New
New
Lesson 2 of 6
  • Year 2

Adding body percussion to a song

I can use body percussion to keep a steady beat whilst singing.

Lesson 2 of 6
New
New
  • Year 2

Adding body percussion to a song

I can use body percussion to keep a steady beat whilst singing.

These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.

Switch to our new teaching resources now - designed by teachers and leading subject experts, and tested in classrooms.

These resources were created for remote use during the pandemic and are not designed for classroom teaching.

Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. When we sing the same melody together, we are singing in unison.
  2. We can use body percussion to accompany a song.
  3. Music in 4-time has a beat pattern of strong-weak-medium-weak.
  4. Body percussion can be played on the beat to help us hear the pattern of beats in 4-time.

Keywords

  • Unison - playing or singing the same thing at the same time

  • Beat - the playing or showing of the steady pulse, like the ticking of a clock

  • Body percussion - to make a percussive musical sound with the body

  • Accompaniment - a musical part that supports the main melody or chant

  • 4-time - the organisation and feel of the beats as: strong-weak-medium-weak

Common misconception

One instrument can only make one type of sound.

Our body is an instrument and we can create many different sounds, all with different timbre.


To help you plan your year 2 music lesson on: Adding body percussion to a song, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

If you can find video footage of the listening example, this will help to bring the body percussion accompaniment to life.
Teacher tip

Equipment

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

Loading...

Prior knowledge starter quiz

Download quiz pdf

4 Questions

Q1.
True or false? The beat is the music’s heartbeat - the pulse is how we show it!

Correct Answer: False, Untrue, no

Q2.
What is tempo?

Correct answer: how fast or slow the music is played
how loudly or quietly the music is played
how high or low the music sounds

Q3.
What does the pulse help us do in music?

sing the highest note
Correct answer: stay in time with others
make the music louder

Q4.
What is an instrument?

a combination of notes to make a memorable tune
Correct answer: a device used to make a musical sound
a repeating musical pattern

Assessment exit quiz

Download quiz pdf

4 Questions

Q1.
Why do we use body percussion in music?

to show off our dance moves
to make noise when we’re bored
Correct answer: to play an accompaniment with our bodies

Q2.
Order the beats in 4-time.

1 - strong
2 - weak
3 - medium
4 - weak

Q3.
When we sing the same melody together, we are singing in ...

Correct Answer: unison

Q4.
We can our singing with a layer of body percussion sounds.

compose
notate
Correct answer: accompany