Year+3+Music

Year 3 || =Dragon scales=
 * MUSIC


 * Information ||

Objectives
• To recognise and use the pentatonic scale to create a short melody • To improvise simple tunes based on the pentatonic scale

Prior learning
To benefit from this lesson, children should: • be familiar with celebrations of the Chinese New Year festival, perhaps by watching a video excerpt.

Vocabulary
scale, pentatonic scale, ostinato, drone

Resources
• data projector or interactive whiteboard linked to a laptop • ICT suite or set of laptops • music software that allows the user to input notes of a scale (in this Example, //Music Toolkit, 2Compose//) • tuned percussion instruments with the notes CDFGA • a pentatonic song, for example, //Tongo//, a Polynesian echo song, from //Banana Splits// by A and C Black, or //Land of the silver birch//, //Who built the ark?//, //Hot cross buns//, //Swing low sweet chariot//

ICT skills needed by teachers
To teach this unit, teachers need to know how to: • use software for composing music.

Preparation for this lesson
Set up the computers and software in readiness for the lesson.


 * Lesson extract ||

Introduction
Sing a song that uses a pentatonic (five-note) scale. Play the specific pentatonic scale that the song uses to the class. For example, //Tongo// starts on the note F and uses the notes F G A C D.

Main activity
Refer back to the video extract on the Chinese New Year celebrations that children have watched previously. Talk about the Chinese dragon. Q What words would describe the dragon in a procession? (e.g. fierce, large, green and red, caricature, representation) Ask a child to play a drone using notes F and C. Ask other children to join in one at a time playing the rhythms of words over and over again, using one or two notes from the pentatonic scale of F (notes F G A C D). You may need to give them specific notes and rhythms to play as a demonstration. For example: • dragon F A • Chinese New Year F G F G • puffing smoke C C D • swishing tail A C C Teach the pupils some vocabulary to describe what they are playing. For example, repeating patterns on two or three notes are melodic //ostinati//; a continuous note or notes creates a //drone//. Ask children to work in small groups with a computer loaded with suitable composition software. Ask them to create a piece to represent a dragon procession using the pentatonic scale, drones, melodic ostinati, and so on.

Plenary
Listen to the compositions. Ask questions to encourage children to appraise and evaluate their own and each other’s compositions. Q How many ostinato patterns did you hear? Q Did they all start at once or did the texture build up gradually? Q What instrument was playing the drone? Q What happens if you change the tempo or the sounds of the instruments used?

Next steps
Pupils could use create their own accompaniment to one of the pentatonic songs that they have been learning. The melody will have been programmed into the computer by a teacher.


 * Notes ||

Links to QCA schemes of work
The lesson links to: QCA Music Unit 12: Dragon scales National Curriculum programme of study for music for Key Stage 2: 1b, 1c, 2a, 2b, 3a, 3b, 3c, 4b, 4c, 4d, 5b, 5c, 5d

Subject links
Pieces of music created as in this lesson can be linked to work in dance, PE, art, and creative language work. For example, children could make their own Chinese dragons, perform a dance to their music and add lyrics to their melody.

Why use ICT?
The advantages of using ICT are as follows. • ICT allows children to compose, play, refine and record music, building complex layers in ways that would not otherwise be possible. The ability to modify their music gives children confidence to explore sounds and create more complex pieces. In particular, they do not need to ‘remember’ in order to perform their compositions. • ICT gives children access to sound effects and musical instruments that would not normally be available in the primary classroom.

MUSIC Year 3 || =Composing for a purpose=

Information ||

Objectives
• To explore, choose, combine and organise musical ideas within a musical structure • To compose music for a specific purpose • To consider atmosphere and mood suggested by visual stimulus

Prior learning
To benefit from this lesson, children should: • have experience in using the selected composition program, including knowing how to save their work; • have experience of discussing emotions and how they can be represented through music; • have created some art work on the chosen topic; • have listened to parts of Mussorgsky’s //Pictures at an Exhibition// and relevant pictures associated with the music (this could be researched on the Internet before this lesson).

