Teach-Primary-Issue-19.7

try playing follow the leader: sit pupils in a circle and ask one child to be the ‘leader’. They create a simple body percussion pattern for the rest of the class to imitate. The role of leader is then passed around the circle. Assessment Can individual pupils repeat simple body percussion rhythms? When the whole group is clapping, watch/listen out for each child and identify pupils not able to repeat the rhythm effectively. WEEK 2 Learning objective l Can children combine body percussion to create a simple composition? l Pupils should also be able to work with a partner to take it in turns to perform their composition. Start by reminding the pupils about the previous lesson’s learning on pulse, rhythm and body percussion. Warm up by repeating the body percussion imitation game or the ‘follow the leader’. Tell the children that a composer is someone who makes a brand-new piece of music and that anyone can be a composer; in fact, they are going to become one today and invent a piece of music that no-one else has ever written! Put the children in pairs, and give each pair eight small pieces of paper. Ask them to write down or draw pictures for every type of body percussion they can think of. WEEK 1 Learning objective l Can children imitate a simple body percussion pattern? Begin with a simple call-and-answer clapping game. This is an effective way to introduce the concept of rhythm and develop pupils’ understanding of body percussion. Start by introducing a ‘four-pulse rhythm’. This means counting four steady pulses out loud (1, 2, 3, 4). It is useful to stamp your feet, nod your head, or move side to side to keep these beats steady. Once the children are confident with moving/ counting along with the pulse, clap M E D I U M T E R M P L A N KS2 MUSIC C omposingmusic is no longer the reserve of conservatoire-educated classical musicians. The rise of music technology, as well as the popularity of social media, has created opportunities for bedroommusicians to become global superstars; composingmusic is a genuine career path, with the industry creating over £6bn for the UK economy. This means we need to teach our pupils about it. But don’t panic if you’re not a specialist! You can break the process down into simple steps; nobody is asking teachers to show their pupils how to create the next concerto or symphony and there is no expectation for every six-year- old to be as precocious as Mozart. However, these initial building blocks are vital for pupils to progress into secondary education. some rhythms for the pupils to copy. These can start as four steady beats, mimicking the pulse, but then bring in different, more complicated rhythms. Discuss rhythm being a mixture of ‘long’ and ‘short’ beats; when clapping, this means leaving a longer gap between claps. For example, start with four long beats (1, 2, 3, 4) and then mix in some shorter beats (1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and ), etc. Assess whether the majority of the class is comfortable copying these. If this is the case, expand the rhythms to including other body percussion rather than just clapping. Use knee taps, foot stomps, chest taps, or even cheek taps to make different rhythms. If you want to extend the learning, MUSIC, SWEET MUSIC BEN CONNOR Download your FREE example videos at tinyurl.com/tp-KS2composition DOWNLOAD RESOURCES AT 26 | www.teachwire.net