This Week - 2nd February
Friday 22nd May (it's a bit late I know - took longer than I expected...)
Ronde
- Work slowly and practice it bit by bit.
- Learn the rhythms first.
- Practice the tricky bits
- Follow the tutorial video. Keep pausing to practice, don't try to do it all at once!
- Can you play it all the way through without the letters?
- When you can play it slowly and neatly, start speeding up!
- Record yourself in BandLab - more information here.
Friday 22nd May (it's a bit late I know - took longer than I expected...)
Ronde
- Work slowly and practice it bit by bit.
- Learn the rhythms first.
- Practice the tricky bits
- Follow the tutorial video. Keep pausing to practice, don't try to do it all at once!
- Can you play it all the way through without the letters?
- When you can play it slowly and neatly, start speeding up!
- Record yourself in BandLab - more information here.
Friday 22nd May (it's a bit late I know - took longer than I expected...)
Ronde
- Work slowly and practice it bit by bit.
- Learn the rhythms first.
- Practice the tricky bits
- Follow the tutorial video. Keep pausing to practice, don't try to do it all at once!
- Can you play it all the way through without the letters?
- When you can play it slowly and neatly, start speeding up!
- Record yourself in BandLab - more information here.
1. Hand position
1. Hand position
1. Hand position
2. First 3 notes: G A B
2. First 3 notes: G A B
2. First 3 notes: G A B
This Week - 18th January / 22nd January
This Week - 26th January
This Week - 26th January
This Week - 26th January
This Week - 26th January
3. Tonguing
3. Tonguing
3. Tonguing
4. Changing notes
4. Changing notes
4. Changing notes
Brecknock & Torriano
Primary Federation
Camden Youth
Recorder Group
Coleridge Primary
Orchestra
Fleet Primary
Brass
Year 3
Autumn 2021
Here's the Chrome Music Lab 'Melody' app we've been using in the lessons:
Click to open
Can you use it to compose an ostinato ?
Please keep singing the songs!
More songs here, when you know these.
How are you getting on with the names of the white notes?
Click here if you're not quite sure.
We've been talking about piano keyboards a lot.
Here are two other keyboard instruments. Watch the videos:
Harpsichord
They come in different sizes . Some of the big ones have two
keyboards or 'manuals'. The white and black keys are often the other way round - the white keys are the sharps and flats. The pattern and the note names are just the same as the piano though.
Watch the video!

Harpsichords have strings like pianos, but instead of hitting them with hammers they pluck them with 'plectrums' - a bit like a mechanical guitar!
The plectrums used to be made from the stiff middle bits of birds' feathers (quills), but now-a-days are normally made of plastic.
Pipe Organ
Pipe organs are often enormous and much too big to fit into a house or school.
You mostly find them in concert halls and churches.
They work by blowing air through pipes (a bit like lots of different sized recorders).
The pipes can be as tall as 19 metres, for really low notes,
or as short as just a few centimetres for really high ones.
Watch the video!
Did you notice how the black and white keys are the other way round?
This is just how the organ was made - it doesn't change the names of the notes.
The Black Notes - 'sharps' and 'flats'
Sharp Names


Flat
1 step lower
(to the left)

Sharp
1 step higher
(to the right)
The Black Notes - 'sharps' and 'flats'
Each black key also has a 'flat' name.
Confusing? Yes, a little, but bear with me...
Flat Names


Flat
1 step lower
(to the left)

Sharp
1 step higher
(to the right)
Music keyboards
Watch the video to remind yourself:
Last term we started talking about note names and how to find them on the music keyboard.
Can you explain it to a grown-up? Perhaps read through the next bit together:
Look at the pattern the black notes make:
2
3
2
3
2
3
2

There are 2 .....then.....3.....then.....2....then......3....then......2....then......3......then....2.....then...
Can you see how the pattern repeats? So do the names of the notes:

Remember the musical alphabet only goes up to G, then it starts again:
A B C D E F G A B C D E F G A B C D E F G... going from low to high.
Ds are the easiest notes to find, because they're always in between the two black notes:

D
1
2
It's really useful to be able to find the As, because then you can find all the other notes by counting up the alphabet.
The As are in between the 2nd and 3rd of the 3 black notes:

A
3
1
G
A
B
C
D
E
F
B
2
1
2
3
Remember to stop and start again when you get to G!
Here's a fun way to test yourself - watch the video, then have a go.
Click here to open the piano
Try finding all the Ds first.
Then all the As.
Then all the B C E F & Gs!
Now, after all that work, sit back and listen to some jazz piano!
The piano is the most well known 'keyboard instrument'.
Do you know any others?
1. Another Chrome Music app: 'Shared Piano' - watch the video first:
Go full screen!
Then have a go with it yourself (click here).
- Can you make it play, stop and go back to the start?
- Can you change the tempo (speed)?
- Can you transpose it higher and lower?
If you'd like to try playing and recording something yourself click here
(more help with this next week)
Playing 'Shared Piano' from your computer keyboard
Start by just using the letter keys: A S D F and G H J K.
(Remember these aren't the note names!).
See if you can use the correct finger for each note, keeping
your pointing fingers on F and G and your little fingers on A and K
A bit of adult help here please! It's not hard to do, but it's hard to explain when you're not in the room...



Watch the video:
Then try it yourself - click here
Saving your child's work
Here's one from Emilio (click here)
Gamelan from Bali

'black' notes
A
Glockenspiel
'white' notes
A
Find the As

Recording and saving your own tunes in 'Shared Piano' - watch the video:
Let's have a look at: Song Maker (click here to get in)
Here's a video explaining how it works:
I'd love to hear your pieces! I can put them up on this page, so everyone can listen to them. Please email me the links.
r.arran@brecknock.camden.sch.uk
You may need a grown-up to help you. Get them to watch this video!
Click here to
go full size!
Here are some more ideas (from Deirdre Box at St Mary & St Pancras) for using 'Song Maker' to compose a minimalist piece of music:
This is the app we used for making percussion rhythms at school.
Have a go with it at home.
Use the arrows on the right and left to switch between
6, 8, 10 and 12 beat rhythms.
Have a listen to some of the music you recorded last term:
These are the recordings of our compositions for keyboards and mallet instruments (xylophones, metallophones and glockenspiel):
I think they might be really good for dancing to. Have a go - no-one's looking!!
Or maybe paint a picture while you're listening...
More things from last term:
4 beat rhythms





6 beat rhythms







Keyboard

high pitch
Low pitch

'black' notes
'white' notes
Xylophone
Metallaphone

'black' notes
'white' notes
Flight of the Bumblebee

Solo


Duet



Trio




Quartet
Gamelan from Bali

'black' notes
A
Glockenspiel
'white' notes
A
Find the As
