Music
Music is Life. That’s why our hearts have beats.
~ Cecily Morgan
Commitment to the Arts
Hampton Primary has a very strong commitment to the Arts. Music is an important part of the curriculum and highly valued at our school, where we believe that every child should have equal opportunity to a full music education. Music promotes confidence, self-esteem and has a positive correlation to academic learning. We firmly believe that:
- Music is important for all children to learn as we know from research it leads to better brain development, increases in human connection, and can contribute to stress relief.
- All students in schools deserve a music education as part of the curriculum.
- It is not a privilege, it is an educational right.
Students learn in a dedicated 50 minute classroom session and also with 15 external providers both during school and after school. Students learn through a sequential and scaffolded music program from Foundation to Year 6. Our program is based on the educational music educators Carl Orff and Zoltan Kodaly. These pedagogies draw on aural listening and copying pitch (Z. Kodaly) and improvisation using the 5 note pentatonic scale (C. Orff). When students improvise, there are no mistakes – no right or wrong.
As well as weekly lessons where students will sing, dance, perform and learn music theory in the purpose-built music room, students also engage in:
- Musical Literacy (Choir): Taught as part of the curriculum to Year 3 students.
- Recorder: Taught as part of the music program to all Year 3 and 4 students.
- Ukulele: Taught as part of the music program to Year 5 and 6 students every second year.
- Year 3 string program: Interested students take small group tuition for 4 terms.
- STOMP: A dance program held during school time for all children as part of the music program for student Years 1-4.
- I Can Dance All: children from Foundation participate in a term of dance and movement run by a professional dancer with a concert for parents to conclude.
- Digital Composition: Taught to Year 4 - 6 students using programs such as Garage Band, Groove Pizza Launchpad.
- String ensemble: More advanced string students meet as a group each Thursday morning at recess.
- School Brass and Woodwind band: More experienced players attend early morning band.
Individual music tuition is also a large part of our offering here, with hundreds of students learning through this co-curricular program. Students learn instruments including: Piano, Guitar, Drums, Flute, Clarinet, Euphonium, French Horn, Saxophone, Trumpet, Trombone, Violin, Viola, Keyboard and vocal studies.
As well as the rich offerings at school, students also attend musical excursions to places such as the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and matinee performances to professional musicals each year such as Frozen, School of Rock and Shrek. Students then have the opportunity to also perform to audiences in class and weekly at assembly as well as at regular soirees, productions, competitions and even on stage at community events.
Students have the opportunity to showcase their talents regularly at assembly, soirees, Grade ⅚ musical productions, inter-school competitions and public performances such as Hampton St Festival, Dendy Park Carols and Federation Square.
Hampton Primary School has often been referred to as ‘The College of the Arts – Junior Campus’!
‘There is no such thing as mistakes in the music room – just experiments with sound’ Traci Cenedese
All programs are coordinated by Traci in the music department. For any questions or more information, please email Traci.
