. Welcome to Music
Welcome! In this booklet you will find a snapshot of the excellent Music practice taking place at Knaphill Junior School. On the following pages, evidence can be found of all year groups enjoying and achieving in this subject area. This portfolio will regularly be updated with current work by the subject leader.
Whole-school evidence of Music in action
Year 3 Autumn Term The Stone Age topic in Year 3 has given the children the opportunity to learn about Stone Age musical instruments. Children listened to the type of music that would have been played and the types of instruments that were used to play. After learning about resources available to early man, the children designed their own instruments. To accompany this, the children create Stone Age style chants and rhythms that they rehearse and perform in front of the class. Also, the children spend time imagining and visualising what the home of a Stone Age person would have been like and then they create a soundscape based on their observation. Children think about the different sounds and how these sounds would have travelled and then create these sounds through their voices. They rehearse and perform these in groups.
Year 3 Spring Term As part of their Romans topic, year 3 learned about the rise and fall of the Roman Empire and as part of this they created and performed their own war chants. They linked this to literacy where they wrote poems. From these poems they rehearsed and performed war chants to a rhythm. The rhythm was made by simple percussion and some children began to record their work using simple, informal notation.
Year 3 Summer Term The year 3s look at their local area in the summer term and compare it with a country in Latin America. This offers a great opportunities for children to learn about local musician and music and compare these with music from other cultures; namely Latin America.
Year 4 Autumn Term The focus for the year 4 Autumn Term was Africa. Within this topic children looked African drumming. They use this as a stimulus to take part in chanting and percussion activities. Later in th term they learn about the African music group Ladysmith Black Mombazo. They listen to examples of their music and learn about the band and its history.
Year 4 Spring Term Kings and Queens was year 4 s spring term topic, and within this children focused on the Tudor era for their music. Linking with dance in PE, children listened to a variety of Tudor music and learnt about different types of instruments that were used at the time. They classified the instruments as either wind, string or brass and then commented on the music and whether they liked it or not. As well as this, children sang simple Tudor rhymes and chants.
Year 4 Summer Term As part of Year 4 s Anglo-Saxons, Vikings and Scots topic, children get the chance to discover what instruments were used in Anglo-Saxon times. Children are given examples of different poems and oral stories to perform. Furthermore, they consider the role of the storyteller playing music to accompany songs and poems. Towards the end of term, children will identify different examples of Anglo-Saxon riddles and then children can compose music to accompany a riddle.
Year 5 Autumn Term As part of their Space Quest topic, year 5 pupils listened to The Planets by Holst and discussed the effect of the music. They listened to the different movements and compared them, discussing their similarities and differences in terms of pitch, tempo and rhythm. Musical notation was also used when they created their own music based on the work of Holst. They used informal notation to record what they intended to play and used a range of instruments to create it.
Year 5 Spring Term In their Active Planet topic, year 5 look at the different major environmental events that happen around the world. To link this to music, the children listened to different sounds from their environment. From this they discussed pitch, rhythm and tempo to make a piece of music from it. They linked this to dance in PE and their literacy focus book Genie in a Bottle. They used the sounds of the environment as a stimulus to then use simple notation to write, rehearse and perform their own chant inspired from sounds of the environment. To accompany their chant, the children looked at percussion instruments and compared instruments used in the past and present.
Year 5 Summer Term In the summer, year 5 learn about Ancient Greece. To start the topic off, the listen to a range of Greek music and compare it to the music they listen to. When comparing the music, they do so in terms of pitch, tempo and rhythm. Time is also spent identifying the different types of instruments that are used and classifying them as either wind, string or percussion. When they learn about the origins of the Olympic Games, year 5 children have the opportunity to create their own Olympic chant. They compose, rehearse and perform their music with regular opportunities for reflection and improvement.
Year 6 Autumn Term As part of their London topic, year 6 pupils have the opportunity to create their own fairground rides in DT. To link with this, the children are asked to perform a chanting round. This is based on the classic song London s Burning. The children take the existing tempo and beat and create their own lyrics to use instead. They add new more verses which they then perform as a group to the class. To accompany their rounds, the children compose and perform percussion accompaniment. They record their music on a treble clef stave which they then use to perform from.
Year 6 Spring Term The year 6 children learn about the Victorians in the Spring term and this offers a great opportunity to learn about music from the past. They start by learning Victorian street seller chants such as Ripe strawberries, ripe from the musical Oliver! Over the course of the term, children write their own street chant with lyrics in keeping with the tie period they are studying. They will then experiment and create percussion to accompany their chant. On staves, they will record the beats and rhythm using musical notation.
Year 6 Summer Term The summer term in year 6 is a busy one with plenty of opportunities for music. During the Egyptians topic, the children learn an Egyptianthemed song which they then perform in rounds. As a group and in solos children create new verses for the song whilst keeping the beat the same. This is then performed and evaluated. Children listen to feedback and edit and improve their song. Later in the term, year 6 have their summer end of school production to focus on with plenty of whole year group singing performances as well as solos and small group singing.