MUSIC

INTENT: To listen and appraise a piece of music.

IMPLEMENTATION: The children listened to the classical piece, Fingal's Cave, and then answered questions about it. They considered whether they liked it or not and discussed the use of the interrelated dimensions of music. They then wrote words that represented the music and used these to create dramatic pieces of writing.

IMPACT: The children were able to use their prior musical knowledge to appraise the piece of music and have improved their listening and appraising skills.

INTENT: To improvise using dynamics and pitch.

IMPLEMENTATION: The children revised their understanding of dynamics and pitch and what it means to improvise. They were then introduced to graphic scores and conducted small groups of musicians to experience how they could use non-verbal cues to control music. They then created their own graphic scores and played to these.

IMPACT: This lesson strengthed the children's understanding of important musical vocabulary as well as their skills of conducting and improvising.

INTENT: To improvise using texture.

IMPLEMENTATION: Year 6 had another go at creating graphic scores for pitch and dynamics and a conductor from each group led their musicians through their scores. The children were then introduced to 'texture' (layering of sounds) and created a different score for this. They then attempted to follow their scores using tuned and untuned percussion as well as their voices.

IMPACT: This lesson strengthened the children's understanding that a graphic score can be created and used to influence the way that musician's play music. They also better understand musical vocabulary such as pitch, dynamics and texture and have improved their improvisation skills further.

INTENT: To create a graphic score for a composition.

IMPLEMENTATION: In previous lessons, the children created graphic scores to improvise to. In this lesson, they decided in groups if their score would change their group's dynamics, texture or pitch before creating one. They then composed a piece of music to it and followed a conductor in order to stay in time.

IMPACT: This lesson consolidated the children's understanding of texture, dynamics and pitch and enabled them to create and perform their own compositions.

INTENT: To use teamwork to create a group composition following graphic scores.

IMPLEMENTATION: Each group practised their compositions and discussed their graphic scores. The conductor in each group ensured that their group stayed together and followed their score. Once each group had practised, the whole class performed. 

IMPACT: The children's understanding of pitch, dynamics and tempo has improved throughout this unit of learning as well as their instrumental skills and teamwork. They were able to apply all of their learning througout the term to this lesson.

INTENT: To improve accuracy in pitch and control when singing.

IMPLEMENTATION: The children revised their learning from last week and then learnt about techniques for singing. They were then introduced to the sheet music for Vera Lynn's 'White Cliffs of Dover' and used it as a map to learn the song. The children discussed note lengths and names, bar numbers, rhythms as well as the meaning of the song.

IMPACT: This lesson helped the children with their musical theory as well as their control and accuracy when singing.

INTENT: To use a knowledge of pitch to sing a counter-melody and harmonise to a song.

IMPLEMENTATION: After warming up their voices, the children sang through 'The White Cliffs of Dover' and were then told they would be learning a counter-melody to this song. After practising this a few times, they then sang this over the top of the original melody.

IMPACT: This helped with the children's understanding of pitch, harmony and general musicianship. It is a difficult skill to sing a counter-melody over a melody that has been previously learnt.

INTENT: To compose music for a particular film scene

IMPLEMENTATION: The children were separated into groups and asked to create music for a danger scene based on their previous learning of composing techniques for mood and effect. Each group was then given a different scene and asked to compose a piece of music to create a particular mood and to notate it with a graphic score.

IMPACT: This allowed the children to put their understanding of composing techniques to the test and gave them the opportunity to hear the differences between music for different film scenes.

INTENT: To appraise different pieces of film music.

IMPLEMENTATION: The children discussed their understanding of film music and learnt that music plays a big role in creating a mood in a film. They learnt how they can create tension, purpose and romance through music and then listened to different pieces of film music to consider what might happen if it were accompanying a film.

IMPACT: The children learnt that film music is more than just a song in the film or an instrumental section. They now know that it enhances the action and how to create different moods using music.

INTENT: To identify and understand composing techniques in film music.

IMPLEMENTATION: The children recapped their learning from the previous lesson and then spoke about ways to create mood in a film using music. They then watched 'Wallace and Gromit' and appraised the music in different sections of the film. They wrote down reasons why the music created certain moods drawing on their knowledge of the inter-related dimensions of music.

IMPACT: The children better understand how to create a mood using composing techniques and how to manipulate an audience with certain effects.

INTENT: To use graphic scores to understand emotion in music.

IMPLEMENTATION: After reviewing different techniques to create mood in music and discussing  the music of 'Wallace and Gromit', the children revised their knowledge of graphic scores. They were then given a selection of graphic scores and were given the challenge of matching the correct score with the correct piece of music.

IMPACT: This lesson helped with the children's listening and appraising skills and developed their understanding of graphic notation. 

