Concepts development for fifth and sixth classes
Musical concepts
Through completing the strand units of the music curriculum the child should be enabled to
A sense of pulse
- show a steady pulse/beat
- understand and differentiate between music with a steady pulse or beat and music without a strong beat
- recognise strong and weak beats
- identify two-beat time (like a march), three-beat time (like a waltz) and sixeight time (like a jig) in moving to music
A sense of duration
- listen to, imitate and perform patterns of long and short sounds and silences
A sense of tempo
- understand and differentiate between fast and slow rhythmic and melodic patterns, getting faster, getting slower
A sense of pitch
- understand and differentiate between high and low sounds
- imitate melodies
- perceive the contour (shape) of melodies (general shape of a melody on a stave, movement by steps or by leaps)
A sense of dynamics
- understand and differentiate between loud and soft sounds, getting louder, getting softer
- select appropriate levels of loud and soft in performing
A sense of structure
- identify a contrasting or repeated section
- respond with a sense of phrase (observe the natural divisions)
- recognise simple form (e.g. ABA, where A represents the first section and B a second, contrasting section)
A sense of timbre
- explore and differentiate between different sounds and instruments
- identify families of instruments
A sense of texture
- recognise single sounds from combined sounds, visually (from graphic or standard notation) or aurally (when listening)
A sense of style
- listen and respond to music in a wide range of styles
- differentiate between clearly contrasting styles (e.g. folk and flamenco guitar playing).
Strand: Listening and responding
Strand unit: Exploring sounds
The child should be enabled to
Environmental sounds
- listen to sounds in the environment with an increased understanding of how sounds are produced and organised
sound waves
echoes
resonance
vibrating air, string, metal
noise pollution
Vocal sounds
- explore a range of sounds that the singing voice and the speaking voice can make
short, sharp vocal sounds, spoken and sung
'hey! hey! hey!'
slowly descending or ascending singing sounds
nasal sounds, belly laughs, whistling, whispering, muttering, hissing - distinguish and describe vocal ranges and tone colours heard in a piece of music
soprano, alto, tenor, bass
raspy, throaty, raw, true, pure, clear, thin, rich
boy soprano (treble), opera singer, rock singer
Body percussion
- identify a variety of ways of making sounds using body percussion in pairs and in small and large groups
tapping, clapping, slapping, clicking
creating more complex sequences involving slapping, clapping, clicking etc. and alternating left and right hands or feet.
Instruments
- explore ways of making sounds using manufactured and home-made instruments
manufactured untuned percussion instruments
drum, jingle stick, triangle
tuned percussion
chime bar, xylophone
melodic instruments
tin whistle, recorder, guitar, keyboard, violin
home-made instruments
shakers, metal or wooden objects, fibres, beads, pipes, comb-and-paper
kazoos
wobble boards, drums made with rubber tyre tubing stretched over a tin
stringed instruments made with rubber bands stretched over a box shape
blowing, plucking, striking or shaking in a variety of ways and with a variety of tools
releasing air slowly out of a balloon
striking or blowing across the top of a bottle partly filled with water, varying the amount
exploring the inside of a piano, guitar, violin, accordion - explore how the tone colours of suitable instruments can suggest various sounds and sound pictures
wobble board to represent water or waves
shakers to represent hammering rain
glockenspiel to represent a dancing clown
violin to represent cats wailing
low notes on a piano to represent caves
keyboard or electronic sounds to represent moon walking.
