MUSIC & PERFORMING ARTS

Music at Leigh Academy Tonbridge will focus on many different types of world music, including music theory knowledge and understanding of specific instruments with a high proportion of the lessons being based on practical activities.

Drama is an essential tool for preparing students to live and work in a world that is increasingly team focussed rather than hierarchical.

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Music is a universal language which stems from a multitude of cultures and societies. It was one of our earliest forms of communication. Music education should aim to engage and inspire pupils to develop both a love of music and their talent as musicians and so increase their self-confidence, creativity and sense of achievement.

Students need to engage with music as a subject and have a meaningful modern experience with music delivered in a 21st century way. We have invested in the latest technology so that students can access all areas of music, making it relevant to them as to how they listen to, create and access music.

Drama helps students develop tolerance and empathy. In addition to this, drama helps reinforce other aspects of our school’s curriculum by supporting PHSE topics as well as creative thinking. Drama helps our students to really understand how the world looks through another person’s eye.

Music in the soul can be heard by the universe”
Lao Tzu

Modules 1-3: Getting into Drama.
In this unit we will be teaching students new Drama Skills, giving them the rudimentary tools into Drama. There will be a focus on Physical Theatre. Students will research and present on Physical theatre, its origins, background and leading practitioners. Students will then be given a piece of Physical theatre to appraise. They then will be given a stimulus from which to plan and prepare their own piece of physical theatre.
Module 4: Refugees
This module helps students to look at what it means to be a refugee from a different perspective. They will be researching conventions to do with script work. They will again evaluate a theatre script based on Refugees. This time they will prepare a scene from a play. And evaluate.

Modules 1 & 2: Drama Challenge
Introduces students to the exciting and highly creative field of improvisation. Through a series exercises the boys will develop their improvisational and listening skills and their ability to avoid blocking. Theatre games will be used to help break down any barriers and enable students to enjoy their journey and the process. Students will also learn about the difference between spontaneous, prepared and polished improvisation. Other key drama forms developed are mime, narration, duologues and basic level Forum Theatre.
Modules 3 & 4: Homelessness
This issue based scheme of work looks at the problem of homelessness and how it affects society. The emotional effects on the homeless, their families and passers by are understood through the use of dramatic techniques including improvisation, mime, frozen pictures, split scenes and thought-aloud. The tale of a teenage runaway is developed by the class and used as a device to provide depth to their work.
Modules 5 & 6: Murder Mystery
This scheme of work develops student’s ability to create characters. By developing a fun, simple story they also examine how a plot develops, with a chance to improve their improvisational skills. The lesson workshops guide them through the story of the Earl, Miles O’Naire, introducing them to various characters at a dinner party, all of whom have a motive for murder. It enables the students to develop drama techniques such as hot-seating, duologue, tableau, angel and devil, split scene, dramatic pause, aside, status, flashbacks and creating and maintaining a character. Through practical workshops and their own independent learning, students gain an insight into how to develop tension and suspense in the form of a black comedy.

Module 1: Elements of Music
Module 2: The Classical Piano
Module 3: The Classical Piano
Module 4: Cartoon Music
Module 5: Cartoon Music
Module 6: Band Skills

Module 1: Ground Bass:
This unit looks at Pachabel’s Canon through the ages and see’s how it has been the most influential piece of music ever written. Students will also be introduced to the bass clef notation and will solidify their knowledge of the Treble Clef. There will be a range of tasks including playing with two hands together and writing their own ground bass. Students will also be revising, texture, pitch dynamics and timbre.
Module 2: African Drumming
A unit to introduce African Music and culture to THS students. Boys will use their knowledge from rhythm and pulse to build their own African drumming pieces. They will also develop their rhythmic timing and understanding. The SOW also introduces Non Western Music and Cultures.
Module 3: The Blues.
Building on the work in African Drumming we look at how slavery affected Music and it’s far reaching implications for music as a whole. Students will learn the 12 Bar Blues, They will learn how to play a walking bassline and improvise using the Blues scale. Culminating in students writing and recording their own Blues Pieces and Songs.
Module 4: Melody Writing.
As the boys understand Major and Minor and how to play chords they will now be taught how to write in a specific key. They will learn techniques such as repetition, augmentation, retrograde inversion and diminution. This will help they’re knowledge of key signatures from the previous year and now teach them how to write a successful melody using them.
Module 5: The Beatles.
Boys will learn about the 60’s and the music and culture that came with it. They will get a chance to put two hands together and read both treble and bass clef. Solidifying for some the ability to play with two hands. Students will also learn how to record chords into garage band and edit them to make sure they are in time. This is called Quantising. It also introduces starting to analysing a piece.
Module 6: Film Music James Bond / Horror
Introduces students to dissonance and consonance. We will look at the impact of music and the musical elements on Film music. The unit combines reading music and composing. Students will be given a trailer for Spectre. They will then learn how to use music to underscore the film to make the action more real. They will also be composing and inserting sound files as well as learning tools such as panning and automation.

Modules 1 & 2: Sampling.
Editing and Mixing. In this unit students will learn about sampling and how prolific it is. They will research copyright and look at case examples of infringement. They will learn editing and techniques like cutting and editing samples both Midi and Audio. Students will create their own track using samples they have created and from Apple Loops.
Modules 3 & 4: Afrobeats.
Following on from learning more advanced editing techniques students will know get to grips with learning how to programme drums. They will learn how to identify strong beats in a bar and write syncopated drum beats. They will also learn how to control Tempo within a DAW system. The main topic will be to create an Afrobeats style piece. This will also strengthen students understanding of texture, pitch, dynamics and structure.
Modules 5 & 6: Horror
This introduces students to dissonance, consonance, atonality and bitonality and how these work well in Films We will look at the impact of music and the musical elements on Film music. The unit combines reading music and composing. Students will also be required to underscore a film.

Modules 1 & 2: Unit 1: Getting to know your DAW
Modules 3-5: Unit 2: Writing in the style of and researching different musical genres
Module 6: Unit 3: An introduction to Recording

Module 1: Unit 3: An introduction to Recording
Module 2: Exam Prep and Unit 3: An introduction to Recording
Module 3: Unit 3: An introduction to Recording
Modules 4-6: Unit 4: Sound Creation