Music at Grove
Please click on the below links to discover what the children are learning this term.
Summer
Year 1 - Superheroes: pitch and tempo
Year 2 - On the island – British sounds and songs
Year 4 - South America – Samba and carnival sounds and instruments
Year 6 - Pop art- theme and variations
Spring
Year 1 - Fairy Tales – Timbre and Rhythmic Patterns
Year 3 - Chinese New Year: Pentatonic melodies and composition
Year 4 - Hanami festival: Haiku, music and performance
Year 5 - Holi festival: Composition to represent the festival of colour
Spring 2 2024
Nursery - Music and Movement
This half term, children explored pitch and tempo through scarf dancing and body movement. They performed action songs to a small audience and used movement to express moods or actions within a musical story. Nursey children used an instrument as part of a musical story and performed as a group.
Reception- Musical Stories
Children's learning was developed further this half term, children learnt skills to understand that music and instruments can be used to convey moods or represent characters. Children used actions to retell a story to music. They sang songs and performed a group song. They experimented with the sounds of different instruments to create a musical story based upon a familiar routine.
Year 1-Fairy tales: timbre and rhythmic patterns
In Year One, children used their voices expressively for speaking and chanting. Next, they chose instrumental sounds to depict characters and composed rhythms using these instruments. They learned to recognise how timbre represents characters in music and practiced keeping the beat with untuned instruments.
Year 2 – Space: dynamic, timbre, tempo and motifs
In Year Two, children created a simple soundscape for effect, they were able to listen and recognise some basic elements of music. Their skills were further developed by children creating short sequences of sound which they performed with accuracy.
Year 2- Djembe
In Year 2, during Spring term 2, children have continued to learn how to play the djembe. The lessons were delivered by a drumming teacher from Music Services for Education. During these lessons, children have developed deeper understanding on bass and tone using chants to help keep to the rhythm.
Year 1 and Year 2- After School Choir Club
Year 1 and Year 2 pupils have continued to participate in an after school choir club this term. Children developed an understanding of musical elements such as rhythm, melody, harmony, and dynamics. They also improved their ability to listen and interpret music, learning how to stay in tune with others in the choir and adjust their pitch accordingly.
Year 3- Chinese New Year
In Year 3, children explored music associated with Chinese New Year Festival. They began by playing a pentatonic melody and then collaborated to write and perform their own pentatonic melody as a group composition, which they then performed together.
Year 3-Recorders
Year 3 pupils have built upon their previous efforts from the last term, growing more confident with various note durations and successfully playing together in harmony as a group.
Year 4 - Hanami Festival
In Spring 2, Year 4 learnt about Hanami in music lessons. They described the festival using words and sounds to represent a blossom tree. Year 4 worked together to create a Hanami-inspired piece of music. Finally, they performed their composition.
Year 4-Recorders
In recorder, Year 4 have continued their hard work from last half term, gaining confidence with the different note-lengths and playing in time as an ensemble.
Year 3 and Year 4- After School Drumming Club
Throughout this term, pupils in Lower KS2 have persistently participated in a drumming after school club. They have progressed in mastering fundamental rhythms, demonstrating proficiency in playing them in harmony with the beat of a song.
Year 5 - Holi Festival
In Year 5, pupils grasped the concept of representing music using colours, enabling them to depict a musical piece as a visual score. Additionally, they mastered crafting vocal compositions inspired by images and created music, evoked by a specific colour.
Welsh National Opera
In Year 5 the children have continued with their project with the Welsh National Opera. They have continued to develop their singing skills and are getting closer to performing their own opera.
Year 6 – Performance
Year 6 children have had opportunities to showcase their talent during Friday assemblies. They sang "The White Cliffs of Dover," recited and performed poetry, and even demonstrated their musical abilities learnt outside of school. Remarkably, at Grove School, we have a talented pianist in Year 6 (and in Year 5).
Year 5 and Year 6- After School Drumming Club
Throughout this term, Upper KS2 children have persistently participated in an after school drumming club. Their proficiency has flourished significantly, showcasing the capacity to execute intricate rhythms with impeccable timing, harmonising effortlessly with the song's beat and structure.
Spring 1 2024
Nursery – Music and Movement
In Nursery, children explored and understood why songs have actions. They learnt some simple Makaton signs to accompany a song and explore beat through body movement. Children also expressed feelings and emotions through movement to music.
