Music at Cotsford
At Cotsford Primary School, the children are exposed to music in a variety of different forms. We use Charanga, a scheme of work which follows the National Curriculum, to deliver our Music lessons in school each week. Charanga allows the children to experience a range of musical genres and styles and introduces children to the different dimensions of music at an accessible level. In class, children have the opportunity to play musical games and play percussion instruments as they progress through the curriculum. Each week, a class will focus on a certain song of a particular style and have the opportunity to listen, play and sing along to explore the different features of the music.
In KS2 children also have the opportunity to receive music lessons from Durham Music Service professionals. Year 3 are currently learning to play the recorder with a music teacher from Durham Music Service. There are also opportunities for individual music tuition in Years 3, 4, 5 and 6.
Please click the link for Music National Curriculum Information
Summer 2
For their final term in Reception, the children have been keeping the beat of lots of their favourite songs. They have also sung some Sea Shanties together as a class. It’s been a fabulous last term!
Year 1 looked at songs they have learnt throughout the year, used musical notation to make a tune and played glockenspiels. The children loved revisiting ‘Hey You’ and the Banana Rap. They are becoming more confident playing the glockenspiels and enjoyed playing and singing at the same time!
Year 2’s have had so much fun continuing to learn the friendship song and add their own verses! It definitely makes everyone smile, especially when they make funny ways to keep the rhythm. They have explored pitch and dynamics using a range of songs. The children looked at the tempo of the Plastic Song as they were learning about recycling in English. They have continued to play the recorder and from this identified the higher and lower notes although they are still a little shy when it comes to performing!
Year 3 have been continuing to practise the recorder. They have developed confidence with playing the A, B, C, G and B-flat notes. The children have enjoyed learning sign language to Three Little Birds – Bob Marley and have also love the P.L.A.S.T.I.C. song! To end their music lessons, the children performed in front of Year 1 and 2 children.
Year 4 continued their Pop music topic. The children have focused on improving their glockenspiel skills. They used Charanga to complete the easy and medium challenges. As you can see in the pictures below, the children then composed their own music using the glockenspiels and the correct musical notation.
Music has been really cool this half term for Year 5. They have continued looking at Motown and how it has influenced more modern music. Listening to songs like Proud Mary and Dancing in the Street has been great and they have been listening out for changes in dynamics, tempo and rhythm. The children also combined their music with Computing and created coding to create sounds.
Year 6 have developed their understanding of pulse and understand pitch as a high or low sound. They have enjoyed listening to and singing along with a range of music and are beginning to understand what dynamics are.
Summer 1
In music this half term, the whole school has been involved in the preparations for the Queen’s Jubilee. We have learned both the National Anthem and the Jubilee Anthem, Rise Up And Serve. We have developed our performance skills, learning about how our lungs and diaphragm supports our singing and how visualisation can support us if we are anxious when performing. We have combined our singing with actions, which have helped us to learn the words for memory. You can enjoy singing the song too, https://youtu.be/Q1-KnXJyIq8
The children EYFS have completed lots of singing about the Jungle and the different animals that live there. The actions helped the children to remember the words for ‘Rise Up and Serve’ and they had lots of fun performing for their parents and carers who were invited to join the celebrations.
Year 1 have learnt and performed the song ‘Your Imagination’ which the children sang in two groups. The children also really enjoyed learning the actions that went with the jubilee celebration songs. The children also played games linked to rhythm and pitch which were thoroughly enjoyed.
Year 2’s have had so much fun learning the friendship song! Their rhythm has improved and they laughed so much watching each other using their bodies to create as many different ways of making a rhythm. They even included being animals in time to the music! The main focus in Year 2 has been singing; each time they practised ‘Rise Up and Serve’ they improved their pitch and learnt more actions. Performing this in front of their parents was their reward! The National Anthem proved to be trickier but they persevered with the high notes and slow song.
Our Year 3/4 class have enjoyed recorder lessons delivered by Durham Music Service. They have further developed their skills on the recorder and have been introduced to new notes and songs. The children have also learned to play some music games, which have helped to develop their listening skills and rhythm. They have also learned sign language to Three Little Birds by Bob Marley.
Year 4 have been listening to examples of pop music. They started with The Beatles and their hit ‘Blackbird’. The children have worked on their emotional reaction to different music and linked it to the Inside Out characters.
In our Year 5 class lessons, the children have started listening to some fantastic music including Dancing In The Street. They have discussed their thoughts and feelings and how this can help their mental health. They have also been looking at pitch, pulse and rhythm to deepen their understanding of the interrelated dimensions of music.
