Composing in Music

These piece based units draw on the key compositional skills that are important in music making. Within a set of given rules, children create their own works incorporating these skills. This could be rhythm, structure of a piece, instruments or a motif from the original piece.

Playing and Conducting of Music in Early Years

Children in Reception are  playing instruments. Children take turns to direct the others to make short phrases of music. The conductor  points when it is their turn to play and holds her hand out to say stop. They put their hand low to show when to play quietly, and raises it up high to play loudly to create their music.

Layering Rhythms in Year 2

In Year 2, children have been learning about adding multiple rhythms to their compositions. They study Bolero by Ravel which contains two rhythms played on top of each other. The picture shows children using body percussion to play these rhythms while another group members performs an accompanying melody.

Film Score Analysis, and Creating Motifs in Year 3

In Year 3, children have learnt about the film composer John Williams. They compared music over a range of films before recreating the motif from the Jurassic Park theme. Children experiment with creating their own motif and the changing it to make it longer or shorter, higher or lower or with different instruments. The picture shows a visual score created when children listen to the piece and draw what they hear.

Building Music from its Parts in Year 5

In Year 5, the children have been learning about the composer Gustav Holst. His piece, Mars from the Planets suite, has a distinctive ostinato rhythm that is repeated throughout. Children learn this on drums and then compose a short melody around structured rules to replicate the original tune. These are recorded on top of each other to create a recording of the whole piece.