Reception- Musical Stories
In Reception, children listened to song lyrics and melodies, recalling parts of the story. They danced to music, adjusting movements based on tempo, pitch, or dynamics. Children were also able to discuss how music made them feel. They also listened to classical music, narrating stories, and recalling story characters.
Year 1 - Under the Sea: Musical Vocabulary
This half term the children in year 1 have journeyed under the sea to explore key music vocabulary. They have made movements that are appropriate to the pulse and tempo of a piece of music, chosen instruments with appropriate timbre to represent sparkling fishes. The children have responded to dynamic changes in a piece of music and created their own pitches and rhythms. This was then used to perform a layer of the music within an overall piece.
Year 2 - Musical Me
In this topic children have learnt to sing the song ‘Once a Man Fell in a Well’ and to play it using tuned percussion, adding sound effects, experimenting with timbre and dynamics, and using letter notation to write a melody. The children have invented a melody, written it down and played it back, selecting instruments with different timbres. They have then composed and performed a piece using different dynamic levels.
Year 2- Djembe
In Year 2, during spring term 1, children have continued to learn how to play the djembe. The lessons were delivered by a drumming teacher from Music Services for Education. During these lessons, children have recalled prior knowledge and developed skills on how to play more complicated beats.
Year 1 and Year 2- After School Choir Club
Year 1 and Year 2 pupils have continued to participate in an after school choir club this term, facilitated by the Welsh National Opera. Through these sessions, children learnt how to use their voices effectively, including breathing techniques, pitch control, and vocal projection.
Year 3 - The Vikings: Developing Singing Techniques
This half term, the children in year 3 have developed their singing technique; learnt to keep in time, and worked on musical notation and rhythm, culminating in a group performance of a song with actions. They have grown in confidence doing this, they also added appropriate sound effects to their performances using untuned percussion and critiquing their own performances, suggesting improvements to make.
Year 3-Recorders
In Year 3, children are still learning to play the recorder. They have improved their skills and can now play A, B, and G notes. They are also learning about important musical terms and what they mean. Knowing these terms is helping them further to read music whilst playing the following songs: I climbed a mountain, Hot cross buns, Suo Gan.
Year 4 - Rivers: Change in Pitch, Tempo and Dynamics
In Spring 1, year 4 have learnt to listen to changes in pitch, tempo and dynamics and relate it to something tangible and familiar. They have made links to their geography learning and through this the pupils have represented different stages of the river through vocal and percussive ostinatos, culminating in a final group performance.
Year 4-Recorders
During this half term in Year 4, children have begun their journey in learning to play the recorder. They have acquired fundamental skills like holding the recorder and playing the A, B and G note, along with grasping the names and functions of important musical elements. This understanding of musical basics has laid the foundation for their comprehension of reading music.
Year 3 and Year 4- After School Drumming Club
In Lower KS2, children have been given the chance to join a drumming after school club this term, facilitated by Music Services for Education. As a result, they have deepened their comprehension of pulse and rhythm, embarking on the journey of playing together in synchrony as a group.
Year 5 - South and West Africa
This half term the children in year 5 have learnt ‘Shosholoza’, a traditional South African song. Children played the accompanying chords using tuned percussion and have begun to learn to play the djembe. They have also learnt to play a traditional West African drum and have added some dance moves to their performance of the song.
Welsh National Opera
In Year 5, children have continued with their project with the Welsh National Opera. They have now started to put all the different parts of the story together. These parts are either in song form or acting. Children are excited to perform their Opera in Summer.
Year 6 - Songs of World War II
This half term in music, Year 6 have been making connection between their Autumn term history project and their Spring music through the songs of World War II. They have developed a greater understanding of accuracy in pitch and control. They have identified pitches within an octave when singing and used knowledge of pitch to develop in confidence when singing in parts.
Year 5 and Year 6-Staff Notation
In Year 5 and Year 6, children have delved deeper into their staff notation lessons. During this half term, they have learned the names of the notes, their respective durations in beats, as well as explored silent and dotted notes.
Year 5 and Year 6- After School Drumming Club
During this term, a new group of children in Upper KS2 have been offered the chance to participate in a drumming after school club, organised by Music Services for Education. Through these sessions, children have started cultivating a diverse set of skills, such as rhythm, timing, listening, coordination, concentration, memory, and teamwork.
