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) lesson all about counting and dancing, and a Key Stage 2 (ages 7-11) lesson that will get you drumming!
Key Stage 1
Lesson Objective: to explore counting in a March and a Waltz.
Length: ½ hour
1. Let’s get started by listening to this!
2. Now let’s watch this together.
Ask your child to try marching in time to the music. See if they can say “Left, right” and “1,2” in time as well.
3. Getting the hang of marching? Now let’s move on and listen to this!
Waltz with me, waltz with me, waltz with me joyfully, when we go waltzing we like to count 1,2,3.
4. Disney has some wonderful Waltzes!
Watch the following Disney clip together. Ask your child to try the “1 stamp, 2 claps” pattern along to the music. See if they can say “Waltz with me” in time to the music, and also count “1,2,3,” emphasising the strong and weak beats.
5. See if your child can identify which pieces of music are Marches, and which are Waltzes by listening to this.
Key Stage 2
Lesson objective: to listen and repeat rhythms.
Length: ½ hour.
1. It must be about time for a homemade drum set!
Grown-ups, you are welcome! Grab a couple of pencils or some wooden spoons. If you’re using pencils, hold them by the graphite end. If you are using wooden spoons, hold them by the spoon part, keeping the handles free. Choose a surface that will not be easily damaged, as you will be hitting the pencils/spoon handles against it.
2. Let’s do Stage 1 together!
3. Got the hang of that? Now onto the next stage. Have a listen and play along!
4. Now for our final bit of drumming fun! Listen to this.
The patterns are:
I like strawberries, I like bananas.
Lots of apples, melons and grapes.
Oranges, oranges, juicy oranges.
Would you like some fruit? Yes I would!
5. To challenge yourself, try it without the audio track.
Chant the words along first, then try without chanting the words aloud.
6. For further challenge, listen to the third audio clip again, and change the order in which you play the rhythms.
This will make the piece more interesting, as you’ll be playing one rhythm whilst I play another. Make sure you play each pattern 4 times, so we change onto a new pattern together. If this is too difficult, you can pick one of the patterns and repeat it over and over, like an ostinato.
7. Do you and your child enjoy performing fun rhythmic patterns?
Try out this cool exercise from Ollie Tunmer’s amazing book Body Beats. You can do it individually, in a pair, or even in a quartet!
Read a preview of Body Beats here!
If you enjoyed that, you can do loads more with Ollie’s book Body Beats, which includes some great tutorial videos. Check it out here!
By Rebecca White for Rhinegold Education.