Music Topic Summaries

Nursery Overall Coverage

We join in with Rhyme Time each day and then remember and sing songs independently using the song cards as prompts

In Nursery we enjoy playing and experimenting with musical instruments with increasing control to express our feelings and ideas.

We enjoy joining in with musical circle games outside with our friends.

Each day, we listen to music and all take part in either Wake up and Shake up or Squiggle While We Wiggle.

We started by listening to the sounds that we could hear in our environment. We then explored our immediate environment, thinking about what sounds we could hear.

- What can you hear? Is it a fast or slow sound?

- Is the sound loud or quiet?

Children also explored nature sounds; distinguishing between familiar animal sounds and expressing their own feelings and responses to the sounds.

Children could also recreate sounds using own voice.

As part of our Diwali celebrations, we watched a Diwali dance demonstration.

We practised each of the moves and combined them with music. The pace of the music was quite fast, so we counted in time to help us.

We learned about music from another culture, particularly linked to the festival of Hanukkah. We learned to play some traditional Jewish instruments by watching videos and then performed them in groups.

Reception Autumn 2 Celebration Music

Year 1 Spring Term - Musical Vocabulary (Under the Sea) To begin the children moved around the room in time, to the pulse and tempo of the music. They then changed the tempo of their actions to show different of movement with a focus around the theme of ‘under the sea’.

In the next session, the children explored their voices and individual ‘timbre’. We were introduced to a brand new instrument, the ‘celeste and explored how this instrument is best used in a variety of songs and theme tunes.

The children grew in confidence throughout each session and had a sound understanding of rhythm, pulse and tempo. We then introduced playing together using glockenspiel, bells, cymbals and chimes. Each person in the team had a special role.

The children then practised playing in different teams and roles.

By the end of this block, the children could Finally the children independently matched each confidently explain the musical vocabulary and musical word to the correct definition. give musical examples when doing so, using a range of simple instruments. 

Pulse

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Tempo

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Dynamics

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Timbre

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Pitch

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Rhythm

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Texture

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Structure

Year 2 Spring 1 On This Island: British Songs and Sounds We have enjoyed learning traditional British songs and linking them with cities and common places that can be found in Britain.

We worked in groups to recreate the sounds heard at the seaside, in the countryside and in London.

Think about the: •

•

We thought about what we might be able to hear in all the different places and how we could recrate the sounds in different ways.

Dynamics = Volume

Tempo = how fast or slow your music will be

We evaluated each others work by listening and explaining one good feature and something we think could be improved. The groups then tried to put these suggestions into action. We thought really carefully about the techniques and features we had been learning about.

Finally, we created a class piece of music by adding all the soundscapes for the different places together.

Year 3

Summer 1

Traditional Instruments and improvisation (India)

Children were introduced to traditional Indian instruments and music, including the key aspects of the tal and the rag.

Children learned the basics of what a rag is and how they can use it.

Firstly, children practiced playing the notes on order and then they used the notes to improvise a rag in the style of traditional Indian music.

We listened to some traditional Bollywood style music and identified on the world map where the music was from.

Children then listened to the sound of each instrument and had to guess which is was.

Children looked at creating a drone using a drum. They created 3 sounds with the drum and named each (Tin, Na, Dhin).

Year 4 Autumn 2 - Caribbean! The history and features of Calypso music.

Children discovered the origins of Calypso music, as well as understanding some of its key features, before performing a Calypso style song.

Children learnt to recognise and perform quavers from staff notation and then played them within the context of a Calypso song.

We learnt that Calypso music was used to spread the news. Children created and performed their own lyrics to a Calypso song.

The children added dancing to their songs, with actions that represented the words in the song.

Year 5 Autumn 1 - Musical Theatre

Children learnt about the history of musical theatre and different jobs available in the musical theatre industry.

Children listened to a range of musical theatre songs and learnt the difference between an action song and a character song.

The children listened to a variety of songs that described journeys. They then created musical theatre songs of their own based on a journey.

The children performed their songs for the rest of the class.

Children learn some African dance steps and practice a final performance of the Shosholoza song, incorporating their new moves and the chords from Lesson 2.

Year 5 Spring 2 - South and West Africa Children learn ‘Shosholoza’, a traditional South African song, play the accompanying chords using tuned percussion and learn to play the djembe. They will also learn a traditional West African drum and add some dance moves ready to perform the song in its entirety.

Working in pairs, pupils learn the chords for the ‘Shosholoza’ song, using tuned percussion instruments such as glockenspiels, xylophones or steel pans.

Children learn to sing the song 'Shosholoza' accapella, sung in Ndebele, the language spoken by the Bantu people.

Using a metronome to keep a constant pulse, children practice reciting rhythms with varying dynamics and tempo, before following the pulse set by the 'master drummer' on the traditional West African Djembe drum

Developing the complexity of the rhythms from Lesson 4, children work in groups to create an eight beat break, performing as a class.

Year 6 Spring 1 - Film Music Children created a notation of their compositions with a graphic score, using their body, voice and instruments to create sounds to represent a given theme

Pupils identified the characteristics of film music and appraised different musical features in a variety of film contexts

The children used Wallace and Gromit to identify and understand the composing techniques that create action, tension and emotion in the score of a film

The children used graphic scores to interpret different emotions in film music, made up their own graphic score and performed it to the rest of the class

Children brought together their skills from this unit to soundtrack film clips with their own graphic score.

Children practiced reciting rhythms with varying dynamics and tempo, before following the pulse set by the 'master drummer' on the traditional West African Djembe drum.

Year 6 Spring 2 - South and West Africa Children learn to sing the song 'Shosholoza', sung in Ndebele, the language spoken by the Bantu people.

Children learn some African dance steps and practice a final performance of the Shosholoza song, incorporating their new moves and the chords from Lesson 2.

Working in pairs, pupils learn the chords for the ‘Shosholoza’ song, using tuned percussion instruments such as glockenspiels, xylophones or steel pans.