Update from the Music Department

During the Summer Term, Year 7 students have been learning about music from various
different parts of the world. Music is an inherent part of the traditions and identities of
communities and cultures in every populated area of the planet.
In lessons, students have played keyboards, pitched and unpitched percussion instruments to capture something of musical styles originating in West Africa, India and Indonesia. As a homework assignment, students researched further into the music from these regions of the world, plus an additional region of their own choosing to produce a presentation which summarised their findings.
In Activities Week 1, Year 7 students had an afternoon exploring samba batucada, a style of percussion music from Brazil. Each class formed its own bateria to perform these energetic South American rhythms as an ensemble. They also had the chance to create their own samba rhythms while learning to use music notation software.
We hope, through exploring these different styles, that students have gained some insight into the rich diversity of music out in the wider world.