Respond to symbols that represent different sounds and instruments
Explore a variety of symbols and images to represent the sounds that children create with voices, instruments and sound makers. For example, children may use their own drawings of instruments to be a simple ‘score’ or a record of an invented piece.
Use different symbols to represent different sounds and involve children in agreeing how to respond to each symbol – e.g. play the drum when you see the circle and play the maracas when you see the wiggly line.
Create a weather music calendar, where each day’s weather is associated with a child-composed sound (e.g. tapping drums quietly for rain). Revisit the calendar to compare patterns.
This can be with vocal sounds, body percussion, tuned or untuned percussion or other sound makers.
As well as using images/drawn symbols, toys/small objects can be used to represent a sequence of sound. For example, block – fir cone – block – fir cone might be clap – stamp – clap – stamp.
Explore ways to notate pitch when using tuned percussion. For example, children may be able to follow simple line scores for rising/falling pitch using glissandi, or they may be able to follow colours on rainbow coloured instruments such as xylophones, bells and Boomwhackers.
Explore the progression of this Learning Descriptor
