Music

​​​At Brighton State School, all students participate in a quality music program taught by our specialist music teacher, Mr Bruce Kidston. Students from Prep to Year 6 attend weekly classroom music lessons and have the opportunity to participate in the Instrumental Music program from Year 4.

Mr Kidston also facilitates our school choir.

Classroom music

At Brighton State School, classroom music is taught by a specialist music teacher. Generally, students from Prep to Year 6 receive a half hour lesson weekly. The music program is vocally based and is a sequential, developmental program in which basic musical elements such as rhythm, melody, listening and performing skills are learnt. Musical tools used to enhance the students musical experience include boomwackers, tuned and untuned percussion instruments and u​kuleles.

An aural approach is at the heart of the classroom program at Brighton State School.  This approach places great emphasis on the child using his/her natural instrument, the singing voice, and encourages children to ‘think in sound’. The Classroom Music Teacher seeks to help children to learn about music through their active involvement in music-making.

Knowledge and understanding

Music involves singing, playing instruments, listening, moving, improvising and composing by using the music elements to express ideas, considering particular audiences and particular purposes, through sound.

By the end of Year 3, the following will be covered:

• Duration, beat, time values and metre are used to create repeated rhythmic patterns; e.g. using minims, crotchets, quavers, semiquavers and crotchet rests to create rhythmic ostinatos in simple time.
• Pitch and intervals are used to create melodic phrases and sequences; e.g. using an improvised melody/phrase to accompany a known song.
• Repetition is used to structure music; e.g. using the same, similar and different phrases within a known song.
• Relative softness and loudness of sounds are used to change the dynamic level of music; e.g. using forte (f) to sing loudly or piano (p) to play softly.

Instrumental Music

At Brighton State School, students from Year 4–6 are invited to participate in the Instrumental Music Program. The Instrumental Music program is taught by our specialist music teacher, Mr Mik Van Poelgeest. The aim of this program is to develop and extend students musical skills and abilities through participation in small group lessons and ensemble work on a weekly basis.

Students in Years 4-6 (woodwind, brass and percussion) are eligible to be considered for enrolment into the instrumental program. Students are selected in accordance with the school's policy taking into account the suitability of the student, the balance of the ensemble program, and the available time allocated to the school. The final decision on selection is made by the principal.