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Lesson 3 of 6
  • Year 2

Call and response singing in songs of the sea

I can sing my part in a call and response song and know that this structure is used in sea shanties and other songs of the sea.

Lesson 3 of 6
New
New
  • Year 2

Call and response singing in songs of the sea

I can sing my part in a call and response song and know that this structure is used in sea shanties and other songs of the sea.

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. It is important to warm up before every music lesson to make sure that our minds, bodies and voices are ready.
  2. Many sea shanties have a call and response structure that features a call and then a response sung in unison.
  3. Working songs of the sea are sung on different types of boats.
  4. An echo song is a special type of call and response song where the call and the response are exactly the same.

Keywords

  • Sea shanty - a traditional folk song sung by sailors to help them work together in time

  • Call and response - a question and answer musical structure

  • Structure - the way music is organised

  • Echo - an exact copy of a musical phrase

Common misconception

Sea shanties were only sung on-board ships.

This unit features working songs of the sea that were sung on different types of boats, not just ships. For example, Tongo is a canoe song. It was sung to keep fisherfolk in time as they rowed in their canoes along rivers.


To help you plan your year 2 music lesson on: Call and response singing in songs of the sea, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

The partner challenge for Tongo canoe pairs may take lots of practice. You may wish to select a confident pupil to lead each canoe first so that the call can be modelled as accurately as possible for the back of the canoe to echo.
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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

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Prior knowledge starter quiz

Download quiz pdf

4 Questions

Q1.
Why do we warm up our voice before singing?

to know which notes to sing
Correct answer: to help protect our voice
to know the rhythms used
Correct answer: to develop our singing skills

Q2.
The is the playing or showing of the steady pulse, like the ticking of a clock.

An image in a quiz
Correct Answer: beat

Q3.
__________ is the way the music organised.

An image in a quiz
tempo
Correct answer: structure
pulse

Q4.
Match the singing structures.

Correct Answer:call,question

question

Correct Answer:response,answer

answer

Assessment exit quiz

Download quiz pdf

4 Questions

Q1.
Sea shanties often have a call and response .

Correct Answer: structure

Q2.
True or false? Sea shanties were only sung on ships.

Correct Answer: False, false

Q3.
An echo song is a special type of call and response song where ...

the call and response are different
Correct answer: the call and response are the same

Q4.
Match the musical elements to their definition.

Correct Answer:beat,playing or showing the steady pulse, like the ticking of a clock

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

Correct Answer:pulse,the regular, steady heartbeat of the music

the regular, steady heartbeat of the music

Correct Answer:rhythm,the pattern of sounds that we play and sing

the pattern of sounds that we play and sing

Correct Answer:structure,the way the music is organised

the way the music is organised