Musicroom is dedicated to helping you provide your child with a rich and rounded education, even during school closures. Every week we’ll be providing free outstanding, fun and rewarding music lessons for Key Stages 1, 2 and 3 that can be taught at home. Simple to use and no musical expertise is required!
This week, from Rhinegold Education, a Key Stage 1 (ages 5-7) and a Key Stage 2 (ages 7-11) lesson that will get you having fun with water and rhythm. Don’t get wet!
Key Stage 1
Learning Objective: to identify low and high pitches.
Length: ½ hour
1. Watch the following video about high and low:
2. Now listen to this song and join in!
The words of the song are: High, low, middle, low, middle, low, middle, low. High, low, middle, low, middle, low, high.
3. Now have a listen to this!
4. Let’s have some fun making melodies!
Find 3 glasses, preferably of the same size. Fill one to the top with water, fill one to the middle and keep one empty. Place them on an even surface.
You will now have 3 pitches! The glass that is most full will make the lowest pitch, the empty glass will make the highest pitch and the one in the middle will be pitched in the middle.
Use the handle of a wooden spoon to gently hit against the side of the glasses to make the 3 different pitches. Begin to just play around with the different pitches. You might be able to make a little tune.
5. Have a listen to this!
6. Grown-ups, let’s play a fun pitch game with your child!
Ask your child to look away. Gently hit twice on any combination of the glasses. Can your child tell you if the second pitch was higher, lower or the same (as demonstrated on the audio clip)?
Key Stage 2
Lesson objective: to make up some melodies using crotchet and quaver rhythms.
Length: ½ hour
1. Let’s get going by listening to this!
2. Last week we looked at crotchet and quavers. Have a look at what a crotchet looks like written down:
3. Quavers are often shown together, like this:
Remember, 2 quavers make up one crotchet beat!
4. Now have a listen to the following explanation. It’s all about crotchet (tea!) and quaver (coffee!) patterns.
The crotchet and quaver patterns are written out for you below. Grown-ups, play the games with your child to reinforce the information!
Pattern 1: ‘Tea, tea, tea, tea!’
Pattern 2: ‘Coffee, coffee, tea, tea!’
Pattern 3: ‘Coffee, tea, coffee, tea!’
Pattern 4: ‘Tea, coffee, coffee, tea!’
5. It’s time to make some melodies using the rhythms we have learned!
Find 3 glasses, preferably of the same size. Fill one to the top with water, fill one to the middle and keep one empty. Place them on an even surface.
You now have 3 pitches! The glass that is most filled will make the lowest pitch, the empty glass will make the highest pitch and the one in the middle will be pitched in the middle.
Use the handle of a wooden spoon to gently hit against the side of the glasses to make the 3 different pitches.
Use the rhythms above to make a simple melody (or tune) using the 3 pitches of your glasses. Make sure you end on the lowest pitch (the fullest glass) to make the tune sound complete.
Have fun!
By Rebecca White for Rhinegold Education