Primary Music Magazine
Issue 3.1 Spring 2019
Introducing Music Technology in KS2
Rachel Shapey explores ideas for using Groove Pizza and Soundtrap for composing activities with Year 5 & 6 pupils
Chrome books were a fairly new feature of our school when I was asked to run a music workshop for Year 5 and 6 pupils. So I thought that this would be a great opportunity to introduce some music technology and composition. However with just an hour to spend with each group, I needed something engaging and easy to learn for maximum impact. Enter Groove Pizza! If you havenât come across Groove Pizza before, itâs a fun circular rhythm app, which allows pupils to create their own beats and experiment with different styles. It also has links to numeracy with concepts like shape, angles and patterns being part of the beatmaking process. How does it work? Firstly, by clicking on âSpecialsâ, pupils can choose a ready-made topping and then add to it themselves simply by clicking the dots on the pizza. Alternatively, they can start with a blank canvas and choose âplainâ and add their own beats from scratch. Shapes can be dragged and dropped onto the topping, and the tempo, volume and level of swing can all be changed very simply. The best thing is that everything is on one screen making it really user-friendly and a whole class can all create a beat in 5 minutes. Children love exploring the different options and will take up as much time as you allow! Itâs a good idea to demonstrate Groove Pizza briefly before starting the task, but donât show too much as a big part of the fun is the exploration!
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