Music
At Sir John Heron Primary School, we follow the National Curriculum for music with lessons being delivered through the Charanga scheme.
Click here to view the programme of study from the National Curriculum for music for KS1 and KS2:
2024-25
Music in Year 4 - w/b 13.01.25
This half term in music, year 4 have begun looking at the rap genre of music. Charanga has a great song called ‘Stop Bullying’, which the children have begun learning to sing. We also continue to develop our confidence using correct musical vocabulary - each week the classes will be listening to different songs in the same genre as ‘Stop Bullying’ and analysing each one. The children will also carry on developing their skills with the xylophone - they are currently working on learning to play ‘Mamma Mia’ by Abba on the xylophone. It is quite challenging as the tempo is very fast!
Music in Year 5 - w/b 06.01.25
In Year 5 this half term we have come back to playing the Ukulele. We started with a refresher on the C and F chords that we learned back in the Autumn term - we reminded ourselves of the correct fingering positions for the chords and practised our strumming technique as well. Something new we have started practising is changing chords - we had to practise moving our fingers between the different chords to produce different sounds. In addition to this, we also started learning a new chord - Am. Our focus song for this term is ‘Make You Feel My Love’ by Adele and we started learning this song this week as well.
Music in Year 2 - w/b 16.12.24
Year 2 have been working very hard this term in music. They had to learn 8 songs by heart for their Christmas Nativity Performance. They learned each song line by line, and then practised singing them lots of times! At first, they practised with the words on the screen and then eventually without. They worked incredibly hard to make the Nativity amazing with their singing as well as acting. If you saw the performance, I’m sure you’ll agree it was great!
Music in Year 5 - w/b 09.12.24
We have continued to develop our xylophone skills in year 5 this half term, especially when it comes to improvisation. We know that to play a really good improvisation with a piece of backing music, you need to listen to the beat and the rhythm of the music and play along with it, not against it. You also need to play a variety of different patterns and rhythms to keep your piece interesting. We’ve done lots of work putting our new musical vocabulary to good use - we’ve listened to a variety of Christmas music and talked about it, using our new vocabulary. In addition, as we are getting close to Christmas, we’ve also been learning to sing the song ‘Winter Wonderland’ for a joint performance with Year 6!
Singing - w/b 2.12.24
We’ve been putting our new musical vocabulary to good use in year 3, especially when it comes to describing and comparing different songs with each other. We’ve listened to Merry Christmas Everybody by Slade, When a Child is Born by Johnny Mathis among others this term so far. Our song we have been learning to sing is When a Child is Born and we have done well with this so far. As well as normal singing, it has vocalisation at the start and end of the song - singing musical notes without using words. It has been challenging to learn this but we have done very well with it. We’ve also continued developing our skills with the Xylophone, in particular playing time together as one class.
Music in Year 6 - w/b 25.11.24
In year 6 this week, we have been focusing on learning to play a piece of jazz music on the xylophones called ‘Bacharach Anorak’. We found it challenging at first because one of the lines of the song was very quick paced and tricky to play. However, we managed it eventually and did very well. We used a Describing Thinking Frame to explore the song ‘Winter Wonderland’, performed by the singer Darlene Love - we used our knowledge of tempo and dynamics to think very carefully about what the song is like.
Music in Year 4 - w/b 18.11.24
In Year 4 so far this term, we have been learning lots of new vocabulary to describe tempo and dynamics. This week, we began putting that language to good use to compare and contrast two different songs - ‘Waka Waka’ (This is Africa) by Shakira and ‘The Name of the Game’ by ABBA. As you can see, we found some similarities between the two as well as many differences. We have also continued developing our ability to play as one group in the class using our xylophones and as it is coming up to Christmas we, along with the other year groups in the school, have been learning to sing a Christmas song - in Year 4 we are learning ‘Happy Xmas’ (War is Over) by John Lennon.
Music in Year 6 - w/b 11.11.24
So far this term, pupils in year 5 have been learning about using a range of different Italian words to describe tempo and dynamics when listening to different songs. We learned that forte means loud, fortissimo means very loud and fortississimo means extremely loud. We also learned that piano means quiet, pianissimo means very quiet and pianississimo means extremely quiet. We then listened to some of the songs we’d listened to in music before half term and used our newly learnt vocabulary to describe them. We also performed some great work on improvisation, using our xylophones which were made up our own patterns to play to the music.
