Reception

The subject lead for Music at Darwen St James is Miss Lawson

Music Curriculum

Updated: 15/11/2023 107 KB
Updated: 15/11/2023 38 KB
Updated: 15/11/2023 136 KB
Updated: 15/11/2023 49 KB

 

     

Choir at Darwen St James is run by Miss Lawson and Mrs Thompson

Harvest 

St James' have all been to Church for the very first time in what seems a long time. We all celebrated Harvest, looking at different Harvest festivals from around the world. Choir performed their first song together. It was beautiful.

Reception

During our Music lessons this half term, Reception class have continued to work on their singing skills. We have also looked at call and response in songs, solo singers and how to recognise if a song is a solo or a group act. The children had the opportunity to sing their own solos! They all did a brilliant job and had so much confidence to get up in front of the class and sing their chosen song.

Year 2

Year 2 have been continuing their drumming lessons with Mr Navekar. He has introduced some new instruments that we have used for our rhythms - tambourines and shakers and some of us have had the opportunity to experience these and really enjoyed it.

Year 3

Year 3 have been using keyboards to play simple tunes. They then went on to look at sheet Music and putting the notes on they keyboard. They then could follow the Music score sheet to play a piece of Music.

Year 4

Year 4 have really enjoyed following musical scores to play simple tunes on the keyboards. They have also looked at Music theory, which they also enjoyed. 

Year 5

In Year 5 we have been using keyboards to create our own melodies. The children have also been looking at how to read Music and then following a piece of Music.

Year 6

Year 6 have been using the keyboards to learn how to play simple tunes. They have been learning about all the different Music symbols. They have really enjoyed learning about the theory of Music.

 

 

Reception

This half term, Reception class have been working on their singing skills. The children have learnt how to warm up their voices and how to change their voices to sing different songs. They have also been listening to different songs to determine if they are happy or sad songs .

Year 3

This term the children have been thinking about songwriting. They have listened to different pieces of music and recorded the beats. They then applied this to write their own songs. Once this was complete the children used glockenspiels to create music for their song.

Year 4

Alongside the music lessons that Junior Jam have provided this term, we have been learning lots of songs to help with maths. A class favourite has been the lively and energetic times tables songs sung by Percy Parker, he is a groovy grandad with lyrics and raps that have really stuck in our heads!

Reception

Reception have been doing lots of singing this half term to help support their listening, attention and phonics skills.

Year 1

This half term year 1 have been listening to music and finding the beat.  We have practised clapping, marching and moving in different ways to the steady beat of the music.  Once they had perfected this, they moved onto using percussion instruments.  The photos show the children patting hands and using the instruments to play along to the beat of the music.

Year 2

This half term we have been learning about the rhythm in tunes and have been learning how to tap out our own rhythm for others to copy. In the photos the children were making actions to the number of beats in a bar. They all got very good at counting the beats in a bar and talking about the beat of the music (also known as pulse). We have also listened to different types of music and thought about how the pulse or rhythm makes us feel.

Year 3

In Year 3 we have been learning about rhythms and how to mimic them using body percussion. The children then created their own rhythms where their partner had to copy it back, They then moved on to using cups to create more rhythms and pass them around a circle. The children really enjoyed these lessons and are looking forward to their next musical experience.  

Year 4

We have had a fun music day towards the end of term where we all learned to find the beat of multiple pieces of music. We used cups as percussion instruments and worked in symphony to the beat to create our own class piece of music. We then went on to learn the ‘musical rules’ i.e. a crochet = 1 beat, a minim = 2 beats and a semibreve = 4 beats’ and composed our own music for our peers to perform.

Year 5

In our blocked music unit this half term we looked at Rhythm. We looked at beats of 3 and 4. We identified the beat in pieces of music, we clapped it, clicked it, said it and then, using percussion instruments, we played it.

Year 6

Year 6 had a really fun time during music day.  We were learning about rhythm, and began simply clapping along to music to find the rhythmic beat.  We then used plastic cups to create a pattern of beats along to the music.  Finally we moved onto percussion instruments, and created alternate patterns of beats with the music.