Autumn Term 2024 

Year 3

Year 3 will use a variety of instruments to start learning how to read music. They will use percussion to create rhythms and glockenspiels to compose melodies, as well as performing pieces by reading the treble clef stave. The children will listen to a range of different ensembles and try to identify the different types, as well as using some new musical terminology.  After half term, students will develop their performance skills, learning the music for their Christmas production. They will develop their pitching, breathing, diction and confidence, and then add dance moves, ready to perform to a large public audience in December. 

Year 4

Year 4 will look at different songs in the genre of “Soul and Gospel”. They will use more notes on the treble clef, and sing the songs as well as develop performances including instruments. Students will use the songs to compose their own lyrics, as well as develop an understanding of the contexts of the song and music. Through listening work, students will also widen their experience of instruments they can hear, and how they are played.

Year 5

This term Year 5 will look at “Programme Music”, music that creates a story or image in your mind. They will use a range of instruments to create their own piece to represent an animal, as well as listening to some famous orchestral pieces including “Peter and the Wolf”, “The Planet Suite” and “The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra”. They will use a variety of instruments to create a group performance of a famous piece, adding their own interpretation.

Year 6

This term Year 6 will look at “Music and the Sea”. They will look at how the “key” of a piece of music (Major / minor) affects the emotion of the music, and compose their own pieces to represent sea stories. Through the use of singing and keyboards, students will perform some traditional “Sea Shanties”, and will listen to some of these as well as orchestral music that represents the power of the ocean. Students will understand why music was written, and its purpose, as well as social and contextual influences on it at the time.