INTENT: To create and notate musical ideas to accompany a film

IMPLEMENTATION: The children started the lesson by revising their knowledge of film music and how to create different moods in film. The classes were then split into groups and each group was given a film scene from Wallace and Gromit (love, danger, tension etc). They discussed how they could create a mood for their scene with music, composed with instruments and used graphic scores to note their ideas.

IMPACT: This lesson consolidated the children's understanding of composing for film and encouraged them to think about the inter-related dimensions of music to create their moods.

INTENT: To accompany a film and create a particular mood.

IMPLEMENTATION: The children practised their compositions from last week and then performed along with the film. At the end of the lesson, the children commented on each other's compositions and justified their choices.

IMPACT: This taught the children that a composition is different to improvisation because it needed to be consistent and they used their graphic scores to ensure it was the same every time. 

INTENT: To understand the concept of theme and variation.

IMPLEMENTATION: The children were taught that theme and variation is similar to pop art (one idea portrayed in different ways). Following this, they were taught a basic theme and were given different images that represented the various ways that the theme needed to be performed.

IMPACT: This lesson helped the children to understand that many composers often taken a theme and use it throughout a piece in various ways (variation). 

INTENT: To compare and contrast different variations of the theme in the piece 'The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra'

IMPLEMENTATION: The children discussed the different parts of the orchestra and the instruments in each group. They were then introduced to the piece of music by Benjamin Britten entitled 'The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra' where a theme is played on different instruments, allowing children to hear their different timbres. At the end of the lesson, the children were given different images and were which instrument family the image represented and to justify their answers.

IMPACT: This lesson helped the children to understand different instruments in the orchestra and to recognise why a composer would choose different instruments to play different sections of music.

INTENT: To use complex rhythms to perform a theme.

IMPLEMENTATION: The children were taught the main theme from 'The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra' by using their voices and also by using body percussion. They needed to perform these in two parts at the end of the lesson.

IMPACT: This helped the children to consolidate their understanding of rhythm and reminded them about formal notation. This lesson also strengthened their understanding of theme and variation by enabling to perform the theme in different ways.

INTENT: To use music notation to create a theme.

IMPLEMENTATION: The children were taught a variety of complex rhythms using formal notation. They were then give multiple rhythm cards and were tasked with creating the main rhythm to 'The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra' using these.

IMPACT: The children's knowledge of rhythms and formal notation were tested in order to create the correct theme.

INTENT: To understand the importance of Monteverdi in the history of opera.

IMPLEMENTATION: After revising the different sections of an orchestra, the children learnt about opera and Monteverdi's creation of the 'recitative' (speak-singing along to music). The children wrote down key information about this composer and then created their own recitatives. 

IMPACT: This lesson developed the children's knowledge of the history of music and of new genres and composers.

INTENT: To read and play a canon from staff notation.

IMPLEMENTATION: Year 6 learnt about Johann Pachelbel and his famous 'Canon in D'. They discussed what is meant by a canon and then attempted to play different sections of this piece on glockenspiels.

IMPACT: This lesson helped the children to keep in time and to use staff notation to play and read music.

INTENT: To demonstrate an understanding of Baroque features when composing.

IMPLEMENTATION: The children learnt about Henry Purcell and his creation of the ground bass. They then composed their own ground bass melodies using note names at first and then formal written notation. 

IMPACT: This lesson helped to develop the children's composing skills and improved their understanding of Baroque and famous composers.

INTENT: To use staff notation and aural awareness to play a fugue.

IMPLEMENTATION: The children learnt about JS Bach and the creation of a fugue. They were then given a fugue to play on glockenspiels.

IMPACT: This lesson helped the children with reading sheet music and playing in unison with correct rhythm. 

INTENT: To listen and discuss pieces of music.

IMPLEMENTATION: The children were told that they would be creating a 'leavers' song' at the end of the term and would be listening to music today for inspiration. Year 6 listened to 4 different pieces of music and appraised them based on title, lyrics, tempo, melody and arrangement.

IMPACT: This improved the children's listening and appraising skills and their understanding of the inter-related dimensions of music. 

INTENT: To write the chorus to a leavers' song.

IMPLEMENTATION: The children listened to their favourite songs from the previous week and wrote down any key words or phrases that they would like to include in the chorus of their class' leavers' song. The class then gathered together to write a catchy chorus with rhyming couplets. 

IMPACT: This lesson helped with the children's understading of song structure and the purpose of a chorus in a pop song.

INTENT: To write verses for a leavers' song.

IMPLEMENTATION: After looking back at the chorus created previously, the children voted on what they wanted the three verses in the song to be about. They looked back at their key words and phrases and were then put into groups to create a verse each. These were then created as a class to complete the entire song.

IMPACT: This supported the children's knowledge of structure again and helped them to develop their songwriting skills.