Header
Year 3
Term 1 HEAR IT, PLAY IT! Exploring Rhythmic Patterns
This term, the children will be exploring rhythmic patterns. With activities designed to get everyone up and moving, the children will learn to identify rhythms and play them using body percussion, instruments and plastic cups! They will explore call-and-response techniques used in a range of songs and have fun creating their own call-and-response (question and answer) phrases. The children will develop their ensemble skills, learning to perform simple rhythmic ostinatos to accompany a song or poem. They will sing songs influenced by different musical styles such as Blues and Rock ’n’ Roll and listen out for simple stylistic features in music such as Hound Dog by Elvis Presley and Rock Around The Clock by Bill Haley & His Comets. The children will move on to composing and notating simple rhythmic patterns using different forms of graphic notation.
Term 2 Painting Pictures With Sound
Whether performing actions to match dynamics in Beethoven’s 5th Symphony or creating doodles in response to Vivaldi’s Winter from The Four Seasons, this term begins with activities designed to help children identify and describe the ingredients (dimensions) that make up music. The children will explore instruments, learning about instrumental timbres associated with different countries and use this knowledge to create simple accompaniments to songs such as We’re Going Round The World.
As the term moves on, the children will learn how to vary the dimensions of music to evoke mood and atmosphere. They will create suitable music to accompany song lyrics and poetry, as well as improvising a musical phone call to express a suggested mood!
The term ends with an opportunity to compose music inspired by stories and settings. The children will create and organize layers of musical sound to create interesting textures and have fun representing these sounds using different forms of notation such as storyboards and composition wheels!
Term 3 Sing, Play, Notate!
Whether it’s hopping, leaping, ascending or descending, this term begins with songs and activities to get children listening and describing pitch and melody. Using their voice as an instrument, they can create simple soundscapes or develop solo singing with songs such as The Losing Things Song.
The children will learn to represent melodies from songs such as Healthy Heart and Un, Deux, Trois, exploring different forms of graphic notation such as dots, coins and pipe cleaners!
As the term moves on, the class will develop their knowledge of the pentatonic scale, singing songs and working in small groups to compose and improvise simple melodies.
The term ends with an opportunity to learn about performance. They will listen and compare versions of music such as March Of The Trolls by Grieg or There’s No Business Like Show Business by Irving Berlin, learning how music can be arranged for different instruments and voices. And of course, an opportunity to perform to others is a vital ingredient of the term!