Identifying major and minor tonalities
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Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can sing and identify songs in the major or minor key.
Key learning points
- It is essential to warm up the voice before singing to keep it strong and healthy and to prevent injury.
- Many songs have a tonal centre, or tonality. Often, this can be described as major or minor.
- Minor tonalities are organised around the note 'la' and are often dark sounding.
Keywords
Warm up - a sequence of exercises used to prepare the mind, body and voice for singing / playing instruments
Tonality - the organisation of notes around a central note, the tonic, which helps to shape the music’s sound and character
Major - the major scale is organised around the note do and can feel bright
Minor - the minor scale is organised around the note la and can feel dark
Common misconception
Songs with a minor tonality are always sad.
Tonality is one of the elements that gives a melody its character. While minor tonalites often feel dark, it is the combination of how all the elements of music are used that will make a song sound sad.
Teacher tip
Support pupils to understand that all aspects of the music determine its character by exploring with them how they can use their voices to reinforce the mood of the song. They can do this through dynamics, tone quality and facial expression.
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