As part of our history hook week, we’ve spent some time looking at the music of War time and the importance of this to boost morale. One of these songs was We’ll Meet Again by Vera Lynn. Then we used instruments to create a soundscape of sounds from the war.
Today we used the knowledge we have gained so far on The Blitz to begin to compose a composition of music using different instruments. We explored sound clips taken during WW2, including aircraft, the Blitz and air raid sirens. We thought about the pitch and tone, selecting instruments which best demonstrated the effects. We then looked at how we can show different beats and started to layer the different parts of our composition. We have begun to put our piece of music together, demonstrating how well we can work together as a crew to produce our final piece of music.
Today we used the knowledge we have gained so far on The Blitz to compose a composition of music with different instruments. We then looked at how we can show different beats and started to layer the different parts of our composition. We worked so well in mini crews, encouraging each other and ensuring everyone was involved. Then we all performed our composition to the whole crew 🙂 A great afternoon in MI 🙂
Miss Marsh has treated LKS2 to their own boombox which allows us to listen to music during our break times! We certainly made the most of the sunshine this morning when we danced and sang to some of our favourite songs! Shout out to Sharni-Mae for her beautiful karaoke skills!
We were all so proud of our year 5 children as they showcased their incredible guitar skills to the rest of the school and to parents and carers. Thank you to everyone that joined us 🙂
Year 4 had the pleasure of working with the Zulus who have come in to teach the children African dancing and singing. We had lots of fun during these sessions and it was lovely to learn about another culture. We then had the opportunity to perform this for the rest of school and our parents who all got involved. This was definitely an experience we have enjoyed.
We love our weekly guitar lessons 🙂
Our new unit of music ‘Race!’ focuses on the theme tune from the 1981 film ‘Chariots of Fire’.
We began by passing a rhythm around the crew in a circle. We kept the beat nice and steady, ensuring that the next person did not begin tapping their beat until the person before them had finished their 8 counts. Once we had managed to successfully pass the rhythm around the entire circle, we then challenged ourselves by passing the beat round again only this time, the next person had to begin once the person tapping had performed their first four taps. We found this tricky but we were resilient and managed eventually to get the rhythm around the entire circle!
We started our work on the Chariots of Fire theme tune by watching a video of key events from the film without sound. We discussed what we had seen and created a list of themes based on the clips. We discussed the idea of a pulse being present throughout the music that represented the ticking of a clock. We talked about why a clock might be important and decided that it was to represent the clock timing the race. Using a glockenspiel, we practised playing a quick pulse with the note C. Whilst it was tricky to play quickly, we had to really concentrate to make sure that we did not play too fast or too slow and that we stayed in time with the other members of our crew.
As well as a ticking clock, the idea of a short motif representing a cheering crowd is included within the piece. We discussed how two notes (C and G) are used however the duration of the second note (G) is longer than C so would need to be held on for longer. Using untuned percussion instruments we practised creating this motif.
We split into two groups, one group focusing on the quick pulse of the ticking clock, the other focusing on the short motif of the cheering crowd. Layering these two elements together allowed us to see how piece of music are structured and also how stories can be told using just instruments.
We warmed up our voices by singing the ‘Cowboy song’, a call-and-response song that uses the pentatonic scale C-D-E-G-A.
We then watched a video of Bobby McFerrin. The performance showcased the power of the pentatonic scale and allowed for us to see how the pitch can move higher and lower, ascending and descending in scale. We talked about how moving between notes can also mean moving in and out of order, as long as the notes used are within the correct pentatonic scale.
To put this knowledge into practise, we began to improvise melodies within the pentatonic scale C-D-E-G-A on the glockenspiel. Working with a partner, we identified how the shape of the pitch moved up and down. We then played a game of ‘copy me’ where one partner had to create a short pattern using the notes from the pentatonic scale, the other partner had to listen and the repeat the pattern back before swapping.
We began our new unit of music ‘Global Pentatonics’ by warming up our voices with a call-and-response song that uses the pentatonic scale G-A-B-D-E.
After discussing what a pentatonic scale is, we listened to a number of pieces of music that contain elements of a pentatonic scale (Skye boat song, Om Namah Shivaya, Busy weaving, Desert blues). We discussed each piece, listening to information about the background behind it and then compared the musical features of each piece.
We then used glockenspiels to identify the pentatonic scale C-D-E-G-A and practised playing these notes as a scale ascending and then descending. We tried hard to play in time with the rest of our crew.
