
Year 7
- Dance - Students develop key skills within dance with a focus on elements of performance, choreography and evaluating their own and others' work. Students are introduced to various dance genres including Lindy Hop and contemporary and are encouraged to develop their own ideas according to the theme.
- Drama - Students study an introduction to basic drama skills including tableaux, free-frames, body language, mime and facial expressions. Students also complete a unit based on the theme of bullying allowing them to develop these skills further and help the transition into secondary school through scenarios based on this. Students evaluate their own and others work for each unit and use their new skills to develop and perform a themed piece in groups to an audience of their peers.
- Music - Year 7 builds upon students' musical experiences at primary level, by exploring and reinforcing some of the fundamental processes and concepts, including pulse and rhythm, pitch and melody writing and the elements of music. Music from a variety of contrasting historical and stylistic periods is used, as well as from a range of world cultures.
Year 8
- Dance - Students explore different ways of developing choreography based upon a stimulus. Learners develop original dance phrases through the use of choreographic devices such as actions, space, dynamics and relationships. Students use a poem as a stimulus to create a group dance performance in a contemporary and break dance style.
- Drama - Students further their drama skills into year eight by working towards a dramatic play themed around a soap opera and develop their character focus through common stereotypes in popular and well-known media forms.
- Music - Year 8 aims to build on the secure foundations laid in year 7, by nurturing students' ability to combine and create melodies, develop an understanding of the use of music in film and broadening their musical appreciation through the learning of music from around the world, as well as looking at styles such as looking at Traditional, Classical and modern music which helps to embed this learning.
Year 9
- Dance - Students further develop physical skills needed within dance such as balance, alignment, posture etc. Students then apply choreographic processes to dance performances which include the development of unison, canon, highlights and Climax etc.
- Drama - Students develop their learning and understanding of drama skills; building on previous learning. They will undertake an initial skills audit and through a series of workshops experience and focus on developing techniques whilst creating drama set to a specific theme. Pupils will have opportunities to perform in front of their peers and evaluate themselves reflecting on their skills audit and action plan set out.
- Music - At year 9, students have a greater independence and can apply knowledge, skills and understanding that they have acquired in years 7 and 8 in projects which seek to further challenge their musical ability. These projects include a focus on music within the 1960's with a view on how society impacted music at this time. Year 9 also looks to strengthen students' understanding of musical genres and how the use of the elements of music can change depending on musical style.
Students have many opportunities to continue their learning beyond the classroom for Performing Arts by participating in our extra-curricular timetable and through lessons with peripatetic teachers in voice, drums, guitar, keyboard and brass.
Key contact
Mr D. Parker