Year 1
As part of their topic ‘A Long Time Ago’, children in Year 1 have been learning about the Kings and Queens of England. They listened to the National Anthem, identified the instruments they could hear and learned the shape of the melody by singing along.
Next they considered what life might have been like during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I and listened to a stately dance called a Pavane. The children learned to play their own simple Pavane on glockenspiels.
Year 2
Children in Year 2 have been composing and performing their own music based on a trip into space. They experimented with body percussion and vocal sounds to create a class graphic score. The children used symbols to represent their sounds and organised them into the structure that they wanted. Their performances were ‘out of this world’ – we think you will agree! Click below to hear 2JP’s composition:
Year 3
Year 3 have had a very exciting few weeks as they have begun to learn to play the recorder! Alan, our musician-in-residence has been very impressed with their progress so far. The children have already learned to play their first pieces together and have mastered the first notes using their left hand.
Year 4
Children in Year 4 are lucky enough to have a whole year’s worth of violin tuition and they really are progressing well. Having already mastered open strings, this term children have progressed to using their fingers to change the pitch of the notes on each string – a real tricky one!
Each week children perform together, following the notation and listening to others. Their improvisational skills are growing too as they incorporate more complex patterns and groups of notes into the composing elements of their lessons.
Year 5
Children have taken inspiration from their science topic on ‘space’ to listen to excerpts from Holst’s Planets. They imagined what might be happening as the music changed, they identified dynamic and tempo changes and which instruments they could hear.
Year 6
As part of their topic on World War II, children have been introduced to the music of Polish composer Grazyna Bacewicz who was a female composer writing music throughout the Second World War. Her ‘Overture’ features a motif based on the morse code letter ‘V’ and children spent time listening to and identifying the motif throughout the music.
Children also attempted to compose their own musical motif based on the morse code letters of their name. They used percussion instruments to perform their motifs alongside others and had the opportunity to hear how they sounded together.