Year 6 have continued to link their feelings and emotions with the music they are listening to. They have also built on their understanding of pulse, major and minors, and practised a range of notes when singing songs for the jubilee and the national anthem.
Spring 2
This term in reception, the children have listened to lots of farm songs and completed singing in a group. Their favourite has been The Dingle Dangle Scarecrow! The class also motivate and enjoy singing with the whole school during drop off time on a Friday as we bop into school singing ‘It’s Friday Again!’.
During this half term Year 1 have learned and performed the song ‘Round and Round’ and they have enjoyed listening to different styles of music, thinking about how they made us feel and why this was. They have also looked at pitch and how this relates to the low and high notes they hear and play on the glockenspiel. They learnt a new note ‘f’ and have enjoyed playing the glockenspiel using it and practising the notes they already knew.
Year 2’s, have been amazing this term learning the recorders. They can now recognise several notes on a stave and know the values of a crotchet, minim and semibreve. The majority of children can read the music and play in time with everyone else. They have really enjoyed singing Adele and Bob Marley! Both songs included recorder parts during the instrumental. Wow!, singing, playing and signing in one song is a fabulous achievement. The children loved listening to the variety of music and recognising instruments they could hear on a weekly basis. Hopefully they will take their music talents further and learn to play a variety of instruments.
Year 3 have been linking their feelings and emotions to music. They have been listening to a range of music, for example a Turkish traditional tune and Hindu music, and deciding how that music makes them feels. They then looked at ‘POP’ music more closely discussing what it is and when and where it originated from. The children can explain that ‘POP’ music comes from the meaning popular and that originated in the mid 50’s in the UK and in the USA. One familiar pop artist they looked at was Michael Jackson, the class sung the song ‘Beat It’ and found ways to move their bodies to the pulse of the music. They also used the Glockenspiels to try and play the notes from a Bob Marley song ‘Three Little Birds’.
We had some very passionate performers in Year 4, this half term. They have been listening to gospel music and they watched some videos of gospel choirs to give them some inspiration for their performances. You can enjoy the song, ‘Lean on Me’ by Bill Withers they performed here,
Also, the children tried to conduct each other’s performances on the glockenspiels so that they played the correct note at the correct time. They linked Science and Music to investigate how they can change the pitch and volume.
Linking to their coal mining theme, Year 5 learned about the traditions of brass banding and the roots of the bands in the mining industry. They listened to many pieces of music and learned the stories behind famous tunes, such as Gresford. They learned about the brass family and the instruments found in it. They were really fortunate to have a local brass band conductor come in and give the whole class a lesson on how to conduct – it’s harder than just waving your arms about!
Year 6 have listened to music and have been able to link their feelings and emotions to the piece and be able to express this through pictures. They have also built on their understanding of pulse and recognise major and minor in pieces of music.
Spring 1
Early Years are always bopping along to music in class and this term has been no different! We have been learning to keep the beat to lots of songs including Barry Manilow, Tom Odel and Crockets Theme. The children have been thinking about how the music makes them feel and talking about it with their friends.
The children also had a dance off in class; they absolutely love moving and grooving in reception!
Year 1 have learnt the song ‘I am in the Groove’ and they have enjoyed listening to different styles of music; Blues, Baroque, Latin, Bhangra, Folk and Funk and discussed how each type of music has made them feel. They have also enjoyed learning how to play the glockenspiel. They know the notes ‘C’ and ‘D’ and can now use the glockenspiels to accompany their singing while they sing ‘I am in the Groove’.
Wow! Year 2 have amazingly begun to play the recorder. Not only have they learnt how to play ‘b’, ‘a’ and ‘g’ but they also know where to find the notes on a stave. Mrs Milne from Durham Music Service taught them a few rhymes to remember the position of the notes. The notes on the lines are, Every Green Boogie Deserves Flicking and the notes inside the lines spell FACE. The children can also identify crotchets, minims and semibreves as well as rests. The songs they are now learning are faster and make the children change notes often! The children have also listened to a range of music genres and can identify the different instruments they can hear. Their challenge is to remember which music family they belong to. They also enjoy the rhythm and singing games in Year 2.
The children in Year 3/4 have enjoyed learning how to play the glockenspiel. They began by listening to and clapping different rhythms, before moving on to playing these back on the glockenspiel. The children then practised playing the C and G notes, to Three Little Birds by Bob Marley. They have also loved learning the lyrics to the song and couldn’t resist joining in with the chorus when playing the glockenspiel! The children have also spent some time researching the Reggae genre and have become great fans of Bob Marley!