Music in Year 1 - w/b 04.11.24
In Year 1 this week, during our music lesson, we have begun to use correct musical language to talk about music. We learned about how ‘tempo’ refers to the speed of music and that real musicians use Italian words to describe it. We learned that ‘Adagio’ means slow and ‘Allegro’ means fast. After we learned this, we listened to some of the songs we performed last term and put our new vocabulary to good use when describing the tempo of the songs. We also began learning a new song called ‘Rhythm in the Way We Walk’ as well as practising our Xylophone skills.
Music in Year 6 - w/b 21.10.24
In year 6 this half term we have been learning the song ‘Happy’ by Pharell Williams. We’ve been learning to sing the song as well as play our ukuleles along with it! We needed the C, G and D7 Hawaiian chords to play along with this song. We also spent the half term listening to and comparing different songs all related to the theme of Happiness and feeling good about ourselves - including ‘Top of the World’ and ‘Walking on Sunshine’. This week, we listened to two different versions of ‘Feeling Good’ - one by George Michael and the other by Michael Bublè. We thought George Michael’s version sounded more triumphant compared to Michael Bublè’s version which started and ended quite calmly.
Music in Year 1 - w/b 14.10.24
We’ve been doing lots of great learning during music lessons in Year 1 so far this half term. Our main song is a rap called ‘Hey You’, which we enjoy singing along to a lot. This week we have been continuing to develop our skills using the Xylophone. This included playing together in time with the music. We’ve also tried a new warm up activity this week where some of the children sing a pattern of notes for the rest of the class to copy back. Lots of the children were very eager to have a try at this!
Music in Reception - w/b 07.10.24
We’ve been listening to and dancing along to so many great songs in reception this half term, including ‘Happy' by Pharell Williams and ‘How Far I’ll Go' from the Disney film Moana. This week we listened to and danced along to the Stevie Wonder hit ‘Happy Birthday’ - we really enjoyed the up-beat tempo of this song and even sang along to the chorus! We also worked on our skills with the claves this week - we carefully copied the patterns we heard in the song ‘Tap Your Sticks in the Air’. Finally, we enjoyed singing along to the song ‘Five Little Ducks’.
Music in Year 5 - w/b 30.09.24
In year 5, we have been listening to a lot of Rock ‘n’ Roll music this half term. Our main song we are learning to sing is called ‘Livin’ on a Prayer’ by Bon Jovi, released in 1986. Today we listened to another song called ‘Rockin All Over the World’ by the band Status Quo from the year 1977. We compared the two songs, looking at what instruments they had in common and which ones are unique to each one. We also compared the tempos of the songs and looked at the slightly different structures they have. We also have been working on our Ukulele skills for the past few weeks - we are taking our time to master the C, F and G7 chords.
Music in Year 3 - w/b 23.09.24
During our music lesson this week, we had fun comparing and contrasting the song that we are learning to sing ‘Let Your Spirit Fly’ with the song ‘We Will Rock You’ by Queen. We listened to both and talked about things that were similar and different about them before completing ‘Comparing and Contrasting Thinking Frames’ on our whiteboards. We also have been practising to play along with ‘Let Your Spirit Fly’ using the Xylophones.
Music in Year 2 - w/b 16.09.24
Music was great fun in year 2 this week. We carried on learning to sing our new focus song this term called ‘Hands, Feet, Heart’. The chorus is especially fun to sing because the girls sing a line first, then the boys copy it back very quickly! We enjoyed taking turns being the teacher and leading the class in warm up activities and we did very well playing the xylophones together as a class.
Music in Year 4 - w/b 09.09.24
The children in year 4 started the new term of music by beginning to look at the works of ABBA - the popular Swedish band who were first active in the 1970s and 80s. We listened to the song ‘Mamma Mia’ and had a discussion about it afterwards using some of the musical terms that we began learning about in year 3 (such as tempo and dynamics). We’ve also begun learning to play the Ukulele this week which we found a little bit tricky but fun as well!
