Each term the children of Ark Conway Primary Academy listen to music that ties in with their curriculum studies. The music is played around the school and the children can hear it as they move between classes. For each theme a key musician or composer is selected as an example and children are taught a little bit about the genre and composer in assemblies.

Our composer of the term for Spring 2 2022 is Frédéric Chopin

Frédéric Chopin (1810 – 1849) was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic period who wrote primarily for solo piano. He has maintained worldwide renown as a leading musician of his era.   A child prodigy, he completed his musical education and composed his earlier works in Warsaw before leaving Poland and settling in Paris at the age of 21.  After a failed engagement, he maintained an often troubled relationship with the French writer George Sand. In his final years, he was supported financially by his admirer Jane Stirling, who also arranged for him to visit Scotland in 1848. For most of his life, Chopin was in poor health. He died in Paris at the age of 39.

All of Chopin's compositions include the piano. Most are for solo piano, though he also wrote two piano concertos, a few chamber pieces, and some 19 songs set to Polish lyrics. His piano writing was technically demanding and expanded the limits of the instrument, his own performances noted for their nuance and sensitivity. Among the influences on his style were Polish folk music, J. S. Bach, Mozart, and Schubert, and the atmosphere of the Paris salons. His innovations in style, harmony, and musical form, and his association of music with nationalism, were influential throughout and after the late Romantic period.

Chopin's music, his status as one of music's earliest celebrities, his indirect association with political insurrection, his high-profile love-life, and his early death have made him a leading symbol of the Romantic era.