Year 1 

Picture the scene – a school of vibrant, colourful tropical fish dart through a coral reef. You can hear a calming soundtrack soothing you into a mellow frame of mind. Suddenly a low, slow tone cuts through the tranquillity and the mood changes. (I predict that as you are reading this, the soundtrack to a particular film is going through your head!) You are now on edge as a shark glides into view. The soundtrack has changed the mood and emotion. Join Year One under the sea as they create music to represent life below the waves. They will consider the tempo, pulse, pitch, rhythm, dynamics and timbre of the sounds they hear, and also the ones they create themselves. They will experience a range of tuned and untuned percussion, and develop their ability to respond to the music of others.

In Year One, using our projects as a stimulus, we build on the musical skills of each child and give them opportunities to create and respond to different musical styles. They learn a range of songs, poems, chants, raps and stories and begin to make their own choices of suitable ways to accompany their musical story telling. They use a wide range of instruments and, through games, they are introduced to simple musical notation. Children develop their use of rhythm and can use this expressively in a variety of ways. Performances are mainly to each other and the children are encouraged to give opinions about their presentations.

‘I liked it when we were doing Jack and the Beanstalk using instruments and characters. I was the mum and the child. I chose to play a maraca and a trumpet.’