2023-24
Music in Year 1 - w/b 01.07.24
In Year 1 the children recapped what they have learnt so far in music. They really enjoyed using the xylophones and tried to play in sync. They also enjoyed practising ‘Reach for the stars’.
Music in Year 2 - w/b 17.06.24
In Year 2 this term, we have been having another look at some of the songs that we have done throughout the year. We’ve looked at Hands, Feet Heart again from the Autumn term and we’ll be looking at a few more in the weeks before the end of term. We’ve also been becoming more confident with our xylophone and glockenspiel skills, especially playing in a large group and staying in time with one another.
Music in Year 4 - w/b 10.06.24
In Year 4 we have been continuing our work on the Beatles song Blackbird. We have been and will continue to learn to play the main verse of the song on the Glockenspiels and Xylophones. It is quite a challenging song to learn to play as the tempo is very fast at points. We have done more work on our musical instruments knowledge as well by doing ‘Listen Out’ activities - where we hear samples of different instruments then try to identify them from an extract of a song. Finally, we began learning to sing a new song for our end of the year assembly - the early 2000s song Reach by S Club 7. It’s a great song to end the year on - encouraging not just the year 6 children who are leaving, but everyone that they can achieve anything in life that they want to.
Music in Year 6 - w/b 03.06.24
This half term in music Year 6 are continuing to work on their educational song projects. We have learned about musical notation and how many beats crotchets, minims, semibreves and quavers are worth. We also are learning about writing music accurately on staves. It’s a project that will take us a few weeks to complete.
Music in Year 6 - w/b 20.05.24
This term in Year 6, we have been working on a song writing project. We are working in groups to write our own educational songs about a wide range of school subjects including decimals, fractions, basketball and even King Charles II! We have learned about the structure of song verses and we have written the lyrics to our songs already. Eventually we will be writing the music for the songs we have written so in order to prepare for that we have begun learning and practising writing musical notation. We have been introduced to crotchets, minims, semibreves and more.
Music in Year 1 - w/b 13.05.24
Our song that we are learning in Year 1 this term is called ‘Your Imagination’. It’s all about how our imaginations can be as wild and creative as we like - we sing in the song about ladybirds drinking tea, octopi being stuck up a tree and rainbows smiling at us! It’s a very funny song to sing. We have been using the skills we have begun to learn on the xylophone to play along with the music - we have to play very carefully to stay in time with each other!
Music in Year 4 - w/b 06.05.24
In Year 4 this term, the song we are learning to sing is ‘Blackbird’ by a classic British band called the Beatles. It’s a very different song to something like ‘Mamma Mia’ which has a regular structure - verse, chorus, verse, chorus. ‘Blackbird’ is a bit unusual - verse, verse, chorus, instrumental break, chorus, extended verse. It is challenging to learn but we are doing very well. We’ve enjoyed listening to other Beatles songs such as ‘Hey Jude’ and we particularly enjoyed ‘Yellow Submarine’. As well as our Beatles work, we have been continuing to sharpen and develop our skills on the xylophones and glockenspiels using songs through the charanga website.
Music in Year 3 - w/b 29.04.24
In Year 3, we are looking at Disco music this term - our song that we are focusing on learning is a song especially written for Charanga. It’s called Bringing Us Together and it is written in the Disco style. Each week we’ll be learning to sing it and for the first few weeks at least we’ll be learning to play the chorus on the Xylophones and Glockenspiels.
Music in Year 2 - w/b 22.04.24
In Year 2, we started learning a brand new song from Charanga called the Friendship Song. It’s all about what we can do for our friends. We listened to it and talked about what instruments we heard, the hooks we heard as well as our opinion of the song compared to the song we did before Easter which was Zootime. We did our warm up activities where some of the children had fun pretending to be a crocodile while finding the pulse of the music. We also started to learn to sing the Friendship Song and we continued developing our skills on the Xylophones by beginning to learn to play Zootime on the instruments.
Music in Year 5 - w/b 15.04.24
We started off Summer Term in Year 5 with a song all about dancing and celebrating that Summer is here. Dancing in the Street, the Motown classic, is our focus song this term and we began to learn how to sing the song. Before that though, we had to appraise the song where we listen out for what instruments we can hear as well as talking about the dynamics, texture and tempo of the song.
