Singing and performing with simple instruments

Learning Intentions

  • We are learning to develop our singing skills through rounds and two-part songs.
  • We are learning to select instruments to create musical patterns and accompaniments.
  • We are learning to sing and play from memory, by ear or from notation.

What to look for

  • Pupils singing an increasing variety of songs
  • Pupils singing in parts
  • Pupils singing with an increasing control of breath, diction, tuning, gradation of volume (dynamics), and tempo, phrasing and style
  • Pupils creating and performing short rhythmic and melodic patterns and accompaniments
  • Pupils performing on a wide range of classroom instruments with increasing control
  • Pupils identifying the sounds of other common instruments such as recorder, tin whistle, piano, violin, trumpet, flute, etc.
  • Pupils singing or playing from memory and/or by ear
  • Pupils identifying and performing from some visual representations of their music

Learning Activities

Lead the pupils in exploring and extending the range of songs that they sing, for example:

  • rounds, such as:
    • Here lie the bones of lazy Fred;
    • Junkanoo; or
    • Ghosts;
  • simple two-part songs, including:
    • Tongo (echo song);
    • Hi-dom (drone); or
    • How doth the little crocodile (ostinato);
  • simple descants, such as:
    • All Night, All Day;
    • Lazy Coconut Tree; or
    • The Silver Trumpet;
  • partner songs (where two or more different songs can be sung simultaneously), for example:
    • Land of the Silver Birch/Canoe Song; or
    • What shall we do with the Drunken Sailor?/O Sinner Man;
  • songs linked to relevant topics, e.g.
    • Vikings; or
    • Victorians;
  • songs from different countries, e.g.
    • Jamaican Farewell;
  • songs from shows and musicals, e.g.
    • Oliver;
    • The Sound of Music; or
    • Joseph.

Focus on helping the pupils to extend specific singing skills, for example their:

  • breathing;
  • diction;
  • pitch range;
  • accuracy in tuning;
  • expression through dynamics;
  • phrasing;
  • style; and
  • ability to sing from memory.

Encourage the pupils to select instruments to create musical patterns and accompaniments, for example:

  • simple repeated accompaniments/ostinati, e.g. Canoe Song;
  • drone accompaniment, e.g. Land of the Silver Birch; or
  • pentatonic scales, e.g. Mary had a Baby (Christmas Carol).

Ask them to adapt or interpret the songs if possible. They could make up a melodic part to accompany the song, or create a new pentatonic section between the verses.

Encourage them to improvise using the pentatonic scale. The recorder/tuned percussion piece Two’s Company, for example, gives scope for improvisation on the pentatonic scale.

Allow the pupils to select instruments and show an increasing awareness of control of the different elements of music, for example:

  • the dynamics (getting louder/quieter); and
  • the tempo (getting faster/slower).

Provide them with the opportunity to perform on other common instruments, for example:

  • recorder;
  • tin-whistle;
  • piano;
  • violin;
  • trumpet; or
  • flute.

Help the pupils develop strategies for singing and playing from memory and/or by ear, for example:

  • repeating simple music patterns; or
  • working out simple known tunes by ear, e.g:
    • folk-songs;
    • traditional songs; or
    • hymns.

Work with them to identify different ways of reading and performing music, for example:

  • rhythm patterns;
  • graphic scores; and
  • simple notation.