Year 3 Music Creation Activity Pack (Teacher Notes)
Pupil Activity Code: MCQ4 – What is it?
Progression of skills in this pack
Create ascending and descending scales.
Add chords evenly across the scales.
Add arepeggios and melodies.
Add a steady and even rhythm.
Use sampled sounds to create an effective mix.
Build beats, melody (tones) and effects.
Collaborate online to create music (optional)
📝 National Curriculum Content
Create content that accomplish given goals.
⏱ 2-3 hours
🛠 What will teachers and pupils need?
You will need access to the following free websites.
Music Lab Song Maker
Incredibox Version 4 – works best in Google Chrome browser. There is also a paid iPad version of this website.
Isle of Tunes
Headphones are a good idea.
Introduction
In the Computing Curriculum these activities fall under use software (including internet services) to design and create content that accomplishes given goals. There are also clear links with the Music Curriculum to ‘understand and explore how music is created.’ Activity 1 can also be used to support the teaching of symmetry in numeracy.
👨🏫 Teacher Input/key questions
You may wish to watch videos together from the activities below before pupils try the activities and
Key question: What is the advantage of creating music on the computer?
(It easier to change sounds, use more instruments without owning them etc.)
Are there any disadvantages? (Do real instruments sound better?)
✅ Assessment
Each website has a different way to save the music pupils have created.
The Music Maker website creates a web-link when the pupils click Save, which could then be copied and pasted into another document to keep it.
The Incredibox website allows pupils to record their mix (minimum of 10 bars).
Pupil Activity Pack (teacher view)
Activity 1. Scales, chords, melodies, rhythm and tempo
Use the videos below to help create scales, pitch, chords, melody and rhythm using Music Lab Song Maker.
Scales, pitch and octaves
Watch the video to learn about scales and then try creating a scale that ascends (goes up the notes) and descends (goes down).
Chords
Watch the video to learn about chords and try adding them to your scale.
Melody
Watch the video to learn how to add a melody line
Rhythm and tempo
Watch the video to learn how to add a drum rhythm to your music and change the tempo (speed of the music).
Now you can try creating your own compositions using scales, chords, melody and rhythm/beats.
Experiment with the tempo (speed of the music) and then click the ⚙️ to change the key and number of bars (measure of music length)
Activity 2. Use sampled sounds to create an effective mix.
Mixing in music is when you take different sounds and put them all into one song. A sample is a recording of a sound such as voices/instruments/effects that can be used in a song in different ways, such a looping (repeating).
Use the Incredibox website to build up a mix using the beats, effects, melodies and voices. Each clothing accessory is a different sampled sound, which can beadded to the people. The whole piece is played in sequence on a loop. Drag the accessories back off the people to remove them or click and hold on the individual people to just hear their sound. Each sample can also be muted.
The aim is to get the right mix of samples so the circle at the top is filled, which unlocks the next stage. Once you have finished you can record 10 bars by clicking ‘Record’ in the menu in the top left corner.
Activity 3. Build a beat/rhythm, melody and sound effects.
Watch the video to learn how to use the Isle of Tunes to create beats, melodies and sound effects using roads, cars, houses and other objects.
Activity 4 (Optional) – Collaborate online to create music
This optional activity is not included in the pupil activity pack as it is something teachers will need to set up for small groups/pairs of pupils.
Shared Piano is part of the online Google Experiments website that some of the previous activities use. We have made an annotated guide but essentially each project is a room with its own link, which can be shared with small groups/pairs of children to make music together. Each pupil can have their own instrument (e.g piano, drums or marimba) and compose and perform a piece of music together. Settings allows the piano key labels to be turned on, which helps pupils create a pattern for the piano (e.g C,E,G,C,E,G etc). Save is used to make a unique link to each project to help keep/assess the music.