Music in Reception - w/b 25.03.24
We had fun in Reception during our music lesson this week. We listened to the song ‘Ain't No Mountain High Enough’ and enjoyed finding the beat and dancing to it as well. We also sang along to the classic song ‘Hokey Cokey’ and did the dance as well!
Music in Year 1 - w/b 18.03.24
In Year 1, we have been learning a song called Round and Round. It’s all about how we can experience the different aspects of music and it has a Latin Bossa Nova feel to it. This week we finished learning the lyrics and began practising singing the whole song. We also did some more work playing as a group on our Xylophones, focusing this week on the notes B, A and G.
Music in Year5 - w/b 11.03.24
We listened to a song called Rapper’s Delight at the start of this week’s music lesson in Year 5 and had quite an interesting discussion about it. The song is a rap in which the singer is speaking very quickly - so quickly that some of the children found it hard to understand what he was saying. Afterwards we had a discussion about whether being able to understand the words to a song affects how much you enjoy it. Some believed that they would enjoy a song less because if you can’t understand a song, then you can’t understand its meaning. Other’s believed that even if you couldn’t understand the words, you could still enjoy the beat and the music behind the words. Afterwards, we had some more practice at playing Livin’ on a Prayer on our instruments - we are getting better and better at staying in time with the music on the computer. We also continued learning to sing our focus song for this term which is the 90’s classic hip-hop/rap The Fresh Prince of Bel Air.
Music in Year 2 - w/b 04.03.24
In Year 2 this week, we have continued our learning with our new song which is called Zootime. We listened to clapping patterns on the computer and copied them back and we used lots of different ways of finding the pulse of the song such as marching, tapping our heads and being a tiger! After that we began practising and learning a new song on our xylophones and glockenspiels - eventually we will be able to play along to our song on the computer. We were also songwriters in Year 2 this week. As a class, we began writing our own lyrics to Zootime - using funny lyrics just like in the original song.
Music in Year 4 - w/b 26.02.24
In Year 4 this half term, our focus song is Lean on Me - a 1972 soul song by Bill Withers. Each week though we listen to a different song to sharpen our musical analysis skills - today we listened to He Still Loves Me by Walter Williams and Beyonce. We listened carefully for changes in tempo and dynamics, as well as the instruments used, then made notes on our Listen and Appraise sheets. We also continued working on learning how to play the chorus of Mamma Mia by ABBA on our instruments. It’s a quick song so it is quite challenging!
Music in Year 6 - w/b 19.02.24
We had a great start to music this half term in Year 6. We have begun to learn a new song called ‘You’ve got a Friend’ - a song by Carole King from 1971. We also have started to revisit the song Happy by Pharell Williams - we are learning to play the chorus to this song on our instruments!
Music in Year 2 - w/b 05.02.24
In Year 2 this week our focus was on improvisation. We made up our own patterns of claps to respond to the music track on the computer. We then began practising improvising using the instruments for the first time using the notes F and G on the xylophones and glockenspiels. We also sung and recorded our song that we have been learning this term which is called ‘I Wanna Play in a Band’.
Music in Year 1 - w/b 29.01.24
We had lots of fun during music in Year 1 this week. We enjoyed listening to the song ‘Jai Ho’; we liked that the lyrics of the song were in languages other than English, such as Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu. We also had fun beginning to improvise and making up our own clapping patterns as well as playing music together on the xylophones and glockenspiels.
Music in Reception - w/b 22.01.24
In Reception this week, we had fun listening to a song called ‘ABC’ by the Jackson 5. We enjoyed ourselves finding the beat by doing lots of different actions like marching and clapping. We also sang a new song called ‘5 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed’.
Music in Year 5 - w/b 15.01.24
In Year 5 this week, we continued our work on our focus song for this half term, ‘Make You Feel My Love’ by Adele. We first listened to the original version of the song by Bob Dylan and compared the two different versions - we were quite evenly split between those who preferred the original Bob Dylan version to the cover version by Adele! We also did some more work on playing our instruments in time with each other as well as continuing to learn the words to the song.
