New Model Music Curriculum 2021
The Government announced the new model music curriculum in March 2021.
“Having the opportunity to study and explore music is not a privilege; it is a vital part of a broad and ambitious curriculum. I therefore encourage all schools to use this curriculum, working with their Music Education Hubs to provide a quality music education for their pupils, to ensure every child develops a life-long love of music and musical performance.”
Rt Hon Nick Gibb MP
Minister of State for School Standards
The 2021 Model Music Curriculum (MMC) sits at the heart of the Government’s agenda for supporting curriculum music in schools during Key Stages 1, 2 and 3. The curriculum development has been teacher led, with input from leading musicians and education sector bodies.
KS 1 & 2 – The MMC takes as its starting point the ambition that every young person should be able to experience music and to make progress. This includes singing, as well as having the opportunity to learn an instrument through whole-class ensemble and small-group teaching at Key Stage 2.
The MMC takes as its starting point the ambition that every young person should be able to experience music and to make progress. This includes singing, as well as having the opportunity to learn an instrument through whole-class ensemble and small-group teaching at Key Stage 2.
KS 3 – Music at Key Stage 3 continues the journey towards building a universal foundation of musical understanding. It is expected that pupils will arrive at Key Stage 3 having had experience of performing, composing and listening and will be able to read a simple melody as demonstrated through the Years 6–7 Transition Project (Appendix 6)
Music Technology is likely to play an increasingly important role in the delivery of the Key Stage 3 curriculum, particularly given its importance in opening routes to further study. The form that this technology will take may vary hugely from school to school, including differing hardware and software solutions now that cloud-based Digital Audio Workstations can be accessed widely.
Appendices – This glossary includes the musical terms that appear in the Model Music Curriculum.
As music is a subject rich in terminology and language (often not English) with which non-specialists may not initially be familiar, the glossary provides a single reference-point for all subject-specific words, whether instruments, musical periods, genres, terminology to denote musical components or non-English common musical terms.
How can the Music Hub support you?
What’s on offer in support of the new Model Music Curriculum?
SMS can support the new Model Music Curriculum with the following package:
If you are a music hub / SMS member school there are several ways in which you can access free advice, support and resources.
- All hub member schools receive a free Charanga (online music resources) licence, worth £200 annually. Every member of staff can have their own log-in and every pupil can access materials from home, if you so wish.
- For staff who are musically inexperienced there is a wealth of appropriate Charanga material they can tap into to support delivery of the music national curriculum.
- Going forward SMS will continue to provide schools with advice and tips on how to make best use of Charanga resources.
- Hub member schools can access a wide range of singing resources (including backing tracks and vocal scores) via the member section of the SMS website smscio.org
- As a hub member you can also access a growing range of help documents and videos both about doing music and how to plan for it. These are available via the SMS website.
- Hub member schools also get free associate membership of Music Mark which is the national advice and lobbying organisation for music education.In addition, to support your music curriculum, you can buy-in a wide range of services from SMS, some of which are listed below.
- Staff training on how to deliver music in your own classroom (opt into Silver or Gold hub membership or see the buy-as-you-go menu on our website.) Buy-As-You-Go Menu
- A Music ‘health check’ meeting on music planning and self-evaluation.
- A singing plan meeting to help develop your whole school strategy.
- The ever-popular Singing Festivals for primary schools (performed at The Wyvern Theatre).
- Whole class instrumental tuition (as recommended by the MMC) delivered by SMS specialist tutors.
- After school clubs, small group and 1:1 lessons for musical continuation delivered by SMS specialisttutors.
- Live, professional ‘Roadshow’ performances at your school (choose from Wind, Percussion, Strings,Rock/Pop).
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