Music to our ears

This term we have focused on the thread of musical knowledge. This can include learning about notation; history of music; different elements of music and music terminology; using their instruments to do composition and improvisation and reading or writing sheet music.

Can you feel the music?

The children in Reception have been exploring different genres of music including soul, jazz, classical, heavy metal, rock, folk and hip hop. The children have been listening to the music carefully and discussing which instruments have been used. The children also had discussions about how the piece of music made them feel.

Beaters at the ready…

The children in year two have been learning how to play the glockenspiel. They have built up their music skills and knowledge over the course of the first part of the spring term by learning about the rhythm and the beat. They learnt new vocabulary including the names of keys and notes. To consolidate their learning they took part in a class performance of London’s burning!

Composing music

In Year 4, they learnt about crotchets, quavers, minims, semibreves and crotchet rests, and used these notes to create short compositions to perform on the drums. The children learnt about Nigerian music, focusing on Djembe drums. They have now moved onto learning the notes on the stave - playing finger twister to help them remember - and are using the glockenspiels to practise reading simple melodies on the stave.

The history of music

Linked to their topic of Amazing Athletes, Year 6 have examined the history and meanings behind the British, American and French national anthems. They have also listened to a variety of other national anthems (as well as popular music from around the world) and used music terminology - pitch, tempo, timbre, dynamics, chord, pulse, texture - to comment and critique them. The children are currently composing their own national anthems, using a variety of percussion instruments to perform them.