iJam - A summary of each level

iJam is our most popular activity when it comes to holiday clubs and PPA cover. iJam covers all things music, from producing your own song, creating your own Hip-Hop rap, or remixing two songs together. We even include a PPA cover for foundation and early years and key-stage 1. In this blog I will detail every level of iJam starting with rJam.

rJam covers the foundation and early years classes and involves musical games and singing that the children can do as a group; this method allows them to build confidence in performing. They then later move onto interacting with musical games on the iPads to learn how to identify instruments and the sounds that they make.

Apart from rJam we then split our courses into Lite levels for Key-Stage 1 and normal levels for Key-Stage 2. iJam Lite level one consists of the basics of producing a song in a basic form, it goes through putting different sounds together like drums and bass, then add a guitar to see how it sounds together. By the end of this course they will have put together a song that consists of an introduction, a verse, a chorus, a bridge and another chorus and therefore they also learn song structure.

In iJam Lite Level 2 the children will learn about different genres of music and will get an understanding of what genres use what instruments, each session includes a recap of the last sessions genre and then learning about the new genre, they can then back this up by putting together a section using the instruments needed for that genre. Each genre introduces a new element to the music creating, for example in the electronic/dance genre, the students will use a synthesiser to create arpeggios over the music. In the Hip-Hop genre they must create a rap or do a nursery rhyme over a beat.

iJam Level 1 includes creating a full song complete with a pop-structure from start to finish. Although it’s similar to iJam Lite Level 1, the differences are that the song structure is longer and the children can develop each part as they go through the song. Another main difference is that we introduce smart instruments to the students which allows them to make their compositions sound more original. They can choose which chords they use in each song and therefore learn the timbre of Major or Minor chords.

Dance music has become very prominent in the music charts and is therefore one of the most popular types of pop music, iJam Level 2 covers drum sampling and beat creation which is essential for creating dance music. The drums are the most important instrument in dance and so the students learn how drum beats are put together and how to make them sound regarding which type of dance music that are creating.

In iJam Level 3 the students create a Hip-Hop song using beats that that they create like they did in level 2. They then have a lesson on lyrics and write their own raps. If they are comfortable by the end of the half-term they will come up to the front of the class and perform their raps to the class.

iJam Level 4 has a focus on remixing. The students will learn about the role of a modern pop DJ and learn about using samples to create new music using old songs or parts of songs. They start off by playing a pop song and adding extra sample sounds to it to see if they can make it better, We then give them parts of songs like the vocal part from an oasis song, keyboards from a SIA song and a drum beat to put it all together.

Ultimately the students will gain a vast knowledge of music production and an understanding of different sounds and how they work together. They should be able to judge their own music to hear if it sounds good or bad. Visit our website for more information on booking our PPA Cover. -Luke