Music in Year 4 - w/b 08.01.24
In Year 4 this week, we began learning a new song called ‘Stop!’ which is all about preventing bullying. We got back into doing our warm-up activities which involved listening and copying back different beats as well as warming up our singing voices. We also did some work on the instruments as well with a song called ‘Drive’.
Music in Years 4 and 5 - w/b 11.12.23
During music lessons in Year 4 and 5 this week we had our final practises of the Christmas songs we have been learning on the piano. In Year 4 we learned to play ‘The First Noel’ and in Year 5 we learned to play ‘Little Drummer Boy’. We played as whole classes as well as some solo performances.
Music in Year 3 - w/b 04.12.23
In Year 3 this week we continued developing our skills with the Glockenspiel and Xylophones. Some of us played solos to the class of the music we’ve been learning. We also have been learning to sing a Christmas song ‘When a Child is Born’.
Music in Year 2 - w/b 27.11.23
In Year 2 we have been hard at work learning the songs for our Nativity performance on the 18th December. There are songs with lots of energy and some quieter songs as well. We are also learning actions to go with the songs. Two helpers from each class stood at the front and helped their classmates with the actions.
Music in Year 1 - w/b 20.11.23
In Music this week, Year 1 continued to practise using the note B on our Glockenspiels and Xylophones. We played with a faster piece of music this time which was a challenge! We also had some more practice at singing our song ‘Rhythm in the Way We Walk’.
Music in Year 6 - w/b 13.11.23
In Year 6 this week it was our first music lesson back after half term! We looked at the song Happy by Pharrel Williams last term and had a refresher on it this week. We practised playing our instruments along to the music. We also watched the video of our performances from before half term and critiqued our singing. We suggested things that we could do to improve our performance the second time around and put those suggestions into practice.
Music in Year 4 - w/b 06.11.23
In Year 4 this week, we played as a duet with our partners - taking turns to play different parts of the same song on the Xylophones and Glockenspiels. We started learning a new song called Good, Better, Best which combines singing with playing on the instruments. We also worked on Mamma Mia as well - trying to improve things in our singing from when we sang it before half term.
Music in Year 5 - w/b 30.10.23
In Year 5 this week, we were introduced to a song called the Three Note Bossa - a piece of music from the jazz genre. We played along with the notes on the board - G, A and B. Improvisation is a big part of jazz and we also began to improvise our own patterns of notes to play along to the music during the improvisation section of the song.
Music in Year 4 - w/b 16.10.23
In Year 4 this week, we continued our look at the songs of the 70s/80s band ABBA. Our focus song has been Mamma Mia and we have also listened to ABBA songs such as Waterloo, Dancing Queen, The Winner Takes It All, Super Trouper and Thank You for the Music. When we listened to the songs we kept an ear out for several things including riffs, hooks and how the tempo and texture of each song changed. We have been learning to sing Mamma Mia as well as learning to play it on the xylophones and glockenspiels. Last week was our first practice at reading the notes and having a go at playing them. This week we tried playing in time altogether as a class.
Music in Year 3 - w/b 09.10.23
In Year 3 this week we continued our work on our focus song for this term ‘Let Your Spirit Fly’. We started to learn about music notation; how to read the notes and recognise what letters they correspond to on the glockenspiels and xylophones. We labelled the notes on our worksheets with the right letter and then we started to practise playing the music along with a backing track.
Music in Year 2 - w/b 02.10.23
In Year 2 this week, we had some more practice at using the xylophones and glockenspiels. Our challenge was to stay in time with the music playing on the computer and we did very well with this! We also began practising a new way to sing our song Hands, Feet, Heart. The girls and boys have separate parts to sing in the song, so we were working on coming into the song at the right time and singing quickly enough - it is a very fast song!
Music in Year 1 - w/b 25.09.23
In Year 1 this week, we continued learning to sing our song ‘Hey You!’ - a song which combines rap and singing! We started learning how to improvise (make up) our own clapping patterns in response to what we heard from the computer. After that we started to learn how to use xylophones and glockenspiels to play the note C - we even began to play along in time with the music from the computer.
