Music – Notation

In Year 3, pupils in KHEF build on their knowledge of the ‘sports rhythms’ learnt in Y1 and Y2 and start to learn how to read these rhythms in the form of musical notes.  In the first instance, they are taught to recognise the shapes and colours of the notes independently from the stave, and practise their sight-reading skills by reading each other’s music.

Over several weeks, we work in pairs, starting with creating two-sport compositions on word cards and practising playing these in time to a steady beat.  We then build up to using only note cards (without the words as a prompt), challenging ourselves to play four-sport patterns and to sight-read other pairs’ music on the spot.  We do this by moving around the circle of compositions, all playing our rhythms over the top of each other.  When this works, we all finish at the same time!

In the final week, we create two lines of music per pair to be played at the same time, one line on the claves and one line on the egg shakers.  We talk about which instruments are better suited to notes of short and long durations.  In the photos you can see examples of our compositions, as well as us playing them.  You can also see us moving around the large circle of compositions.

Year 3 – Singing and Chime Bars

Year 3 pupils have been learning to play the chime bars; finding their way around an octave of notes and learning to play gently and tunefully.

For the first half term, they have been building up their basic skills, such as using alternating hands with the beaters and striking the note cleanly in the middle.

They have also been exploring musical rounds, where each group plays or sings the same short melody, but starting at different times.  This has been tested on the chime bars and whilst singing, and here are some we would like to share with you:

Bees – singing - Canoe Song

Bees – playing chime bars – Penguins (not a round)

Wasps – singing – Across the Fields

Wasps – playing chime bars – Rain on the Green Grass

________________________________________________________________________________