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This is the week when the whole school focuses on being creative, with music and art across all the subjects.  The lower school focus on the Caribbean and the upper school focus on Africa. 

The week before children who have music instrumental lessons did a concert in conjunction with the school choir and the cheerleaders to show off their learning over the last year.  It was a fantastic evening organised by Mrs Barbar who not only played piano accompaniment but also introduced all the musical acts with an explanation as to nuances that were to be demonstration as well as great passion.   

All pupils who performed, did so very well; from their composure shown mounting the stage, announcing their music and handling their instrument with care and precision, including blu-tac to stabilize the cello!   

We were able to witness and listen with pleasure to year 3 and year 4 children who are starting their musical journeys to accomplished year 5 and 6 who demonstrate what happens if you practise, practise and practise. 

The musicians showed the wide range of instruments being taught at Frogmore Junior School.  Violins, cellos, guitars and keyboards represented the strings.  Percussion was a set of drummers.  Brass included a French horn finishing with the woodwind of flute and clarinet. 

The choir performed 6 songs from the Noah musical, which gave them an opportunity to show off their control of pitch, round singing, part singing, incorporation of humour and actions. 

Lower School 

In music, the lower school listened to Caribbean steel band music and Caribbean folk songs.  They identified the timbre or sounds of instruments that they could hear – tinny, glass like, drums, and whistles.   

We then used our hands to practise rhythms to make 4/4 to 8/8.  Next we practised putting the emphasis of the beat on the 1st, 4th, 7th beats in the bar to create the Calypso rhythm.  We did this as groups and individually.   

Later we experimented with tin cans, knives and forks to make different sounds – by scrapping, tapping, different parts of the tins.  Some of the children also used thick glass bottles to create a complimentary timbre.  Lastly we put them everything together – improvised instruments, beat and Calypso rhythm.   

With more time we would have added our Caribbean folk songs!

Upper School 

The upper school listened to African drumming and native songs.  They identified the instruments as hand drums, cow bells, sticks, tins and glass, as well as, finger clicks and clapping.  We discussed the use of music for communication, for community celebrations and how African culture often embraces improvised rhythms by people meeting to make music ad hoc, similar to the Gaelic Céilidh. 

We then explored sounds from our own collection of rubbish – empty water drums, tin cans, thick glass bottles, knives and forks.  Using the water drums year 5 discovered that they could make a variety of resonating sounds.  This was achieved by gently bouncing the water drum on its base, on its nose, on its side, and by hitting it with hands on the bottom or sides of the drum.  The tin cans and glass bottles were scrapped, tapped, rattled inside.  Once we had explored sounds, we copied one person’s sound and rhythm.  Using a basic crib sheet, everyone experimented with different African beats.   

In groups, children had to assign a rhythm to an instrument, looking for a low bass beat, higher pitch ostinatoes, and a suitable accent.  This brought together a lot of the skills learnt this term, such as, composing, structure, layering of music, and use of accent. Please have a listen to Year 5 composition work.

Boil Up Tropical 

On the Wednesday, we had a special treat because “Boil-up Tropical” from Birmingham came to visit us.  First they played melodies we might recognise like the Match of the Day and Cricket Themes from the BBC, followed by Jamaican Reggae, including past hits by UB40 and Stevie Wonder followed by Caribbean Calypso folk tunes like Coconut Woman, Yellow Bird, There’s a brown girl in the ring. They played with a single tenor pan for the melody and two tenor pans for accompaniment and extra beat. A third member of the group played the keyboard to add a drum kit and carnival sounds, such as the whistle.

The band members were great because they explained how the steel pans work and asked pupils to have a go.  They all found it was harder than you thought, as the notes are not sequential and not always labelled.  Most steel pan players learn to play by ear, by careful watching of others, and don’t necessarily learn to read music.   

We were really pleased that the Frogmore Infant School, year 2s were able to join us for the concert too.

You can email the group at:-

Boiluptropical@hotmail.co.uk