Claremont Community Primary School

Here are some of the orchestra rehearsing. There are about 60 members of the orchestra altogether.

Most of the children attend Claremont School but some come from other schools. 

 When we perform in a concert we wear bright yellow t-shirts. Charlotte is trying her hand at conducting!

During this lesson, the pupils were asked to listen carefully, not only for instrument recognition, but also for dynamic changes. They agreed that dynamics are important in a piece and that it would be good to include them in their composition.

We listened to the end of ‘Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra’ where the contrasting sounds of helter skelter strings play against the bold brass melody. The children thought that this made the music exciting.

The pupils then researched orchestral instruments by finding pictures in old catalogues, looking at prices, cutting them out and sticking them in their music books. The wrote the name of the instrument and also the family to which it belonged.

Some of the children who finished this task then played a chromatic scale on the keyboard. They were good at this, and were keen to include a chromatic scale in the composition.

Finally, the title ‘Fantastic Classic’ was chosen for their composition.

This is James who is a percussionist. Here he is in action at Claremont School.

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Here are some of the best compositions. (Yes I know it back to front but I’m not that clever when it comes to IT)!

This music was then written on manuscript paper as you can see in the photo.

The pupils in year 6 have previously composed using percussion instruments and following prompt cards. They have even composed using tissue paper! This time children were asked to compose a ‘melody’ on the chime bars. They were asked to think about the Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra and about ‘theme’ and ‘arpeggios’, and to produce a short string of notes which sounded good to them. They wrote down their ideas and then performed them for the class.

We discussed the first three notes of ‘YPGO’. We decided they sound good together and the pupils learnt that when notes play together a ‘chord’ is made. The children split up into four groups and each sang one note D  F  A  D’. They held their note on and produced a chord. I explained that this was harmony rather than unison.

The children then played arpeggios on the xylophones and chime bars.

A’  DFAFD        CEGEC      ACECA

We then listened to the opening of ‘YPGO’ especially listening out for the arpeggios.

Year 6 have been listening to ‘The Young Persons Guide To The Orchestra’. We have discussed about the minor key and talked about how a minor scale sounds sad. I told the children that this piece is in D minor. We also discussed how the whole orchestra plays together at the beginning. The children were introduced to the word ‘unison’. The children have been playing the introductory theme on the xylophones and chime bars.   DFAD’  EFGFEDC(sharp)