Experiences and Outcomes:
I can sing and play music from a range of styles and cultures, showing skill and using performance directions and/or musical notation. EXA 2-16a
I can use my voice, musical instruments and music technology to experiment with sounds, pitch, melody, rhythm, timbre and dynamics. EXA 2-17a
Inspired by a range of stimuli and working on my own and/or with others, I can express and communicate my ideas, thoughts and feelings through musical activities. EXA 2-18a
I have listened to a range of music and can respond by discussing my thoughts and feelings. I can give and accept constructive comment on my own and others’ work. EXA 2-19a
Lesson Outcomes
After this lesson, pupils will be able to:
- Listen and reflect on a piece of orchestral music
- Invent their own musical motifs and structure them into a piece
- Perform as an ensemble
- Learn musical language appropriate to the task
Curriculum Checklist
Learners will:
- Play and perform in ensemble contexts, using voices and playing musical instruments
- Improvise and compose music for a range of purposes using the interrelated dimensions of music
- Listen with attention to detail and recall sounds with increasing aural memory
Activities
Warm up. Begin the lesson with a quick focusing warm-up like pass the clap and then make a list on the board of all the elements you have made so far. It should look something like this:
- Everyone: Anna Meredith’s motifs on body percussion
- Groups: Short ‘name-motif’ pieces on body percussion
- Everyone: Anna Meredith’s motifs orchestrated
- Groups: Short ‘name-motif’ pieces orchestrated
Get the instruments out and put all of these elements back together. Remember the shape of the Anna Meredith sections (canon? wave? etc.)
Ask your children to come up with an order for these sections and fashion them into one big piece. If they want to discard anything at this point, that’s ok. They may choose to make a piece that is just body percussion (like Anna’s) and scrap the instruments for example.
Remind your class of some of the techniques Anna uses:
- Canon
- Mexican wave
- Moving across the space
- Everyone ending together
Try out several versions until you have found the best one and practice it until it is the same every time and everyone knows exactly what they are doing.
Finally, invite another class in to watch you perform your new composition
Additional resources and a more detailed lesson plan can be found here on the BBC Ten Pieces website;
https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/ten-pieces/KS2-anna-meredith-connect-it/zhyyb82
