This term, as part of our environmental class project,  we have been learning about plastic pollution and the negative impact that it’s having on our planet. The class worked together in small groups to write a short rap where they had to convey that very message. We used a backing track to practise performing our raps, then we recorded our tracks in a makeshift ‘studio’.

Here are the audio files for you to listen to.

Aoife, Ruairidh & Alesha:

Ayla, Amelia & Erik:

Joey, Niky & Heidi:

Theo & James:

Josh:

Levi, Robbie & Dillon:

Matilda & Sophie:

Tom, Adam & Ali:

We have started Term 4 in Music by learning about the importance of looking after our planet and how we can reduce, reuse and recycle our waste materials. Having been inspired by the Landfillharmonic orchestra of Paraguay, we created our own musical instruments out of things that we would normally throw away. Here are a few photos of the class making their instruments.

Watch the clip to see us using our recycled instruments as part of an Earth Day song.

Tuesday 30^th January 2024 was a special day at Sound Primary School as we were visited by both the Junior and Senior Jarl Squads of 2024.

The Junior Jarl Squad, led by Guizer Jarl Skeppare Nokkvesson (aka Oran McCulloch), were in fine voice during their time with us, supported by a group of young local musicians who did a brilliant job. ‘Yes Sir, I can Boogie’ was definitely a highlight! The clip below shows all the pupils from p1 to p7 joining in with the Up Helly Aa song.

The Senior Jarl Squad, led by Guizer Jarl King Harald Olafsson (aka Richard Moar) were also pretty spectacular both in sight and sound. A fantastic line up of local musicians provided the music for the Up Helly Aa song and also their squad song which made us all want to get up and dance! Here is a clip of all the pupils from p1 to p7 joining in with the Up Helly Aa song. The Jarl commented how loud and enthusiastic our singing was. High praise indeed from a ‘King’!

In music we have been learning about the English composer, Gustav Holst, who composed a piece of music called The Planets Suite. There are seven movements in the piece, each reflecting the characteristics of a planet. We listened to the first movement called Mars – Bringer of War which is a very powerful piece of music. We thought about how it made us feel and wrote down some words to describe it. We thought if it was a colour, what colour would it be? If it was a shape, what shape would it be? And, if it was a line, how would we describe it? We then created a picture to show what the music made us think of. It was amazing to see how differently we all thought about the music. It evoked a range of feelings, thoughts and emotions.

Here are a range of examples across both P5 classes.

We have learned a little bit about the musical genre of Jazz this term and we discovered that the very first piece of music to be played in space during the Apollo 10 mission was a song from the Big Band and Swing era called ‘Fly Me to the Moon’ by Frank Sinatra.

We learned that  jazz music actually evolved from folk music which is traditional songs passed down from generation to generation.

One traditional folk song we have learned recently is ‘Obwisana’ from Ghana, in Africa. It is traditionally sung by children in a circle passing rocks in time with the pulse of the music. We adapted this by using drum sticks to keep the pulse and we also composed our own four beat patterns. Our performance takes the form of (A) the song, (B) stick pattern 1, (A) song, (C) stick pattern 2,(A) song, (D) own stick pattern,)A) song and the ‘coda’ which we have learned is an Italian term used to describe the ending in a musical piece.

We were treated to a performance by the Shetland Youth Orchestra last week in the Sound Hall. The orchestra is made up of children from all over Shetland including both primary and secondary, and their musical talents are amazing!

We were introduced to all the different instrument families including brass, woodwind, strings and percussion. We listened to a mixture of music including classical, swing and even a theme tune or too. We particularly liked the Wallace and Grommit theme tune which they played as we were leaving the hall.

What a very enjoyable way to spend a Friday afternoon!