Music at Swinton Fitzwilliam
Vision
At Swinton Fitzwilliam Primary School our vision is to develop children's musical skill and knowledge by-
- To inspiring a life-long love of music.
- To give every child the opportunity to develop musical knowledge and hands-on experience a range of instruments.
- To develop an understanding of the rich and varied styles of music across the world.
- To be able to express themselves through music that they listen to and that they create.
- Through performances, to develop confidence, resilience and determination.
- To develop their collaborative skills in order to create music.
Key disciplinary Concepts
In music, pitch is how high or low a note is. Pitch can be influenced by the instrument that is being played as well as the individual note. Pitch can change throughout a piece of music. For some instruments high and low pitch notes can be played simultaneously such as on a piano.
In music, duration is the amount of time something lasts such as a note, phrase, section or composition. Duration can refer to how long an individual note lasts such as crotchet is one beat whereas a semibreve is 4 beats. Duration can equally refer to sections of music as well as a composition as a whole.
In music, dynamics is how loud or soft (quiet) the music is. This can change throughout a piece of music. Different instruments have different dynamic ranges and these can be used to add shape, tension and drama in pieces of music.
Tempo is the speed or pace at which a piece is performed. Different tempos can be selected to help create a certain feel to a piece of music. For example a sad piece of music may have a slow tempo whereas a happy piece may be quicker. This is not always the case!
The timbre is the character or quality of a musical sound. There are many different words we can use to describe the timbre of a sound: bright, dark, brassy, reedy, harsh, noisy, thin, buzzy, pure, raspy, shrill, mellow. Timbre does not refer to the dynamics (how loud) or the pitch (how high or low) of the piece.
The texture refers to the overall sound of a musical piece. Texture is determined by how many instruments are playing, how many parts there are and the timbre of the instruments playing. Texture can be referred to as thick or thin, busy or sparse etc. Instruments may be playing in unison (the same melody), counter-melody or accompaniment.
The structure is how a piece is organised. This refers to the arrangement and order of the parts or sections of the music. The structure may include repetitions or not. It can include repetitions that are played at a higher or lower pitch. In popular music songs are often structured to begin with an introduction, verses and choruses which have repeated patterns to them.
