The children have considered the work of pop art artists, such as Andy Warhol, to learn about themes and variations in music. 

The children listened carefully to the theme  from 'The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra' by Britten, based on music by Purcell, and then added a melody variation and a body percussion variation to layer over a section of Britten's composition. 

Year Six managed the complex timing brilliantly, although as you can see from their faces, it required a great deal of serious concentration from each group member.

In discussion groups, the children listened carefully to a variation within Britten's piece. Since this was very fast-paced, Year Six needed to check their choices a number of times before they decided on their final rhythm notation for the variation. It was wonderful to view the teamwork, with groups supporting each other and helping class mates to check their notation was accurate.

In keeping with the Pop Art theme, the children applied their increasing knowledge of rhythm notation and variations within compositions, to create their own theme and variation Pop Artwork. Listening to their justification of colours and alterations in their theme was exciting: this reflected their increasing musical vocabulary and experiences. Please enjoy some of their visual pieces below...