Children in Reception are looking at the music from The Carnival of the Animals by the French composer Saint- Saens. This week we were listening to the piano which is played to represent the lion.

Year 1 watched a musical version of the story, Elephants In The Custard led by the London Philharmonic Orchestra. They were then creating a Waltz rhythm (Um Pa Pa) using low pitched and high pitched percussion instruments.

Year 2 had a trip to the world of Opera this week as they had an extended lesson exploring Mozart’s The Magic Flute. With access to resources from The Royal Opera House, we met the main characters, played some drama games and started to learn a version of Papagano’s Aria.

Year 3 continued their journey into salsa music. This week they were playing major and minor chords on tuned percussion to accompany the song they are learning whilst also refining their dance moves.

Year 4 learnt about the life of a Foley Artist (the person who is responsible for sound effects in television, film or radio productions).

Year 5 were learning about the Estonian composer, Arvo Part who wrote a piece of music, Spiegel im Spiegel by looking at mirrored patterns on a number line. Each number on the number line was translated into one of 7 notes from an octave scale. It was a fantastic example of the relationship between maths and music. The children were then tasked with composing a simple melody based on their own mirrored patterns.

Year 6 focused on rhythmic games. We were playing concentration and had to practise saying our own names followed by the name of another child whilst keeping a steady body percussion in time. The children then had to listen to a backing track and practise performing their name in any way which was in time with the track. Banksy started to look at the concept of internal rhymes in lyrics including those of Hey Jude and the 1980’s rap, My Melody.