In Music this term, Year 4 are understanding the difference between pulse and rhythm, while composing a piece to demonstrate their skills. Year 5 are learning about musical scales and composing simple melodies based on the C Major scale. On Thursday 11 May, we had the pleasure of inviting in Ollie Tunmer from Beat Goes On to lead workshops to the boys and girls in these year groups to develop their knowledge and understanding of their topics in Music this term.
In the workshops with Year 5, we explored the C Major scale using Boomwhackers and Bamboo Tamboo. Within minutes of beginning the workshop, pupils were performing the ascending and descending scale along with a melody on the Boomwhackers. We learned very quickly how important it is for everyone to count out loud to help keep us all together during rehearsals and performances. After becoming confident with our melody, we then began to understand what a chord is and how to perform them on the instrument. The final performances were amazing and incorporated the C Major scale, melody and chords. Ollie then introduced Year 5 to Bamboo Tamboo, which are instruments that originate from Trinidad and Tobago. To play these instruments you need to stand as they are long plastic tubes that you hit on the ground using one hand while using a beater to hit the instrument with the other hand. The pitches of these instruments were also part of the C Major scale, which fit in perfectly with our scales. Pupils and staff had a wonderful time learning to play these instruments. By the end of our session, we were performing three different rhythms at the same time and moving to the beat!
Body percussion was the focus for the Year 4 workshop. To warm the pupils up and prepare for their session, the boys and girls echoed Ollie by performing short rhythms using a variety of body percussion sounds. These sounds were then incorporated into a short, rhythmic sentence. Once everyone was able to perform this fluently, the rhythms were developed by slightly changing the ending. In small groups, they worked together to create a performance of their changed rhythm. Not only did they need to focus on keeping a steady beat, but pupils also had to think about the performance of their rhythm. The boys and girls came up with such creative ideas to add to their performances!
From Boomwhackers to Bamboo Tamboo to body percussion, it was a fantastic day of developing our pupils’ musical knowledge! I look forward to using the skills we learned into our compositions throughout the rest of the Summer Term.
