Today, I thought I’d have a look through the Model Music Curriculum to work out exactly what your Year 2’s should know by the end of the year. In the subject of music of course! If you would prefer to listen to this blog post, it is from an episode of The Primary Music Show, which you can listen to here!
Singing
The model music curriculum states that :
• Sing songs regularly with a pitch range of do-so with increasing vocal control.
• Sing songs with a small pitch range (e.g. Rain, Rain Go Away), pitching accurately.
• Know the meaning of dynamics (loud/quiet) and tempo (fast/slow) and be able to demonstrate these when singing by responding to (a) the leader’s directions and (b) visual symbols (e.g. crescendo, decrescendo, pause).
This list of repertoire is intended to give teachers a good start in terms of choosing music for Year 2 and to highlight music that is age-appropriate. It should not limit the imagination and creativity of the teacher in terms of seeking and using other musical examples.
This second paragraph is really important here. You do not need to use the repertoire that they give you. If there is a song that might actually interest or excite your children, why not use that? Just be careful to think about the pitch range of the song in question. One of the main things here is to keep the songs appropriate for the children. A do-so interval is a fifth interval in music. You could even use the Do Re Mi song from Sound Of Music that the do-so is taken from.
This is also when dynamics are introduced to our children. Loud & Quiet against Fast & Slow are the new things that are developed in year 2. It is not important to know the correct musical terminology (for example forte meaning loud), in this year group.