Year 4 loved the Grime song, Stop! They performed it very enthusiastically with actions and feeling. They talked about what Grime music is and used the glockenspiels to explore pulse and pitch. The children worked with a partner and created some fantastic ideas for their own rap.
In Year 5, music has been very relaxing and calming! The children have been learning about pop ballads and have learned ‘Make You Feel My Love’ by Adele. They have continued to increase their knowledge and understanding of pitch and pulse, while learning about rhythm too. They really enjoyed performing new songs for everyone and listening to a wide range of pop music from the 90s, 00s and 10s!
Year 6 have listened to and explained their likes and dislikes about a song, ‘A New Year’s Carol’. They described instruments they could hear being played and how the song made them feel. They listened to the piece many times and used instruments to copy the rhythm.
Autumn 2
The children in Early Years have listened to lots of different genres of music including lots of Christmas songs. They have learnt ‘Autumn Leaves’ and performed for a class recording. The children always enjoy music and they love singing ‘It’s Friday Again!’ every week. They have enjoyed being part of the Twelve Days of Christmas Cotsford song too.
Year 1 have concentrated on learning 4 new songs. The first song was ‘Rhythm is the Way we Walk’. The children enjoyed learning the actions and practising finding the beat to a song. After that, they learnt the Banana Rap, using different pitch for different animals, depending on the part of the song. As Christmas approached they also learnt the song ‘Jingle Bells’ and played some untuned percussion alongside it, which they performed with Year 2. They also learnt part of the ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’ so they could contribute to the school’s Christmas musical performance.
Year 2 have enjoyed the ‘Ho Ho’ topic this half term! They have enjoyed listening to a range of music and saying whether they have liked or disliked the style. Rap, seems to be one of their favourites. They have found naming percussion instruments really hard but persevered and played matching games to support learning their names. The children enjoyed playing them to a beat as well as copying simple rhythms. They loved putting words into their rhythms – especially questions where they have to respond with an answer.
Year 3/4 children have continued with their weekly recorder lessons with Durham Music Service. They have practised the notes learned last half term and also have been introduced to some new notes, which has led to some lovely Christmas songs – our favourite was Ho Ho Ho! The children have been looking at how they can keep a beat, through various fun games like Bubble Gum and Clap the Rhythm.
Year 4 have been learning to play the glockenspiel. They have listened to different music from a range of countries, talked about pitch, rhythm, pulse, tone and the different notations. The children have thoroughly enjoyed singing the different well-known songs throughout whilst playing the tune on the glockenspiel.
Year 5’s Music unit has been so cool! They have been looking at jazz, bossa nova and swing. They have started looking at different notation and now understand about pitch, pulse and rhythm. They really enjoyed listening to different versions of traditional Christmas songs and even performing and recording their own version of ‘Santa Claus is Coming to Town’.
Year 6 have listened to a range of Jazz music and have appraised this particular genre explaining what they like or don’t like about it. They have learned musical notation and terminology, and can play a simple tune on a recorder.
Autumn 1
The children in Reception have listened to lots of different genres of music including rock, pop and classic. They have song lots of nursery rhymes and songs too including ‘Five Little Men in a Flying Saucer’. They have enjoyed listening to Jack Hartman every morning to get started for the day, wiggling their hips and tapping our knees to the beat.
Wow, we discovered that Year 2 like to sing! They love the Hands, Feet and Heart song! They have enjoyed it so much they can be heard singing it outside whilst playing. They created their own actions as well as playing the glockenspiel in time to the music. Some children could multitask – sing and play at the same time.
The children voted whether they wanted to sing or read a poem for harvest. The majority chose singing so we performed Cauliflowers Fluffy with matching hats for parents.
In our Year 3/4 class the children have been receiving weekly recorder lessons from Durham Music Service. The children started by learning about the parts of the recorder and how to hold it correctly. They then practised copying a beat, before moving onto playing A, B and G notes.
I have been so impressed with Year 4’s performance of Mamma Mia. They perform with such passion and enthusiasm. The children used the hits of ABBA to practise different rhythms and playing the glockenspiel. You can enjoy some of ABBA’s hits too. Which one is your favourite?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tyYHdvT-Ks
Year 5 have rhythm! In music, they have looked at rock music. They have learned and performed ‘Livin’ on a Prayer’ by Bon Jovi and compared it to songs including ‘Smoke on the Water’. They have learned about pulse and practised finding it in different pieces of music. Their skills and confidence on the glockenspiels have developed so much and they practiced performing different pieces of music. Finally, they took their new skills and learned, performed and recorded ‘Autumn Days’. Hope you all enjoyed singing along with these at home!
