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3MS 'Three Little Birds' Singing
Year 3 are learning about reggae music and Bob Marley from Jamaica. They tried very hard to sing this famous song in a reggae style with shortened words as Bob Marley sung them. They had lots of fun!
3MS 'Three Little Birds' Instruments
Following on from learning to sing the song, this class then learnt how to play the glockenspiels along to it in two parts to create a harmony. They performed brilliantly together in time and with excellent technique on the glockenspiels to create a pleasant sound.
4SB 'Mamma Mia' Instruments
4BM 'Mamma Mia' Instruments
Year 4 are learning about the famous Swedish pop group Abba. To play this classic piece, these classes started by internalising the beat of 4 in the music, then adding rhythms on top. They then clapped the G on the beat of 1 and counted 2,3,4 as rests. They moved to glockenspiels and played this G in time to the music. Some children then moved onto keyboards to add the second part- the AG AG 'mamma mia' part. This was very tricky as it came in after the G on the beat of 2. Finally, the 3 children who had piano lessons practised playing the melody part and managed to fit this on top. With a lot of practise and perseverance, the children played a successful piece together in 3 parts!
4SB 'Mamma Mia' Singing
We loved singing this song so much, we kept improving it until we could sing it without the backing vocals. These children loved trying to add expression and to sing it like Abba!
5JS 'Waltz of the Flowers'
5HW 'Waltz of the Flowers'
Year 5 have been learning about classical music and the romantic composers Grieg and Tchaikovsky. They listened to orchestras playing Grieg's 'In The Hall of the Mountain King' and pieces from Tchaikovsky's 'The Nutcracker'. The children then learnt how to create a waltz piece using a 3 beat 'um pah pah' pattern. They formed their own orchestra using keyboards and tuned percussion, with 3 different sets of notes and chords to produce 3 beat harmonies from The Nutcracker's 'Waltz of the Flowers'. It was extremely tricky to keep together in time, but by internalising the 'um pah pah', with the emphasis on the 'um', they did a great job of playing clearly together in ensemble.
5HW Samba Rhythms
Following on from learning about classical and romantic music, Year 5 have started to learn about samba music from Brazil. They watched a video of the spectacular carnival parade in the Sambadrome in Rio di Janeiro and have created their own samba music using similar percussion instruments to those they use in traditional samba. Using a beat of 8, each group of instruments played on particular numbers to create a pattern of polyrhythms- layering up the texture to create a rhythmic samba piece. The children had to internalise the beat and focus on their own pattern. They did a fantastic job of keeping together and increasing the tempo as they practised. The next step was to add structure with some sections of call and response from the teacher using the samba whistle.
5JR Samba Call and Response
After practising their samba rhythms, each Year 5 class learn how to structure a samba piece in ternary form (ABA) using call and response from the teacher using the samba whistle, to change what they were doing. This class copied back the teacher's call as the signal to change, but other calls demanded a different response.
5HW Samba Keyboard Compositions
The final stage of our samba music was to compose repeating 4 beat 'tea, coffee, tea, coffee' riffs using C,F,G and A on keyboards. The children then played these in time over a recording of their samba rhythms to create a new piece of music!
5JS Samba Keyboard Compositions
6LH 'Livin' on a Prayer' Singing
Year 6 are learning about rock music and practised using their best 'rock' voices to emulate Jon Bon Jovi while singing this classic Bon Jovi song! It took a lot of warming up but they really enjoyed it!
6LH 'Livin' on a Prayer' Instruments
6NF 'Livin' on a Prayer' Instruments
Following on from singing the song, Year 6 learnt some instrumental parts to play 'Livin' on a Prayer' as a class band. Depending on the children's confidence and skills, different parts were built up, with glockenspiels playing a backing part, keyboards playing a simplified melody part, then this class even had two drummers! One child played the full melody part on the piano, but it was a bit too tricky to get this in time with the backing parts during the lesson. It was challenging keeping in time together and creating balance between the instruments, but with lots of practice, we got there!
6LH 'Livin' on a Prayer' Compositions
This class did a brilliant job of creating 2 bar compositions to play along with 'Livin' on a Prayer'.