Vocabulary
structure, phrase, introduction

Resources
• data projector or interactive whiteboard linked to a laptop • ICT suite or set of laptops • headphones • scanner • music composition software (in this Example //Making tracks// weblink, [] ) • presentation software • bank of images and clip art specific to a topic being studied by the children, e.g. Ancient Greece, Egyptians, light and shadows (the video clip is based on representing children’s emotions) • children’s own art work in digital form • recording of //Pictures at an Exhibition// by Mussorgsky, and a CD player (optional)

ICT skills needed by teachers
To teach this lesson, teachers need to know how to: • use the selected presentation software; • use the selected music composition software.

Preparation for this lesson
Prepare a slide show using your selection of images. Try to include a selection of the children’s own art work. Record some musical phrases that could be associated with the images. Before the lesson, set up all the relevant software on the shared area of the network or on the computers that the children are to use. Prepare the software on your own computer ready for display. Lesson extract ||

Introduction
Gather the class around the interactive whiteboard. Show your prepared slide show with some pictures related to different emotions. Explain to the class that they are going to compose a backing track for a slide show of pictures. Talk about how music can be used to describe pictures. For each image, ask: Q What sort of music does this picture suggest? Remind children how to use the composition software, demonstrating on the interactive whiteboard. Ask the class to listen to the phrases you recorded. Discuss the characteristics of each phrase. Q Do any of them sound like a beginning? Any like an ending? Q Do any sound exciting? Any peaceful? Revise how the phrases can be organised in the sequencer to make a composition.

Main activity
Ask children to work in pairs or small groups at the computers. Ask the groups to listen again to the phrases and to make a composition that they think would enhance a slide show representing different emotions. Explain that their music will be played to an audience in assembly or as part of a parents’ evening. As children work, stress that they need to keep listening to their music and not simply drag and drop at random. Make suggestions from time to time such as: Q Does repeating some of the phrases sound effective? Q Does changing the tempo alter the atmosphere of the piece? Q Which phrase are you going to choose for an ending? Remind the groups to keep saving their work.

Plenary
Bring the whole class together. Listen to some of the compositions. Play them as you show the slide show. Ask the class to think about solutions to any problems. Q Can you foresee any problems with playing the music as part of the presentation? Will the music finish before the pictures? Could it be put in a loop? Q What about the ending? How can we make sure that the slide show and the music stop at the same time? Ask children to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using ICT for this task. Draw out the fact that they can evaluate their pieces and then make changes. Discuss how time and place can affect the way that music is created, performed and heard. You may wish to compare children’s compositions with //Pictures at an Exhibition// by Mussorgsky. (An alternative approach to using an Egyptian theme would be to give children the opportunity to produce a composition that represented various emotions they felt – as shown an on the associated video clip.)

Next steps
The children need to practise ‘performing’ their presentations. They could mark on the printouts of their music where the slide should change. Save the music in a format that can be embedded in the presentation, for example as a MIDI file.

Notes ||

Links to QCA schemes of work
The lesson links to: QCA Music Unit 9: Exploring descriptive sounds National Curriculum programme of study for Key Stage 2: 1c, 2a, 2b, 3a, 3c, 4c, 4d, 5a, 5b, 5c

Subject links
Link to topic work involving reading and writing activities in literacy, work in history, drama and dance, and so on.

Why use ICT?
The advantages of using ICT are as follows. • ICT allows teachers to project enlarged visual images for whole-class demonstration and discussion. • ICT allows children to compose, play, refine and record music in ways that would not otherwise be possible. The ability to test their ideas and modify their music gives children confidence to explore sounds and create more complex pieces. These can be saved and played to a much wider audience than would otherwise be possible. • ICT gives children access to sound effects and musical instruments that would not normally be available in the primary classroom.