Year 2 deepens the musical experience of pulse and rhythm that we have explored in Year 1. Children begin to understand rhythm notation (‘Ta, Te-te’ for crotchet and quavers) and how words and rhythms relate. They also begin to create their own repeated patterns (ostinato) and work in more challenging groupings. The range of songs they sing are more demanding. This is the year in which they begin to learn about the Elements of Music. 

They learn the families and instruments of the orchestra and, through an exploration of Benjamin Britten’s Young Person’s Guide To The Orchestra, recognise orchestral timbre. They create their own composition, Forest Soundscape.  Later in the year, they create a musical soundscape to fit the evocative story, Listen To The Rain.

There is a music project with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, often based on one specific composer (in 2024, JS Bach). 

Throughout the year, we continue to dance and move to music, learning how to respond to each other with sensitivity and feeling.