Music 

MUSIC NOTES 

Some wonderful things have happened in the Music room in the last two weeks!  It’s a privilege to teach such amazing children and being back onsite their creativity is again flourishing.

Foundation students have been reading rhythm patterns from formal, conventional notation.  They’ve been learning that notes have stems and heads, and have been able to count and say how many sounds by looking at the notes. 

Children in 0LN read, clapped and said these notes exceptionally well, not only performing correctly, but keeping very well in time with each other.  Children in each Foundation class were able to read and clap the notes accurately which was very exciting considering we’ve done very little of this work in 2020.

Children in Year 1 and 2 have been catching up on some of the work that a few of them did when learning remotely.  They thoroughly enjoyed watching the London Mozart Players’ performance of “Peter and the Wolf”, filmed in isolation.  They were able to see and hear each of the instruments very clearly, and with a mixture of acting and drawing the story was beautifully told.  

Who knew that a spaniel could act the part of a wolf?  

And which of our school values did the rubber duck fail to use?  

And how many people were playing the French Horn?  

You could find it on YouTube and enjoy it while they watch it again and find things they didn’t notice the first time.

Children in Year 3 and 4 worked brilliantly together to create performances using their names.  “Name Games” has been an activity at the beginning of many classes this term and the co-operation between students as they put their names together with gesture, body percussion, movement and even drama was, in most cases, excellent.  Performances that worked and performances that weren’t quite ready all received feedback and provided rich learning experiences.

Year 5 students were introduced to a “Wintergartan Marble Machine” this week, in machine form and in live performance.  All of them wondered about various aspects of what they saw and heard and some very insightful comments and questions arose.  

Some of them will have the opportunity to use the “Xyloba” marble run in the next few weeks to create their own versions of making music with marbles and wood.

Lynne Burt

Specialist Music Teacher