Creating and improvising contrasting ostinati
I can create and develop contrasting ostinati, including through the use of retrograding.
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- Year 7
Creating and improvising contrasting ostinati
I can create and develop contrasting ostinati, including through the use of retrograding.
Copyrighted materials: to view and download resources from this lesson, you’ll need to be in the UK and
Lesson details
Key learning points
- When creating melodic ideas, improvising using a scale is a useful technique to try out different ideas.
- We can create variety by changing the pitch of our ostinati, though still using the notes of the Dm pentatonic scale.
- Retrograding is reversing the order of notes. This is another technique that we can use to develop our melodic ideas.
Keywords
Improvise - If you improvise you make something up on the spot.
Pitch - Pitch is how high or low the sound is.
Retrograde - If you retrograde a melody it reverses the order of the notes.
Common misconception
Using the same rhythm in different ostinati creates effective contrast.
Using different rhythms in your ostinati is important for creating contrast. If they use the same rhythm, they will inevitably sound very similar. Try coming up with some interesting rhythm by clapping, then play them using notes on the keyboard.
Equipment
A DAW or other suitable compositional tool or instrument
Licence
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