Music - Term 1

Welcome back to another exciting year in Music. I hope everyone had an enjoyable and restful break. This term, students had the opportunity to audition for the Victorian State School Spectacular Mass Choir and Mass Dance. We will also be offering Senior Choir, Junior Choir, School Band, String Ensemble and Year 4 Drum Ensemble. 

Prep

Learning Intention: To understand high and low sounds in melodies and songs. 

This term, Foundation students will develop their singing voice and be introduced to a range of folk songs. They will begin identifying high and low sounds and develop strategies to identify pitch. Students will also be introduced to beat and rhythm through body percussion. They will also explore C major and A minor chords on ukulele. 

Year One

Learning Intention: To understand the melodic contour in songs. 

Students will continue to identify high and low sounds and show their understanding of pitch by pitch pointing on their bodies. They will explore sound and silence within music and develop their ability to sing in a round. Students will discover za, a crotchet rest, and explore how it is used within music. They will also demonstrate their knowledge of pitch by playing class songs on glockenspiel and xylophone. 

Year Two 

Learning Intention: To understand pitch pointing on the hand stave.  

This term students will continue to develop their aural skills by transferring steps and skips to the ‘hand stave’ and ‘tone ladder’. Students can aurally identify if notes move by a step or by skip. They will now start to transfer this knowledge to the ‘hand stave’ in order to prepare them for music notation. Students will also be introduced to minims through class songs and begin learning short melodies on keyboard.

Year Three

Learning Intention: To transfer the hand stave to notes on the stave.  

Students will go deeper into steps and skips and transfer their knowledge of the hand stave to formal notation. They will compose short songs and melodies using solfa and notation, applying time signatures and bar lines. Students will also be introduced to semiquavers (tika-tika) and the new note ‘do’. They will also have the opportunity to transfer their knowledge to keyboard and xylophone.

Year Four

Learning Intention: To understand the 12 Bar Blues. 

This term students will be exploring the 12 Bar Blues on piano. They will learn a Blues riff and explore chords and melodies within the structure of the 12 Bar Blues. Students will begin to make connections between the pentatonic scale and how it is used within the Blues. They will also be introduced to quavers and semiquavers (ti-tika) and the new note ‘re’ 

Year Five

Learning Intention: To understand triads.

This term, Year Five students will develop a firm understanding of chords, or triads, through singing and instrumental practice. Students will choose between piano, guitar or ukulele and learn common chord progressions. They will also compare and contrast the new rhythms ‘ti-tika and tika-ti’. Students will also reinforce their understanding of the notes ‘re and high do’.

Year Six

Learning Intention: To understand harmony.

During Term One, Year Six students will be investigating harmony in a range of musical contexts. In order to personalise student learning, students will choose to study guitar, piano or ukulele. Depending on their instrument choice, students will explore beginner chords on ukulele, I, IV, V barre chords on guitar or voice leading on piano.