Autumn 2 2023
Nursery-Exploring Sounds
The children in Nursery have continued to explore sounds. They have explored sounds within the environment of their classroom and listened to sounds in nature and recreated them.
Reception-Celebration Music
The children in Reception continued to explore music from a range of cultural and religious celebrations. This half term they took part in a Christmas group song involving singing, creating vocal sounds, and playing instruments. They can confidently sing and move to Christmas songs.
Year 1-Snail and mouse: Tempo
The children in Year 1, have learnt how to use their bodies in different ways when music is played. Their bodies reflected different music tempo. They have also learnt to use their voices, and instruments to practise a rhyme using a fast and slow beat.
Year 2-Djembe
In Year 2, children have continued to learn how to play the djembe. They have developed their understanding on pulse and rhythm. Year 2 are beginning to play in time as a group.
Year 1 and Year 2- After School Choir Club
This term, the children in KS1 have continued to attend a choir after school club. These sessions were delivered by the Welsh National Opera. Children have become more confident whilst singing and performing.
Year 3 – Mountains: Creating compositions in response to an animation.
In Year 3 this half term the children have been making soundscapes using tuned and untuned percussion instruments. Their theme has been mountains, so they have made pieces of music that link to a mountainside adventure story.
Year 3-Recorders
In recorder, Year 3 have continued their hard work from last half term, gaining confidence with the different note-lengths and playing in time as an ensemble.
Year 4-Rock and Roll
In music this half term, Year 4 have learnt all about rock and roll. They have listened to music by Elvis, Buddy Holly and Bill Haley and the Comets. They have also learned how to hand jive and how to play a walking bassline, as well as some enthusiastic singing too!
Year 4-Ukulele
In Year 4, the children have continued their hard work from last half term, gaining confidence and playing the ukulele in time as an ensemble.
Year 3 and Year 4- After School Drumming Club
The children in Lower KS2 have continued to attend a drumming after school club this term. They have developed basic rhythms, mastering the ability to play them in sync with the beat of a song.
Year 5-Blues
In Autumn 2 the children in Year 5 have been learning about the Blues genre of music. The children have been introduced to this famous genre of music and its history, and have learnt to identify the key features and mood of Blues music and its importance and purpose. They have also been getting to grips with the 12-bar Blues and the Blues scale, and have combined these to create an improvised piece with a familiar, repetitive backing.
Welsh National Opera
In Year 5 the children have continued with their project with the Welsh National Opera. They have developed their singing skills and have continued in preparation to create their own opera performance.
Year 6- Dynamics, pitch and texture: Fingal’s Cave
This half term in Year 6, children have been appraising the work of Mendelssohn and further developing the skills of improvisation and composition. They have engaged in discussions about the sounds of an orchestral piece, taken the role of conductor or followed a conductor and have created a graphic score to represent sounds.
Year 5 and Year 6-Staff Notation
Year 5 and Year 6 children experienced an engaging session on staff notation, where they delved into a comprehensive exploration of musical symbols and their meanings. The aim is to enhance the children's ability to comprehend and read music effectively.
Year 5 and Year 6- After School Drumming Club
The children in Upper KS2 have continued to attend a drumming after school club this term. Their skills have enhanced as they can now play complex rhythms with precise timing, aligning seamlessly with the beat and pattern of a song. They have memorised a range of rhythms and play these within one song. Children have mastered the ability to actively listen to the music and other musicians to stay in sync and respond to changes in the musical context.
Autumn 1 2023
Nursery-Exploring Sounds
The children in Nursery have been exploring sounds by using their voices and body parts. They learnt how to use parts of their mouth to make higher and lower sounds. They have also learnt how to use instruments to make a variety of sounds.
Reception-Celebration Music
In Reception, children have learnt about the music from a range of cultural and religious celebrations, including Diwali, Hanukkah and Kwankzaa. When learning about Diwali children responded to cultural music through movement. They also learnt some of the dances and instruments from the festival of Hanukkah. After learning about the festival Kwanzaa, they took part in African call and response song.
Year 1-All about me: Pulse and Rhythm
In Year 1, children have been using their voices expressively and in creative ways by singing songs, reciting chants, and rhymes. Moreover, they have demonstrated rhythmic skills by vocalising and clapping to various patterns, identifying rhythmic sequences, and mastering the ability to play in sync with musical beats.
