Music in Base 1

This week in Base 1 we have combined our literacy work with music. At the start of the week the children were put into groups and given a page from our story, The Dragon Machine, and were tasked with composing a piece of music to tell that part of the story.

We listened to the audiobook for inspiration and noticed how the music changed at different parts of the story and that this was linked to what was happening in the story and the mood that needed to be created. Then the children went to work thinking about their part of the story and the kind of noises they needed to create, whether they would be loud or quite, and how many people would be playing their instruments at the same time. The children were really inventive in the use of their own voices and 'instruments' they could find around the classroom (shoes, pans!) that would make the right noise, as well as the more traditional untuned instruments! Each group had a team leader who was responsible for reading the story and making sure everyone was confident and knew what to do at the correct time.

By the end of the week everyone was ready to perform and they did an amazing job, they were definitely a match for the music on the audiobook! What impressed me just as much as the music they produced was how the children worked in their teams, they listened to each other, took everyone's opinions into consideration, helped each other out and were really proud of each other when they finally performed.

Well done Base 1, you are fabulous musicians in the making!