Performing Arts

Foundation/Year 1

In Music, students in Foundation and Year 1 explored how music is used to communicate ideas, stories and feelings across cultures, including learning a Yorta Yorta lullaby song. They developed singing skills through call-and-response songs and performed with rhythm, movement and expression. Students used body percussion, voice and untuned percussion instruments to keep a steady beat and enhance musical storytelling. Through guided activities, they experimented with tempo and dynamics to create soundscapes that represent events. Students listened carefully to others, rehearsed collaboratively, and shared their music-making in informal class performances, reflecting on how sound choices help bring stories to life.

Year 2

Students in Year 2 developed their understanding of beat and rhythm through body percussion, musical games, and a variety of percussion instruments. They practised keeping a steady beat while reading and performing four-beat rhythmic patterns using African drums and other classroom percussion instruments, building their confidence, coordination, and ensemble performance skills. 

Years 3/4

Students in Year 3 and 4 explored the elements of music, including dynamics, rhythm, pitch, form, timbre, and texture. Beginning with dynamics and rhythm, they investigated how changes in volume and sound can communicate different musical ideas and emotions. Students create crescendos and decrescendos using percussion instruments such as drums, djembe, rhythm sticks, and other classroom percussion instruments. 

Years 5/6

This term, Years 5/6 students will further develop their understanding of rhythm by learning note values from whole notes to sixteenth notes and practising how to read and perform rhythmic patterns on drums and other percussion instruments using the open tone technique. In celebration of NAIDOC Week, students will learn a traditional Indigenous lullaby, developing an appreciation of and respect for the cultures and musical traditions of Australia's First Nations Peoples. Students will also be introduced to the ukulele, where they will learn correct playing techniques, basic chords, and simple strumming patterns, building the foundation for accompanying songs and performing with confidence.