Autumn 1 2023 : Happy (Neo Soul)
This term, Year 6 have been learning to appraise, perform and innovate the Neo Soul song 'Happy' by Pharrell Williams. We carried out lots of appraisals of similar songs on the theme of HAPPINESS. We then rehearsed and performed the song in chorus.
We also used stave music to play an accompaniment on the digital piano. We learned how to read the notes A and G and how to read notes of different beats on the staff/stave.
Autumn 2 2023 : Classroom Jazz
This term, Year 6 have been learning to appraise, perform and innovate different pieces of jazz music.
We revised what we learned about using symbols and the stave to read notation and played a simple accompaniment using A, G and our new notes CDE anf F . During the bridge section, we innovated a simple improvisation, using the riffs and licks from the song.
Spring 2023 : A New Year Carol (Urban Gospel)
This term, Year 6 have been learning to appraise, perform and sing A New Year Carol by Benjamin Britten. This linked through our creative curriculum to our topic, World War 2.
We listened to the original and then compared the Urban Gospel version and then over several sessions, learned to perform it. We had to revise the term pitch and learn to pitch our voices as this song was quite high!
Spring 1 : You've Got a Friend
This term, Year 6 have been learning to appraise, compose and perform with 70s ballads and pop hits including those of Carole King, The Drifters, Little Eva and the Chiffons.
We played and then improvised using musical notation on the stave with the notes E, G, A, C or D.
Summer 1 : Music and Me
This term, Year 6 focused on international and dicverse women in the music industry. They revised people such as Aretha Franklin, Billie Holiday and appraised newer artists such as Anna Meredith.
They used their techniques about music being a language to write a series of rap lyrics around a theme. We had some outstanding and thought provoking themes such as challenging racism, food, leavers and the difficulty of song writing!
For composition, children then created a backing track using the notes in the whole octave. They placed them on the stave and adjusted it before performing; they chose glocks are their instruments.
