Music
Music plays a central role at Camden School for Girls with an innovative, inclusive and diverse curriculum and extracurricular offer, enriched by many musical partnerships beyond the classroom. We believe that every student is inherently musical given the right conditions and support. We want to prepare our students for a lifetime love, understanding and appreciation of music through opening up a world of music making, spanning different times, places and cultures. We enable our students to interact with and respond to music in a multitude of ways; as vocalists, instrumentalists and composers using industry standard technology. We aim to give all our students the skills and knowledge to access their individual creativity and to share in the creativity of others. Music teaches us to listen with intention, not only to our own ‘voices’ but those of others.
Each SOL is planned across a half-term and is built around performing or composition and listening and appraising. Our KS3 curriculum is broken down into knowledge and skills. Instrumental and ensemble skills are learnt through our innovative Band Project, in which all students learn a band instrument of their choice through curriculum lessons with the goal that all students are GCSE ready with instrumental fluency, accuracy and expression by the end of KS3. The Band Project alternates with Music Technology SOL starting with sequencing through to more complex composition and production. Knowledge is built around the national curriculum interrelated dimensions of music: melody, rhythm, harmony, texture, sonority and dynamics, with each SOL having one or more particular focus that comes out of the style of music being performed or composed.
We want as many students as possible to continue their musical journey into KS4 and 5, where we offer Edexcel at GCSE and OCR at A level. We are proud that CSG is bucking the national trend of falling numbers in music at both key stages and instead are rapidly increasing those choosing GCSE music and having a large A-level class, the majority of whom last year went on to continue their musical studies at the most highly regarded conservatoires and universities in the UK.
Curriculum Information
Enrichment Opportunities
The music department runs a rich, varied and inclusive extracurricular program, the foundation of which are our weekly ensembles. These range from our full Symphony Orchestra of over 50 players, conducted by professional conductors, to our choirs (Junior and Senior) attended by over 60 students each. We have weekly Junior Jazz and Big Band, Junior Strings and Senior Chamber Ensembles. The department supplements these with many special events, including termly masterclasses for all students with professional musicians. This year we have been lucky enough to welcome the violinist Miranda Dale, the pop singer Ruby Duff, the musical theatre singer and director, Garth Bardsley and the composer Cheryl Frances-Hoad. In addition, our students are given the opportunity to attend performances outside of school. These have included a performance of Wicked the musical, the LPO at the Festival Hall, the opera, Turandot at the ROH and the Odyssey Orchestra at Cadogan Hall. We plan an annual music tour, which last year saw our orchestra perform in 2 concerts in Belgium. This year we are taking 68 members of our choir to Germany for 3 performances.
Over 250 students have 1:1 instrumental lessons during the school day with our wonderful instrumental teachers from Camden Music Services. These cover nearly all instruments from double bass to piccolo!
Throughout the year, our students take part in many performances within school, including the Winter and Summer Concerts, Founders Day, Band Night, Battle of the Bands, the Year 7 Concert and our huge school musical with over 100 students taking part. Alongside these packed-out performances, the department runs a series of informal concerts giving students regular performance opportunities. These are all supported by our wonderful Music Ambassadors who represent every year group.
Perhaps most importantly, we open the department up every lunchtime and after-school so that our students can rehearse, practice and have fun making music individually or with friends.
Gallery
