Autumn Term 2024

Year 1’s have been exploring finding the beat or pulse of a song and then comparing it to hearing and playing rhythms. We have been using lots of fun funky songs to engage and find the beat using different parts of our bodies. Our next challenge is to start exploring pitch and thinking of making our own compositions and also how we might show these using magnets on a stave.

Year 2 have been linking their music to their History topic about the Great Fire of London.  By using the song London’s Burning, they experienced what it is like to conduct, vary the tempo, sing in a round and explore the concept of pitch.  They have looked at the size of instruments including double basses, violins and cellos to help learn that the size of something can give an indication on whether it is going to create a high or low sound. They have begun to read the melody for London’s burning by using a number of tools including, colour, letters and pitch helping lead them towards reading formal notation.

Year 3 have been linking their Stone-Age topic to their music lessons.  Exploring lots of different rhythms and working on composing their own piece of music.  We have used rhythm cards and played around with different ways of varying the structure of our music.  The next challenge has been to start to add pitch to our songs turning them from a Stone-Age rhythmical chant into a modern melody.

Year 3 have also continued to have their weekly, small group, recorder sessions with Miss Hayden.  They were then able to perform in front of the Year 4’s and a hall full of parents to show their progress so far.  They are now working towards another performance in the Spring term, so watch this space!

Year 4 have continued to have their weekly string lessons with Miss Hayden and Miss Wray.  They were able to perform to the Year 3’s and a hall full of parents to show how much they have already learned with their open strings and even their bow holds! Next we will be practicing using the bow more frequently and beginning to introduce fingers on strings.

Year 5 have begun to learn the ukulele.  First they learned how to hold the ukulele, learning the open string names by plucking and how to read the tabs on which the ukulele chords are written.  We have begun to play some simple strum patterns and learned the chords or A minor, F and C.  This has meant already we have been able to play some different songs.

Year 6 have been studying the evolution of music. We found out about the earliest tuned instrument which was a bone flute which is believed to be approximately 42,000 years old.  We had fun creating prehistoric music using the ocarinas which create a similar sound to the bone flute.  We then learned about the Medieval period and are now trying to compose our own secular medieval music using the laptops to write up and edit our compositions which use a compound time signature of 6/8.

Autumn Term

Year 1 will be exploring the story of Jack and the Bean stalk through learning a selection of songs telling the story. Alongside this they will be developing their listening skills and will use percussion instruments to compose music linked to the story. 

Year 2 will be exploring the duration of notes. How to play and read long and short notes and compose different rhythms. After half-term they will begin learning songs for their Christmas production alongside exploring pulse and rhythm.

Year 3 will be learning some songs about the stone-age and using these songs to help them learn about how symbols can help us make music.  By the end they will be able to read and play simple rhythms and in turn compose their own.  They will also continue weekly recorder lessons with Ms Hayden.

Year 4 will be continuing their Strings and Things lessons (whole class violin, viola, cello and double bass) with Ms Hayden and Mrs Baker.  They will prepare for a concert to parents at the beginning of November.

Year 5 will begin to learn to play the ukulele.  They will also learn songs to sing at the St Albans Primary School Music Association Christmas Carol service at the Abbey at the end of November. 

Year 6 will be discovering how music has evolved over time.  First exploring and then composing their own medieval song using keyboards, laptops and formal notation.  They will then move on to the 1600's in line with their British Empire topic and will learn an arrangement of Pachebel's Canon using a mixture of tuned classroom instruments and their own.