Myths about teaching can hold you back
- Year 3
Improvising a major pentatonic melody
I can create stylistic improvisations using the major pentatonic scale and dotted rhythms (Ta-mi).
- Year 3
Improvising a major pentatonic melody
I can create stylistic improvisations using the major pentatonic scale and dotted rhythms (Ta-mi).
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Lesson details
Key learning points
- Improvising is creating music in the moment, alone or with others.
- We can improvise actions to songs, new lyrics and responses, rhythms and melodies.
- Improvising allows us to freely explore and try out musical ideas, and to respond to these in the moment.
- The notes of the major pentatonic scale are do, re, mi, so, la.
- Ta-mi is a one-beat dotted pattern that consisting of a longer duration note followed by a shorter duration note.
Keywords
Folk song - a song that originates from a particular country, culture or people that is usually passed down orally
Note - a single sound in music
Major pentatonic scale - the five tones, do, re, mi, so and la arranged in an ascending or descending order
Improvise - to create music in the moment, using the voice or instruments, alone or with others
Melody - a combination of notes to make a memorable tune
Common misconception
Improvising is music created solely on the spot.
Musicians might not know exactly what they are going to do, but they are building on and working from a bank of known ideas and motifs that they can draw upon, use and adapt.
To help you plan your year 3 music lesson on: Improvising a major pentatonic melody, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your year 3 music lesson on: Improvising a major pentatonic melody, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 2 music lessons from the Compose and Create: major pentatonic melodies unit, dive into the full primary music curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.
Equipment
Pitched percussion e.g. glockenspiel or xylophone. Ideally one each, but one-between-two is possible.
Licence
Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
4 Questions
Q1.The musical element 'dynamics' refers to:
Q2.Why is it important to practise playing a steady beat?
Q3.Call and response is a __________ musical structure.
Q4.True or false? Ta-di and Ta-mi are the same rhythm.
Assessment exit quiz
4 Questions
Q1.How do we chant this rhythm?
