Music

“Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything.”– Plato

At Linthorpe, we believe that music is a universal language that embodies one of the highest forms of creativity. It is a unique way of communicating that inspires pupils and helps them to feel part of a community. Our high-quality music curriculum follows the award winning Charanga scheme and both develops pupils’ love of music as well as their talent as musicians.

Music Curriculum

Our music curriculum is built around three interdependent elements; technical, expressive and constructive.

Technical – The ability of instrumental and vocal musicians to exert optimal control of their instruments or vocal cords in order to produce the precise musical effects they desire.

Expressive – The art of playing or singing with a personal response to the music, making appropriate use of dynamics, phrasing, timbre and articulation to convey emotion.

Constructive – The understanding of the structure of a musical piece and the process of creating or writing a new piece of music.

Music is everywhere at Linthorpe School and helps us all in so many ways – mentally, socially and physically.

Music is delivered through:

A weekly whole school community sing
Classroom music lessons
Extra-curricular Music
Performances to the school and wider community

As they journey through school, children are taught how to think, work and communicate like a musician and in doing so, they engage with music from a variety of genres, cultures and eras.We are committed to offering the children as many opportunities as possible to become confident and self-reflective musicians and we adopt a practical approach as much as possible, using instruments to bring music to life.

We aim to give children the opportunity to explore music, discover their musical talents, gain rich diverse experiences and opportunities to perform, listen to, compose and appreciate music.

Specialist Teaching

Here at Linthorpe, we believe that all children should experience the joy of learning how to play an instrument.

A specialist music teacher Mrs Smith, who studied opera at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, leads whole class music lessons in each year group. From teaching opera to homeless people to running GP referral choirs, Mrs Smith has witnessed the transformational effects singing can have on individuals and communities.

She was the Director of the Sage, Gateshead Children’s Choir and worked as singing leader and trainer for ‘Sing Up’ in Primary schools throughout North Yorkshire and the Northeast. These singing programmes were so successful that they were used in the Department for Education National Plan for Music Education as an example of excellent music practice.

Mrs Smith has also worked as a vocal animateur and artist in residence for the education departments of Opera North and Scottish Opera. She is the vocal coach for the Youth Choir and Children’s Choir of Andalucía in Spain and for the past several years has been invited along to residencies as a vocal coach for the National Children’s Choir of Great Britain. As well as maintaining a busy teaching schedule, Mrs Smith regularly performs recitals, oratorios and operas throughout the UK and Spain.

Music lessons take place in our specialist Music Studio which hosts a range of music resources that are used daily by the children.

Musical Events and Opportunities

In addition to weekly singing assemblies led by our vocal specialist, we aim to offer other special musical experiences to each year group.

These include singing in church (Y3/Y4 Christmas Nativity); music workshops (e.g. Ukulele and Steel Pans ); Christmas performances (e.g. Y5/Y6 Christingle), an annual Trust wide festival of Choirs, Young Voices Music Festival and our annual LCPS Performing Arts musical production where the children perform at Acklam Grange Secondary School.

Instrumental lessons (currently Viola) are offered by a peripatetic music teacher from Tees Valley Music Service who visits the school each week. Lessons are offered to pupils in Y2-Y6. There is a charge for these lessons. Please visit the school office for further details.