Welcome to Music
Staff
Faculty Head – S Murphy
Performing Arts Music – E Fernie, C Friary, K Hunter
S1 & S2
During normal times, S1/2 music is a practical class where pupils learn to play musical instruments. When we were faced with an extended period where we could not do that, we had to think out of the box and come up with weekly lessons that were relevant and engaging!
The lessons have covered a wide range of styles, from pop and rock, to musicals and instruments of the orchestra. Most lessons involve a pre-recorded lesson and a corresponding online quiz or research task. They would then produce their findings in the form of a poster or PowerPoint.
They also completed lessons on music literacy and learned about specific pieces of music.
Pupils have been asked to compare original songs with unusual cover versions and in the “Lockdown Listening” task, pupils listed their top ten songs that cheered them up during lockdown.
As much fun as it has been, listening to and learning about music, nothing beats playing it live! We are all really looking forward to seeing everyone again in the classroom so we can play music again!
S3 & S4
Throughout the period of online learning, S3 and S4 Music classes have been offered a vast array of different tasks to complete. Some of these include: live lessons, listening quizzes, research tasks, and individual instrumental practice.
S3 have revised topics such as World Music, Musicals and Opera, and Jazz, Blues and Swing. Our S3 classes have worked very hard with their teachers to produce some fantastic pieces of work. Many of our S3 pupils have worked really hard in adapting to this new way of learning and below are some examples of the fantastic work they have produced!
Our National 5 classes have fully immersed themselves into a variety of research tasks and online quizzes to revise their concept knowledge during this term.
Some of our National 5 pupils have also been able to come into school recently to practice and record their practical programme. Pupils have kept their practical skills up to a good standard over lockdown and were ready to perform as they came back!
Higher
The engagement and enthusiasm across both Higher Music classes during this period of online learning has been excellent. In a subject where practical assessment makes up the majority of the curriculum, pupils have had to show resilience and the ability to adapt as they work from home without access to their musical instruments in school.
The main method of completing work for Higher Music pupils has been the completion of online listening quizzes through the use of Microsoft Forms. Pupils have revisited and consolidated a number of listening topics such as Literacy, Rhythm & Dictation, Voice Types, Instruments of the Orchestra, Baroque/Classical and Romantic/20th Century.
In more recent weeks, we have been fortunate enough to welcome a number of Higher pupils into school to practice their performance programme on both instruments. It is evident that the pupils thoroughly enjoyed being back in school and finally having the chance to play their instruments after what has been a period of online learning driven mainly by written work.
The Music department are delighted to be back in school full-time and being able to welcome pupils back into the classroom again to make music!
