Staffing
Two full time teachers who are qualified to Degree and PGCE levels staff the department. The department also employs four peripatetic music teachers who specialize in Guitars, Percussion and Drums, Violin, and Woodwind and Piano.

Facilities
The department has three main classrooms two of which are fully fitted with the latest Yamaha PS350 electronic keyboards, which can accommodate up to 30 pupils. These rooms also have a large variety of percussion instruments, TV and videos, stereo music systems and recording equipment. The third room doubles as a computer suite, having 12 computers installed with the Fruity Loops and Sibelius music programmes, and as a rehearsal room containing four full drum kits and bass and treble amplification speakers for guitars. The department also has two small rooms, which are regularly used by pupil’s practical instrumental rehearsals.
The music department has an extensive music CD and record library ranging from early classical music to 21st Century pop music.
The department also makes use of the Sunderland City Learning Centre facilities, which is based at Southmoor School.

Key Stage 3 Curriculum
All pupils are taught music in mixed ability groups for one hour per week. The curriculum is designed to follow the National Curriculum KS3 for Music and the assessment procedures are based on the objectives laid out in this document.
Music at KS3 is taught with a view to giving every pupil experience of a wide range of musical skills drawn from a varied Programme of Study. It is essential that pupils be prepared to enrich their adult lives by developing as many of their innate talents as possible. Music is increasingly necessary, at a basic level, in many of the caring and leisure professions, and some basic musical skills and confidence when performing can contribute to the enhancement of a working environment.
Pupils are instructed in basic skills of performing, composing, listening and appraising as stipulated in the National curriculum. They are familiarised with the notation and the theory essential to developing these skills. Each pupil is given the opportunity to learn to compose simple melodies and harmonise them at a basic level and perform solo and ensemble pieces by singing, playing electronic keyboards or glockenspiels and other percussion instruments.
They are schooled in listening to a wide range of music from Renaissance to 20th Century, and in expressing their opinions using musical terminology. They are also encouraged to make judgements about their own compositions and performances as well as of their peers.
Pupils, regardless of ability, are encouraged and given the opportunity to avail themselves of the peripatetic teaching system or to take part in the wide range of extra-curricular music activities available at lunchtimes and after school throughout the year. Pupils are also given the opportunity to perform, either as a soloist, a small group or as a full class in school assemblies.
Year 7 pupil’s study: The Elements of Music, Christmas Song Composition, Ostinato, Structure, Melodic Patterns (Steps and Leaps), and Improvisation.
Year 8 pupil’s study: Binary Form, World Music, Ternary Form, Music ICT, Musical Project, and Music through time (Renaissance to Rock).
Year 9 pupil’s study: Modes and Modulation, Theme and Variation, Programme Music, Riff, The Blues, and Independent Learning Project based on a pop or rock personality of their choice.

Key Stage 4 Curriculum
At Key Stage 4 pupils follow the AQA GCSE syllabus for music. Music at Key Stage 4 is an option subject. The course has a large practical element where pupils will be expected to participate in groups and individual music making activities. Three areas are studied – Performing: one solo and one ensemble piece, Composing: a folio of one ‘Integrated Assignment’ in year 11, and Listening and Appraising: A listening paper lasting 1 hour and 15 minutes.
There are 5 areas of study that are taught throughout the course:

At the end of each term the department holds musical concerts, giving the pupils of Southmoor School the opportunity to display their hard work and talents in front of large audiences. The concerts always feature a variety of live acts from solo and ensemble singing, wind band, rock bands, solo instrumentalists, dancing and drama and usually a few excepts from our most recent musical.
Assemblies are an important feature of the school and the department invites pupils to take part in assemblies throughout the year.
The music department also organizes an annual Talent Star ‘Pop Idol’ competition in association with Genius Entertainment, which has seen some of our pupils reach the finals which were held this year at Newcastle’s Theatre Royal.

As well as performing in front of audiences, pupils are given the opportunity to experience musical theatre and take part in musical workshops. The music department runs an annual trip to London to let pupils sample the West End Theatrical experience, which in return helps them to enhance their learning and appreciation of the Performing Arts. Recent theatre visits have included Les Miserables, The Lion King and Cats. The trip also takes in visits to Performing Arts Colleges, practical workshops at the Covent Garden Theatre Museum, and this year included a tour of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre.