Music

A World of Music at Oakfields.

Music is highly valued at Oakfields, and we offer a dynamic, varied and inspirational music education, within an atmosphere of fun and enjoyment. Music is an integral part of the curriculum and is taught weekly from Pre-Prep upwards.

As well as an impressive range of varied instruments for students to engage with, we have a range of hand-held percussion instruments for smaller children, a range of special effects and multi-cultural instruments, a class set of ukuleles and keyboards, to name a few.

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Instrumental Excellence.

In addition to curriculum Music, we offer our children the opportunity to learn an instrument by taking individual lessons from our team of experienced and dedicated, professional peripatetic teachers.

Alongside more traditional strings and piano, we also offer lessons in singing for musical theatre, guitar (both classical and rock) and drums. Children are encouraged to enter for graded exams from all the top musical examination boards.

We have a whole school choir that meets weekly during lunchtime, providing opportunities for our instrumentalists to perform throughout the year in assemblies, concerts, and formal events such as our Christmas Carol Concert.

Our Musicians in Action.

Our Curriculum.

At Oakfields, we take pride in offering a unique curriculum, meticulously designed and delivered by our music specialist. Children begin their journey into music from as young as 3 years old, engaging in a variety of topics, activities, and tasks. These topics are thoughtfully linked to the learning taking place in Nursery, with each half-term focusing on key songs accompanied by actions that correspond to the given topic.

Starting from Reception onwards, our children follow an heightened curriculum, enabling them to develop skills in reading music, playing traditional instruments such as the recorder, ukulele, and keyboards, and fostering creativity through musical improvisation.

An example of how our key principles, Pitch and Rhythm, are used throughout our curriculum is provided below, showcasing how they are built upon and integrated throughout the curriculum:

Reception

Our children are introduced to the concept of very basic ideologies of music through music and movement, where they learn to recognise high and low pitches and respond to them in specific ways. They also explore stemmed rhythmic notation, recognising crotchet beats and their corresponding sounds.

Year 1

Children are introduced to dot notation and the concept of high, middle and low using glockenspiels. They create their own pitch patterns and learn to read given pitch patterns. Throughout the unit focused on rhythm, they begin to explore crotchets and quavers (Ta and Ti-ti) by creating their own rhythms and reading basic rhythms by sight.

Year 2

The idea of high and low becomes an introduction to the tonic sol-fa system where children are shown the first 3 pitches of a scale (Do, Re, Mi) and they use hand movements to pitch, sing and recognise the sounds. We continue to explore rhythm by sight reading and playing along to a drumbeat!

Year 3

Rhythmic notation is further explored as children create music using London underground tube stops to form patterns. They are given autonomy to compose, notate, and perform their own underground raps. Building on their knowledge of Do, Re, Mi, they begin to learn pitched notation and start playing the recorder.

Year 4

Traditional songs and the pentatonic scale are explored, with students using their understanding of pitch to work out traditional songs by ear. They create their own pentatonic pieces, incorporating their understanding of pitch and rhythm. The recorder unit is revisited, with a focus on developing a more challenging repertoire of pieces.

Year 5

The first unit focuses on rhythmic patterns, exploring ostinato pieces and composing, notating, and performing their own pieces inspired by "Connect it" by Anna Meredith from Ten Pieces. Students also use their knowledge of notation and pitch to create improvisations around melodies inspired by Chinese New Year, the Blues, and participate in whole-class performances.

Year 6

In their final year, students integrate their knowledge by exploring rhythmic ostinatos in a unit that examines the music and themes of Harry Potter. They also analyse and create cover versions of their own choice of music. Additionally, they explore becoming a class band and collaborate on putting together a piece of music as a class.

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