Teaching music at Warren Road Primary School
Subject Leader: Mrs Zufolo
What we are learning
Please click on your child’s age group below to read more about what your child will be learning this academic year
Year 1
Autumn
The children will explore sounds over a number of weeks, learning about quiet and loud sounds, duration of sounds long and short. They will sing songs. They will learn how to start and stop playing percussion instruments and how to repeat a pattern played to them.
Spring
The children will learn about pulse and rhythm through songs and music. They will learn about music and songs from different countries around the world, particularly looking at the rhythm and how they differ from country to country as well as being able to dance to some of the music moving with the rhythm of it. They will learn how to produce and copy a rhythm. They will sing songs. They will also explore pitch.
Summer
The children will explore instruments and be able to play percussion instruments in time to a simple tune. They will begin to understand about loud and quiet, how to gradually increase/decrease the volume when playing instruments. They will learn to follow symbols to know when and how to play an instrument.
Year 2
Autumn
Taking off
This unit develops children’s ability to discriminate between higher and lower sounds and to create simple melodic patterns. During this unit they learn to control the pitch of their voices and instruments by moving higher and lower both in steps and leaps and holding the same note. They create simple melodic patterns and use changes in pitch expressively to respond to the stimuli of stories.
Spring
What’s the score?
This unit develops children’s ability to recognise different ways sounds are made and changed and to name, and know how to play, a variety of classroom instruments. During this unit children explore classroom instruments and learn that instruments that make sounds in similar ways can be grouped into families. They create symbols that represent the various ways an instrument can be played and use these to help create a sequence of sounds.
Summer
Rain, rain go away
This unit develops children’s ability to recognise how sounds and instruments can be used expressively and combined to create music in response to a stimulus. During this unit, children explore how sounds can be changed, combined and organised to create a class composition. They respond to stimuli suggested by the weather and explore ways in which sounds can be used expressively. They record their compositions using pictures, symbols and words.
Year 3
Recorders
Over the 3 terms, pupils will learn to hold and play the recorder. Firstly, they will focus on blowing techniques and then the notes B, A and G, learning to play simple melodies. In addition to this, pupils will be taught the basic notation of crotchets, quavers, semibreves and rests.
Singing, appraising and composition
Through these 3 half term units, pupils will be exposed to a wide range of musical genres including Hip hop and world music. They will have opportunities to appraise these pieces and learn to sing a variety of songs within that genre. Using this experience, pupils will compose percussion and singing pieces that will be shared with the class.
Year 4
Autumn
Children will be learning about the notes and how to play the recorder. Then putting the practice into playing various songs.
Spring
During the spring term the children will develop their singing voice, their control of pulse, rhythm and pitch along with their awareness of phrases and structure.
Summer
Children will be learning about rhythm. They will look at using the amount of syllables in a word and body percussion to explore various rhythms.
Year 5
Autumn
During the term, children learn about pitch and tempo. They learn traditional carols in order to perform in the Year 5 and 6 Christmas Carol Concert at the end of the year.
Spring
Over the spring term, Year 5 learn about Gustav Holst and his composition of The Planets. They demonstrate their response to the various pieces of music through the medium of art. After half term, the children learn about African drumming. They use the djembe drums to explore various musical elements, such as timbre, pitch and tempo.
Summer
Through this term, children learn to compose and perform their own music, linking it to our Geography topic, rivers. They listen to film music and try to create their own theme tunes.
Year 6
Autumn
The first music module, entitled ‘Songwriter’, teaches children the important role played by lyrics in songs. In particular they focus on the different functions of lyrics in conveying mood, expressing attitude or telling a story. They employ simple techniques for composing lyrics of their own and setting these to melodies. They learn about the cultural and social significance of many lyrics and how that meaning should be reflected in performance as well as in the composition itself. The second module focuses on singing songs with control and using the voice expressively. The scheme of work focuses on a whole Year group performance at the Christmas Carol concert.
Spring
In African Drumming, pupils learn basic rhythmic devices used in many drumming traditions. They play a variety of sounds on percussion instruments and learn how to use timbre and duration to add variety to their rhythmic ideas. They invent and improvise simple rhythmic patterns. The ‘Super Trouper’ scheme of work sees children sing and play a two-part song, play instrumental accompaniments and rehearse and develop musical and performance ideas with understanding of how to achieve a quality class performance.
Summer
The summer term is dedicated to the Year 6 production, in which children learn the importance of performance; singing as a choir; singing in parts; developing music through drama; and partnering music with movement. The final production always proves to be something that the children treasure in years to come.
