Year 1 Music

Music

Y1 have covered such a lot of different aspects in their music lessons this term, but here we would like to share with you our composition work.

We started our learning by listening to a song telling the story of Tiddalik the Frog, an aboriginal tale and then used this as our inspiration for composing.  You can listen to the song here:

Tiddalik the Frog. 1: Tiddalik the Frog was thirsty, thirsty - BBC Teach

We have been learning about long and short sounds in music and used two symbols (a zigzag and a circle) to create graphic scores to represent different parts of the story.  You can see some examples of our practice sessions and final compositions here.

We also learnt the names and timbre of a range of percussion instruments which we have in our Music Studio and used these to perform some of our compositions to the class.  You can see a few of us trying out our compositions.

Villa Lobos Compositions

Our next piece of composing was inspired by the orchestral performance of ‘The Little Train of the Caipira’ by Villa-Lobos.  This piece was written following on from the composer’s travels by train around his home country of Brazil.  In Y1 we have been singing a selection of songs/chants about trains and it was interesting to hear a piece about a train written for the orchestra.

As a class we then used two pieces of prior learning to create our own class percussion compositions based on ‘The Little Train of the Caipira’.  Firstly, we used the ‘sports rhythms’ we learnt earlier in the year to help us create some rhythmical patterns for different stages of the train’s journey:

Secondly, we selected instruments with an appropriate timbre to match the sounds of the train’s movements, using our knowledge of a range of percussion instruments:

Exploring Duration – Space Journey Composition

This term in Y1, we have been exploring the term duration (long and short sounds) and have been playing percussion and composing our own class pieces.

You can have a listen to our compositions.  They are based on a journey into space, where signals are given and sounds represent the long whirring noises of the machinery and the whoosh of the air outside the rocket, changing to shorter sounds representing a meteor storm.

The first composition is made using our voices and the signals are given in words.

The second composition is performed using a range of percussion instruments and the signals are also given on instruments.  Can you hear these signals?  (All clear = triangle, Meteor Storm = Woodblock, Mission Over = Tambour)

Feedback:

The pupils in Y1 were asked which of their compositions sounded most like a trip to space and why.  This is what they thought:

Panthers:  “I like the voices piece, when it says ‘rocket broken’.  This was really clear.”

“In the percussion one, you can hear lots of instruments sounding like meteor rocks.”

“The long sounds made by the voices are better – the swooshing sounds.”

Leopards:  “The percussion one was better because it is louder so you can hear more.”

“The percussion one is better because the instruments can make sounds which are more like rocks hitting the rocket.”

“I like the version using the voices because the meteor storm sounded bumpier.”

“I like the voices one better because it was clearer and not crowded by other sounds.”

Y1 – Singing – Dr Knickerbocker   

We have all been singing the song ‘Dr Knickerbocker’ which is a call and response song.  Mrs Addison was the leader in the first few weeks, but we now have Y1 pupils leading and the rest of the class responding.  Well done to the soloists!

Y1 – Percussion Playing

We started our year by playing along to lots of different music on the claves.  Now that we have gained confidence and control with these, we have expanded our playing to include agogos, tambours, egg shakers and castanets.

Panthers are playing along to ‘Sylvia – Pizzicato, by Delibes’, trying to make their playing in time to the beat and as precise as possible.

Leopards are playing ‘Sylvia ’as well, but also play a piece called ‘Deteggtive Anderson, Level 3’ which challenges their rhythmical abilities, as well as their concentration.

Tiddalik

Villa Lobos

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