This week in Year 4, the children continued their musical journey with the lively folk tune Old Joe Clark. After revisiting key musical vocabulary and warming up their voices, pupils enjoyed listening to — and singing along with the song once again. The focus of today’s lesson was developing confidence in improvising and composing using the glockenspiels.

Using simple call‑and‑response activities, the children experimented with musical questions and answers, building their understanding of how short melodic ideas can fit together. They then explored a selection of notes (D, E, F♯, A and B) to create their own short patterns to accompany the song.

We discussed important musical features such as the stave, treble clef, line and space notes, and the time signature. Pupils were encouraged to think creatively: Which notes sound good together? How do you want your melody to move? What tempo will work best?

The class showed fantastic creativity and enthusiasm, and it was wonderful to see them composing confidently and proudly performing their new ideas.