Music Monthly Update #1

In Year 1, the children will be:

• Understanding the concept of beat or pulse in music and songs.
• Learning short songs such as “Bananas in Pajamas” and “Alison’s Camel” and adding percussion instruments.
• Listening to different kinds of marches and being able to recognize what musical qualities make this type of music suitable for marching.
• Exploring the variety of sounds that we can produce on non-pitched percussion instruments in the classroom.

In Year 2 the children will be:

• Understanding the difference between beat and rhythm.
• Learning songs such as “Listen to the Music” and “Got the Beat”.
• Using instruments to create classroom arrangements of songs such as “A Sailor went to Sea”.
• Learning some action songs.

In Year 3 the children will be:

• Examining the way composers convey meaning in their music using different tempos, dynamics and and pitch.
• Listening to parts of “Carnival of the Animals” and describing different creatures using various classroom instruments.
• Linking with the current UOI and think about signs and symbols in music.

In Year 4 the children will be:

• Exploring music and songs with different time signatures and how this may affect the mood or character of a piece of music.
• Learning to conduct music that has 2, 3 or 4 beats in a bar.

In Year 5 the children will be:

• Looking at bugle calls and brass fanfares.
• Examining how brass instruments work and pupils will compose their own examples of fanfares on classroom instruments.
• Listening to examples of fanfares in the orchestral repertoire such as “Fanfare for the Common Man” by Aaron Copland.

In Year 6 the children will be:

• Looking at rounds and 2 or 3 part songs.
• Examining the ways in which part songs are composed and use instrumental accompaniments to add colour and texture to the music.