Why Teach Music?
Music is great fun. It has the ability to reach us on an emotional level; most will recognise the unique ability of a poignant piece of music to move us, induce 'the goose bump effect' or bring us to tears. It provides an opportunity to express a whole range of emotions, as great composers and artists have done for centuries and it has the ability to change mood and lift spirits.
It is also widely recognised that music can help to develop the skills, attitudes and attributes that can aid learning across the curriculum. Listening skills, the ability to concentrate, creativity, intuitions, aesthetic sensitivity, perseverance, the ability to work in a group, self confidence and sensitivity towards others and all attributes which can be developed through learning music.
Interest in the 'Mozart Effect' was initially raised 1992 when Dr. Gordon Shaw noticed the positive impact of a particular Mozart sonata on his students reasoning test scores. He said the patterns and symmetries in Mozart's music are very cerebral and organised in a way that takes account of how our brains learn most effectively. It is said this helps to develop a child's spatial temporal reasoning skills, developing the ability to think in patterns and pictures. All children need this in order to understand concepts such as left and right, to balance and to avoid bumping into things. Later it helps with more complex skills, such as reading and understanding maps and graphs.
Music can also aid memory, which is why singing nursery rhymes and action songs are particularly good for a child's early development.
Music Teaching at Churchill
At Churchill we teach use a program of learning called Kapow. This enables us to provide a high quality music education, fully meeting the requirements of the National Curriculum in an exciting and hands-on way. In some years, our Year 3 and 4 children also have the opportunity to learn the Ukulele in school, providing them with an introduction to learning an individual tuned instrument.
Our popular choir is open to all children from Year 3 upwards.
We sing a range of different styles of music across the year and participate in lots of different events, performing locally to sing Christmas Carols at the Christmas Lights event in Westerham, taking part in the O2 Young Voices concert in London, participating in the local Westerham Music Festival alongside many other local primary schools and singing at our own events and services in school and at St. Mary's Church.
It is busy all year round for the choir, as we are always preparing for something. Its great fun - come and join us!
Recorders have long been part of primary school music and unfortunately, for many, often conjure images of painful shrieking noises! However, at Churchill, this is definitely not the case.
Recorder can actually be a beautiful sounding instrument and also provides a very solid grounding in musicianship for children wishing to progress to other instruments at secondary school. Children are taught to read music in the treble clef, learning to interpret the symbols for pitch and length of notes, understand different rhythms, key signatures, dynamics and much more.
For those fearing squeaky practice sessions, we teach children right from their first lesson to listen to the tone they are producing and alter their breathing to ensure they produce a good sound. Grade exams are available too and as they progress, children have the opportunity to try the range of different recorders available. These include the sopranino, treble and tenor recorder, and open up opportunities to play more complex pieces in multiple parts.
Recorder lessons are free and are open to children in Key Stage 2.