Linkage
Composing -- Talking about and recording compositions
Integration
Science: Energy and forces -- Sound
Strand unit: Listening and responding to music
The child should be enabled to
- listen to and describe a broad range of musical styles and traditions, including familiar excerpts, recognising where appropriate its function and historical context
excerpts from classical music
'Ah Vous Dirai-Je Maman' by Mozart
'Fantasia on Greensleeves' by Vaughan Williams
'The Moldau' from 'Má Vlast' by Smetana
'Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra' by Britten
Irish music, traditional and contemporary
'The Brendan Voyage' by Shaun Davey
'The Children of Lir' by Brian O'Reilly
'Swinging Tripes and Trillibubkins' from the album 'Nua Nós'
by Gerald Barry
film
themes by Ennio Morricone, John Williams
jazz
'Chatanooga Choo Choo' recorded by Glen Miller
sacred music
'The Wexford Carol', recordings from Glenstal Abbey
opera
'Soldiers' Chorus' from 'Faust' by Gounod - listen to his/her own compositions and the compositions of others (recordings or live performances) and evaluate in terms of personal response, choice of instruments and expressive qualities
- respond imaginatively to music in a variety of ways
moving, dancing, creating a mime
drawing a 'plan' of a composition
writing a poem or story, illustrating through visual art - identify families of instruments
orchestral instruments
strings, woodwind, brass, percussion
traditional instruments
Irish harp, tin whistle, uilleann pipes, Irish flute, bodhrán, accordion,
concertina, Irish fiddle - examine the effects produced by different instruments
'Silenzio della Terra' (Silence of the Earth) by Jane O'Leary
'Also Sprach Zarathustra' by Richard Strauss
'The Typewriter' by Leroy Anderson - distinguish the main instrument heard in a piece of music
cello in 'The Swan' from 'Carnival of the Animals' by Saint-Saëns
French horn in 'Horn Concerto in E' K447 by Mozart - recognise and understand how tempo and dynamic choices contribute to an expressive musical performance
slow, moderate, fast tempo, increases and decreases
very soft, soft, moderate, loud, very loud
'The Seville Suite' by Bill Whelan
'Valse Triste' from 'Kuolema' Op. 44 by Sibelius - recognise strong and weak-beat patterns, illustrating them through gestures
clap for first beat, tap for second and subsequent beats - identify two-beat or three-beat time in moving to music
two-beat in marches
three-beat in waltzes or country and western music
familiar songs in three-beat time
'Daisy, Daisy', 'Báidín Fhéilimí', 'Edelweiss' - identify six-eight time in moving to music
'Planxty Irwin'
'The Irish Washerwoman' - determine simple form and represent through gestures
recognise AB form (binary) and ABA form (ternary), where A represents the first section and B a second, contrasting section - experience dotted rhythms or syncopation (emphasis on normally weak beats) in familiar tunes through gestures and movement
syncopation in music from the Caribbean
'Yellow Bird', 'Junkanoo', 'Day-O'
dotted rhythms
'John Brown's Body', 'Phil the Fluter's Ball'.
Linkage
Composing -- Talking about and recording
Integration
Visual arts: Drawing, Paint; Elements of art -- An awareness of line, shape, tone, pattern
PE: Dance -- Structure of a dance (binary or ternary)
History: Story; Early people and ancient societies; Continuity and change over time
Strand: Performing
Strand unit: Song singing
The child should be enabled to
Unison singing
- recognise and sing from memory a more demanding repertoire of songs with an awareness of the music's social, historical and cultural contexts
amhráin Ghaeilge
folk tunes and dances from other countries
simple rounds or canons
call-and-response type songs
add-on songs
hymns and carols
ballads
songs from musicals
popular songs
art songs
these should include:
pentatonic songs (based on five notes: d, r, m, s, l)
songs with major, minor and modal keys - sing independently, with increasing awareness and control of pulse, tempo, pitch, diction and posture
keeping a steady beat and tempo, singing in tune with an extended vocal range
'Amhráinín Siodraimín' - perform familiar songs with increased control of dynamics, phrasing and expression
pronouncing words clearly with broad vowel sounds and crisp, clear
consonants
breathing at the appropriate points
maintaining correct singing posture - relate words and mood of a song to style of performance
choosing the appropriate dynamic level to emphasise phrases, bars or notes - notice the differences created between the sections of songs in different forms
verse and refrain, call-and-response, solo-chorus, question-and-answer
add-on songs
'Twelve Days of Christmas', 'Hole in the Bottom of the Sea' - explore structural elements within familiar songs
identify the direction of the melody in notation
state whether the tones of a melody move by steps, by leaps, or by repeats
recognise similar and contrasting melody patterns
AB form or ABA form
AB: 'Greensleeves', 'Tá na Báid'
ABA: 'A Shaighdiúirín, a Chroí', 'Cnocáinín Aerach Chill Mhuire'
Simple part singing
- perform a rhythmic or melodic ostinato (a pattern that is repeated over and over) or drone (long, held notes) in accompanying a song
rhythmic ostinato
tap a pattern such as
while singing 'My Grandfather's Clock'
melodic ostinato or drone
chants from Taizé - distinguish individual parts in a round by singing, listening, moving, or by observing notational cues
singing in unison 'Row Your Boat': the children walk in a circle, keeping time to the music
in groups: the children begin walking as their singing part begins and stop, in turn, as it finishes - performing a round in several different textures
'Frère Jacques' performed with voices and recorders and/or glockenspiel - perform, as part of a group, two songs sung individually and as partner songs
'This Old Man' and 'Michael Finnigin'
any pentatonic tunes (based on five notes: d, r, m, s, l) with an equal number
of bars may be performed as partner songs
'Rocky Mountain' and 'Liza Jane' - perform, as part of a group, arrangements of songs that include simple countermelodies or harmony parts
- identify unison parts (playing or singing the same line) and harmony parts (two or more independent parts together) visually (from notation) and aurally.