Year 2-Djembe
In Year 2 this term the children have learnt how to play the djembe. The lessons were delivered by drumming teacher from Music Services for Education. During these lessons, children have developed their understanding on bass and tone.
Year 1 and Year 2- After School Choir Club
The children in KS1 have also had the opportunity to attend a choir after school club this term, these sessions were delivered by the Welsh National Opera. They have been introduced to different styles of music as well as started to develop skills in singing and performing.
Year 3- Ballads
This term the children in Year 3 have been looking at ballads. They can identify the key features of a ballad, understand what a ballad is and can sing in that style. They have learnt the lyrics and tune of a song and performed this using actions.
Year 3-Recorders
In Year 3 children have been learning how to play the recorder. They have developed essential skills such as holding the recorder, playing the A note, and learning the names of some key musical features and their purpose. Acquiring knowledge of the names and functions of essential musical elements has helped children to begin understanding how to read music.
Year 4- Rainforests: Body and tuned percussion
In Autumn 1, the children in Year 4 have been focusing on percussion linking to the topic of rainforests. They have developed their musical vocabulary further to include: tempo (speed), dynamics (volume), texture (different layers) and structure (organisation of the piece). The children have also begun composing their own performances using a range of body and tuned percussion.
Year 4-Ukulele
In Year 4, the children have begun learning the string instrument, the ukulele. They have learnt to identify the different parts of the ukulele and the names of the strings.
Year 3 and Year 4- After School Drumming Club
The children in Lower KS2 have also had the opportunity to attend a drumming after school club this term, delivered by Music Services for Education. Through this the children have developed their understanding of pulse and rhythm and are beginning to play in time as a group.
Year 5- Ancient Egypt: Composition Notation
This term in Year 5, the children have begun to look at composition and notation using the theme of Ancient Egypt as a stimulus. The children sung in time with other people and a backing track, following lyrics as they did this. They started to follow a tune. Using their prior knowledge from Year 4, the children confidently recognised note names and note lengths. To end this topic, the children worked as part of a group to compose a piece of music in a particular style and then performed this.
Welsh National Opera
In Year 5, the children have also started their project with the Welsh National Opera. Through this the children have been introduced to a wide range of musical genres and are starting to develop their singing skills, in preparation to create their own opera performance.
Year 6-Baroque
In Autumn 1, the children in Year 6 delved into the study of Baroque music and focused on the famous composers from that period. They acquired knowledge of distinctive musical features associated with the composers studied. The features included: recitative, canon, ground bass and fugue.
Year 5 and Year 6- After School Drumming Club
The children in Upper KS2, have also had the opportunity to attend a drumming after school club this term, delivered by Music Services for Education. Engainging in drumming sessions, children have begun to develop various skills, including: rhythm, timing, listening, coordinating, concentration, memory and teamwork.
Summer
Year 1- Superheroes – Pitch and Tempo
This half term the children in Year 1 have been learning the meaning of key vocabulary; pitch and tempo. The children can identify whether a note is higher or lower and when simple tempo changes occur in music. This has all been brought together by the children contributing to a group composition and performance.
Year 2 - On the Island – British songs and sounds
In Summer 1, the children in Year 2 have been developing their understanding of sound. They have created their own soundscapes to represent the different environments of the city, countryside and seaside. They have explored different ways of making sounds and have described their pieces of music using simple musical vocabulary.
In Year 3 this half term the children have been exploring the musical genre, jazz. They have identified the key features of jazz musical and have improvised and composed a scat singing performance with sounds and words. This led to the composition of a jazz motif.
Year 4 - South America: Samba and carnival sounds and instruments.
In Year 4 the children have been focusing of samba music. The child can explain what samba music is, identify musical features and explain that it is used in celebrations such as Carnival in Brazil.
In Summer 1, the children in Year 5 have been looking at the genre of music, Musical Theatre. The children can identify what musical theatre is and the features of genre of music. This topic ended with the children writing and performing their own musical theatre piece.
Year 6 - Pop Art: Theme and Variations
The musical focus in Year 6 has been all about Pop Art. The children have identified the sounds of different instruments and made connections between these sounds and piece of artwork. They can name the three rhythms correctly and copy the rhythms accurately with a good sense of pulse. This has led the children to drawing the rhythms accurately and show a difference between each of their variations.
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Grove School
Dawson Road
Handsworth
Birmingham
B21 9HB
Telephone: 0121 464 4669
