Music Opportunities
Music is a busy, dynamic and vibrant department. We seek to offer a wide range of musical opportunities to ignite passion and develop creativity within our students. Our music curriculum and co-curricular activities offer students access to a wide range of musical experiences and learning opportunities. We endeavour to lead our students on an inspirational journey of discovery with a desire for them to gain performance skills, make critical and informed evaluations and develop the many life skills learnt through the application of music.
Curriculum
Music is a creative subject. Therefore, our students learn through a practical based curriculum, exposing them to a variety of musical genres and performance opportunities on different instruments. Classroom learning opportunities include the Ukulele, DJ Skills, Garageband music technology software and keyboards. More information regarding this can be found on our KS3 curriculum map and GCSE curriculum map.
Co-curricular opportunities
We offer a fluid and comprehensive co-curricular programme to meet the needs of students who wish to create music and perform outside the classroom. To ensure our ensembles remain relevant to the ever-changing musical landscape, we embrace a range of students’ interests. Our range of co-curricular ensembles include:
Jazz Orchestra, Jazz Collective, Guitar Ensemble, Saxophone & Brass Learners, Brass Ensemble, Handbell Ensemble, Samba Band, KS3 Choir, Various student led Rock and Pop groups
Students are given opportunities throughout the year to perform either as part of an ensemble or as a soloist. The department hosts the annual school Carol Service and Spring Concert in our local church. They are both very popular and a great success. In addition, we are regularly invited to perform at events in the local community and provide music for the Year 11 presentation evening and school sports day.
Individual instrument lessons
All of our students are encouraged to learn to play a musical instrument. Our team of peripatetic music tutors visit each week to teach individual lessons on Brass, Woodwind, Piano, Guitar and Drums. These lessons are popular, with many students choosing to learn an instrument and participate in our co-curricular ensembles.
For more information regarding individual music lessons, please follow the relevant link/QR code below:
Community
Building community across all year groups is an important by-product of involvement in the activities the music department offers. In addition, our local community is enriched through seeing our students and musical ensembles perform. We can frequently be seen providing entertainment at concerts and community events throughout the year. By offering regular opportunities for our ensembles to perform in public, our students develop valuable presentation skills and gain an understanding of the community we live in.
The Music Department is a hive of activity and cacophony of sound. The daily individual practise, ensemble rehearsals and the coming and going of musicians contributes greatly to the character of the department.
Up-to-date information can be found by following us on Twitter - X @WestHillMuse