Strand unit: Literacy
The child should be enabled to
Rhythm
- recognise longer and more complex rhythm patterns of familiar songs and chants
- recognise, name and use some standard symbols to notate metre (time) and rhythm
one beat (crotchet)
half beat (quaver)
one-beat rest (crotchet rest)
two beats (minim)
four beats (semibreve)
three beats (dotted minim)
one-and-a-half beats (dotted crotchet)
as rhythm patterns in stick notation
Pitch
- recognise and sing familiar tunes in an increasing variety of ways
hummed
sung to one syllable (e.g. da da da)
from hand signs
sung in tonic solfa
including full diatonic scale: d, r, m, f, s, l, t, d'
sung from staff notation (five-line stave), following the general direction,
shape and structure of the melody
'Ding Dong Dederó'
- recognise the shape (contour) of a melody and movement by steps or by leaps, from a graphic score or from notation
- use standard symbols to read, sing and play simple melodies* from sight
from tonic solfa (pentatonic, e.g. r' d' l s m r d l's')
from hand signs
from rhythm -- solfa (stick notation with solfa names)
from finger stave (each finger depicts a line on a stave)
from staff notation (five-line stave)
Rhythm and pitch
- use standard symbols with increasing fluency and accuracy to notate simple rhythm and pitch
stick notation with solfa names underneath
staff notation
- recognise that melodies can be read, sung or played in different keys
- read, sing and play simple tunes from sight with C doh, G doh or F doh
pentatonic tunes (based on five notes: d, r, m, s, l)
'Here Comes a Bluebird'
'Ailiú Éanaí' - understand the function of major key signatures as indicating the position of doh
some key signatures
'Beidh Aonach Amárach'.
Strand unit: Playing instruments
The child should be enabled to
- perform a range of playing techniques on a wide selection of percussion and melodic instruments
flicking, rolling, slapping or shaking a cabasa
playing a xylophone with one or two sticks
using various features on an electronic keyboard - use percussion instruments with increasing confidence and skill to accompany tunes, songs and chants
playing a rhythmic ostinato (a pattern that is repeated over and over) or a drone (long, held note or notes) to accompany familiar tunes and songs - identify and perform familiar tunes from memory or from notation independently
instruments may include
tuned percussion instruments (e.g. chime bars, glockenspiel, xylophone)
tin whistle, recorder, keyboard
repertoire may include
simple melodies of familiar songs learned in previous years
simple rounds
'Frère Jacques', 'Codail, a Stóirín'
tunes from the listening programme
'Shepherd's Song' from the Pastoral Symphony by Beethoven.
Strand: Composing
Strand unit: Improvising and creating
The child should be enabled to
- select from a wide variety of sound sources (voice, body percussion, untuned and tuned percussion, melodic instruments and technology) for a range of musical purposes
to accompany a song, story, poem, riddle, joke, game
to illustrate characters or sequences of events
to convey mood or atmosphere
to illustrate an abstract concept
fire, beauty, earthquakes, machinery
for a particular occasion
a feast or festival, presenting a prize, saying goodbye, going to sleep - invent and perform pieces that show an increasing awareness and control of musical elements
rhythm, melody, tempo, dynamics, texture (combinations of sounds) and simple structure
chime bar inventions, using notes C, D, E, G, A
creating a melody, with an underlying five-beat pulse, keeping a steady tempo, playing softly, loudly or with some contrast, playing some notes together and following a simple plan - recall, answer and invent melodic and rhythmic patterns, using voices, body percussion and instruments
singing conversations
teacher: 'm l l s m r m -- '
child : 'm l l s m r d -- '
using melodic instruments
rhythmic ostinato (a pattern that is repeated over and over) for familiar songs
clap or tap
while singing the chorus of 'This Ole House'.
Strand unit: Talking about and recording compositions
The child should be enabled to
- reflect upon and evaluate his/her work and the work of other children
discussing and explaining:
the selection of instruments, the quality of the sounds
what effects they produced, the use of musical elements
whether he/she succeeded in his/her intentions, whether revisions are necessary
the satisfaction of improvising with sounds, alone or with others - devise and use graphic symbols and/or use standard notation to record different lines of musical patterns and inventions
graphic notation
'Volcanoes'
rhythm notation
'Volcanoes'
- record compositions on electronic media
school equipment
computer
keyboard
synthesiser.
Linkage
Listening and responding -- Exploring sound
Performing -- Literacy, Playing instruments (patterns explored in the literacy strand unit may be incorporated into the child's improvisations and compositions)
Integration
Visual arts: Drawing, Paint; Elements of art -- An awareness of line, shape, pattern
History: Story; Local studies -- Feasts and festivals
Content for fifth and sixth classes