The Owls - Mrs Lycett-Findlay
Channel: Snappy Music - TVMS
Date: 18/01/2024

The Owls (Grade 3 ABRSM)
Book: The Gruffalo

Written by Peter Jenkyns in 1961, The Owls features in the Grade 3 ABRSM
syllabus.
The Owls is set in a Minor key (F Minor) to help create a mysterious and nocturnal
feel for the piece.
The time signature of the song is 2/4, which means the beat is counted as 1, 2, 1,
2, 1, 2.
The opening accompaniment creates a stalking feel which progresses with short
(staccato) notes before sudden accents on the longer crotchet note to suggest the
Owls hunting movements.
The melody starts with an upbeat as it starts just after the 2nd beat. Clap a steady
beat and explain to the children that ‘the’ falls after the 2nd clap (beat). You could
also describe it as the start of the song is running late or a runner has started before
the starting pistol has gone off! Practice clapping the beat and saying the word ‘in
the’ until everyone is confident (1, 2 ‘in the’, 1, 2).
The melody for each verse largely consists of quavers (half-beat) and
semiquavers (quarter-beat) with a focus on the interval of a minor 3rd (‘moonlit
wood’, ‘old tree stood’, ‘trunk all hollow’). The dynamics (volume) at this stage are
piano (quiet) to suggest the creeping amongst the forest.
As the verse begins to conclude, the melody becomes smooth and stately through
the series of quavers for ‘on velvet wings I saw him glide’. To maintain the uneasy
feeling of the Owl’s movements, the melody features a contrasting series of
semiquavers. This creates a nervous feel for ‘and with a haunted voice he cried’.

The verse concludes with the Owl’s distant cries sung pianissimo (very quiet) of ‘to-
whoo, to-whoo, to-whoo’. This motif features the notes of a major triad (F – C – A),

before being repeated with a minor triad (F – C – Ab) and concluding with a simple
interval of a perfect 5th (F – C). Listen to this closing phrase to hear the difference
between the brighter, happier sounding major triad and sad, uneasy feeling of the
minor triad.
The remaining two verses are set in a similar way with slight accompaniment
changes in the final verse to show the hunting Owl. The Owl’s ‘to-whoo’ is slightly
different in the final verse with it once again opening with a major triad but then
descending across the first 5 notes of the minor scale to show the hunting success.

Snappy World Book Day 2024 – Music Help and Activity Pack

Model Music Curriculum
FS - When appropriate, try to move in time with music.
FS – Explore the different sounds of instruments.
Y1 – Sing songs, speak chants and rhymes, sing a wide range of call and response songs, develop
awareness of high/low.
Y1 – Explore how sounds can be made using instruments to create musical sound effects, explore
percussion sounds to enhance storytelling including high/low.
Y2 – Sing songs with a small pitch range, pitching accurately, know the meaning of dynamics and
tempo and respond to directions/symbols, respond to pitch changes with actions.
Y2 – Use vocabulary high/low, loud/quiet, fast/slow
Y3 – Perform actions confidently and in time
Y3 – Describe music as loud (forte) or quiet (piano), describe simple structure e.g. different sections
of music and repetition, describe music as high or low, rising or falling.
Y4 – Perform a range of songs in school assemblies.
Y4 - Listen for/describe examples of music getting faster (accelerando), getting slower (rallentando),
getting louder (crescendo) and getting softer (decrescendo), describe music as legato (smooth) or
staccato (detached)
Y5 – Sing a broad range of songs from an extended repertoire with a sense of ensemble and
performance
Y5 - Listen to diatonic scales in different keys.
Y6 - Sing a broad range of songs, including those that involve syncopated rhythms, with a sense of
ensemble and performance
Y6 – Perform a range of songs as a choir in school assemblies, school performance opportunities and
to a wider audience.
Y6 - Experience simple time, compound time and syncopation
Y1 – Y6 Develop pupils’ understanding of the stories, origins, traditions, history and social context of
the music they are listening to, singing and playing

Snappy World Book Day 2024 – Music Help and Activity Pack

Additional Activities:
Music / Expressive Arts and Design: Listen to Hedwig’s Theme by John Williams.
As you listen, draw a picture of what you think is happening or write a short story that
is inspired by what you hear.

- Discuss the pitch (high/low) of the music and what this could be
suggesting.
- How would you describe the tempo (speed) and why do you think
this?
- Can you name any instruments that feature in the music...the
opening theme is played on a Celesta which is like a miniature
piano. This theme then gets passed to other instruments in the
orchestra. Can you hear any other instruments that take this theme
on?