Teaching Strategies and Approaches
Singing
- Select songs within a pitch range which is manageable for children to sing. Children at this age have a range from around middle C to the D above. A chime bar is useful for finding an appropriate starting pitch.
- Select songs and rhymes which are repetitive and easy to remember – teach by breaking down into chunks e.g. line by line, using call and response – and talk about the structure of the song (verse, chorus, repeated sections etc.).
- Continue to vary the dynamics and tempo when singing songs and to model the difference between a speaking and singing voice.
- Continue to develop the skills required for singing in parts through songs which can be sung in a round (two or more groups sing the same melody but start at different times, e.g. Frère Jacques)
- Provide opportunities for children to sing short phrases individually using singing games (e.g. ‘The Button and the Key’)
- Use fun warm up exercises (e.g. tongue twisters, humming) to develop diction, breathing and pitch accuracy.
- Reinforce the solfa names and handsigns to represent pitches using simple, well-known songs (e.g. ‘Rocky Mountain’’ or ‘Hot Cross Buns’). Start with so, mi and la, then add do and re to complete the pentatonic scale.
- Use a stave (5 lines, 4 spaces) to practice placing pitches on the lines and in the spaces -draw on on a whiteboard, mark out with tape on the floor, or use your hand (fingers for the lines and in-between fingers for spaces).
Beat & Rhythm
- Develop children’s sense of pulse by providing regular experiences where children can physically ‘feel’ the beat in music –e.g.keep the beat by walking, performing actions, bouncing a ball, passing an object, clapping or tapping knees. There should be an initial focus on the beat when learning any new song.
- Children can tap heart shapes to the beat whilst singing to reinforce the idea that pulse/beat in music is like the steady heartbeat in our bodies.
- Use short, well-known songs/rhymes to introduce Kodály rhythm names – practice clapping and saying the rhythm names.
- Support learners to differentiate between beat and rhythm when chanting a rhyme by asking one group of children to keep a steadybeat, while another group claps/plays the rhythm.
- Link rhythm names to the associated stick notation symbols and play games using rhythm flashcards which help children to recognise and follow written rhythm patterns (e.g. Rhythm People or Rhythm Detectives).
- Children can practisethe skill of ‘internalising’ by clapping/playing the rhythm of a rhyme whilst saying the words or rhythm names in their ‘thinking voice’.
Playing Instruments
- Apply the pitch and rhythm skills taught through singing and body percussion activities to perform short simple melodies on pitched instruments e.g. tuned percussion (xylophone, glockenspiel, chime bars), tin whistle, recorder or keyboard.
- Introduce the treble clef and pitch names to practice reading notation and playing pitches on an instrument (as above).
- Introduce performance direction vocabulary and symbols used in music to indicate changes in tempo or dynamics (e.g. piano, forte, crescendo, diminuendo, accelerando, ritardando).
End of Level Benchmarks
- Performs songs in unison and in parts, individually or as part of a group, and communicates the mood and character of songs from a range of styles and cultures, such as folk songs or songs from musicals, using appropriate performance directions, for example, gradually getting louder/quieter, and/or musical notation
- Performs on instruments, individually or as part of a group, to communicate the mood and character of a piece of music through, for example, the use of appropriate dynamics and expression
- Applies verbal and non-verbal techniques whilst giving and/or following performance directions, for example, eye contact and/or body language.
Interdisciplinary links
LIT 2-02a, LIT 2-03a
MNU 2-07a
HWB 2-10a, HWB 2-11a , HWB 2-14a, HWB 2-21a
SOC 2-04a, SOC 2-19a
