Music in State Primary

[gymnasticrobotics]

After watching Don't stop the music I start wondering how much music is actually taught in state primary, and is it comparable or much less than prep schools?

I imagine instrument learning will be up to individuals but is basic music knowledge and appreciation formally included in lessons?

DD's state primary school does loads of music. She has chosen not to play an instrument (too busy doing dance!) but the school has taught her to read music pretty well and they seem to cover quite a wide range of genres in class. They also have an outstanding choir which has done professional recordings.

That sounds lovely snapespotion, is there a specialist music teacher at the school?

My DCs otherwise very good state primary appears to do very little (going on newsletters, school blogs and what the DC tell me), but my DC are only in Reception and Y1, so it might just be a well-hidden secret at this stage.

It worries me a little as we're not a musical family so their exposure to music is already fairly limited. DS (like me) is half-deaf and appears to be more maths/science oriented but DD seems to have a more artistic skill set and with a very limited range of out of school activities near us (rural) I wonder how we'll expose them to the breadth of musical education they'd get in an independent school.

Yes, gym, the school does have a specialist music teacher. She's lovely. :)

Excuse missing apostrophe

Single form entry state primary. Music is included in different parts of the day - Reception do singing and music games daily, rest of school learn songs related to their topics. Music lesson once a week.

Whole school singing assembly once a week.

Infant christmas production, junior summer production.

And, in juniors, all children are taught the recorder once a week.

Specialist music teacher.
Children are taught to read music, do lots of singing, various music appreciation and are taught to pay an instrument.

There is also a school choir and orchestra.

no idea how that compares to a prep school, but it's plenty for me (we pay for instrumental lessons on top).

Our primary (London, 2 form entry) has a specialist music teacher, she teaches each year group once a week - reception do action songs, beating out rhythm etc with her, it progresses through infants then once they get to juniors they get to play with glockenspiels etc. Y3 is when recorder normally starts too.

She also leads the weekly singing assembly, the choir, and music in school productions. Each year group performs at the summer & Christmas fairs too, which she's in charge of.

Lots of music at the dd's school but sadly it's only available to those who can afford it , lessons are around £8-10 for 20 minutes a week, some children are lucky enough to learn several instruments. Dd2 has ASD and plays keyboard and drums at home, she plays by ear and I have been told she has a good ear for music but we can't afford lessons for her at school.

I suspect there is no specialist music teacher at DS school although he has only really started. I will ask the school on Monday, but will be very disappointed if there isn't!

Oh poop that post was not meant to go here...can I move/delete it?! Sorry musical people :(

Report your own post to ask it to be deleted and start your own? The book does sound very odd. A quick google does show it on ginn book lists amongst loads of others.

DD's school get in a specialist music tutor, paid for in part by PTA. There is the option to receive additional piano or guitar lessons from the same music tutor, but every child gets at least one music lesson per week. The tutor also works with the children during school performances such as Xmas and summer plays.

DD's school is a tiny village school with around 70 pupils on roll.

Dds whole class are learning the tenor horn until Xmas, letter was sent home asking our permission and it arrived home two days later. Timing could have been better as I'm due to give birth to dc4 in two weeks!!
But a great opportunity though loads of other music taught as well.

DS's school has a "music specialist" but she's not actually a teacher as I understand it. She covers the class teacher's PPA time.

Our primary school has about five different specialists, a resident general music teacher and a man who comes in once a week to take orchestra. This all happens in the hall.

They are so keen on music that when a spare room became available, rather than use it for the pupils who have to have their lessons in the corridor because they're so oversubscribed, they chose to have a dedicated music room instead.

I would really rather my daughter had a proper classroom but hey, who am I to stand in the way of a few kids with violins.

I'd rather be in your school.

My DS is learning to read music and play the recorder, violin and guitar within school lessons, we are very privileged to have access to this as my DM spent a small fortune on violin lessons for me.

We have specialist music teachers come in to teach the children and they're taught in groups, it really os lovely.

Weekly music lessons (not always instrumental, but cover the music curriculum e.g. reading and writing informal and formal notation, composing on tuned and untuned instruments, listening and responding to different types of music etc). Weekly singing assembly, daily singing in assembly, often songs with harmonies. Every year group does a musical performance of some kind each year, again singing for that is often in harmony and all children take part. Choir, modern singing group, wind band, string group, a couple of informal pupil-formed 'bands' who rehearse at lunchtimes. Paid for music tuition (small group or individual) in wide range of instruments, enough that 1 room and sometimes 2 are in continuous use throughout the week. Weekly class recorder lessons from specialist all through the year for 1 year group.

State primary.

Great provision here at state school in London. Specialist teacher. Weekly lessons teaching notes, theory, appreciation etc. Recorder starts in Y1. Choose instrument in Y3 for group or individual lessons (paid for by parents, although help available for this). Strong chamber choir for good singers, fun choir for those who love singing but may be tone deaf (!); music clubs; free aural prep for exams given in addition to lessons. Music afternoons/evenings for kids to showcase their skills - even for those who don't have an instrument but are happy to beat a drum or similar. Musical assemblies performed by each year.

Hopeless at our village school. Used to have a music room and specialist teacher, but both have been lost. DD1 has lessons at school but it is expensive. No choir, no orchestra. Dd2, who is quite musical, says class music lessons are boring.

Dh is musician/music teacher and we watched the C4 programme. Our problem with his idea was that it is all very well getting the instruments, but you need people to teach them and that will cost money. (We haven't watched the second one yet, so perhaps this is addressed in it).

We teach ocarina, recorder and ukulele as whole class lessons and individuals learn, keyboard, violin, clarinet, guitar and drums

I work for a music service and the music that goes on in primaries is variable. Some primaries as described above are amazing but some really aren't bothered and it often comes down to the head and parental pressure. Don't stop the music annoyed me intensely as it is one person on a crusade who really didn't understand the implications of trying to get music started in a primary school e.g. budgets, pressure on literacy and numeracy, lack of space. When he watched that poor music teacher teach the lesson, he didn't even understand what the fundamental flaw was, he said the rhythms were too difficult, but actually the main issue was she hadn't established a regular pulse and wasn't sticking to it.

Our school is tremendously keen on sport which is very unfortunate for my musical, non sporty boys. We have a visiting music teacher who covers PPA time and there are visiting teachers for strings and chanter but very few children get the chance and it costs. Ds3 does most of his music outside school at the moment which, of course, costs even more.

The Prep that my DS is in has fab music. There are 2 choirs in the pre-prep and 3 in the Prep. There are orchestras, ensembles and recorder groups. There are informal concerts by instrument type and a big whole school outside concert in the summer. In Year 3 the children have a term of strings, term of brass and term of recorder lessons in groups of about 8, bringing instruments home for the term. There are also steel pans lessons and lots of perepetetic music teachers as well as 3 full time music teachers in the school. They enter local choir competitions and attend events at secondary schools and concerts in London. Sessions are run about helping with music practice and early morning sessions for aural or sight reading work.

It is very good.

In our previous state school, there was no choir, no orchestra. The PTA paid for a term of recorder lessons for Year 4. There were a couple of perepetetic teachers from the local music service but only 8 children in the whole school taking lessons and most were totally unaware that they were available. The Head was not committed to music. There was not a single member of staff who could play the piano, so even in assembly, any singing was to a CD. I felt it was a cultural wilderness to be honest. Other local schools seemed to offer much more.