Singing and identifying the major pentatonic scale
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Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can sing major pentatonic folk songs and know that the major pentatonic is a five note scale.
Key learning points
- Pentatonic scales are found in many ancient civilisations.
- Many folk songs around the world use the notes of the major pentatonic scale.
- The major pentatonic scale uses five notes. We call these do, re, mi, so, la.
- The sound of the major pentatonic scale might be described as bright, happy, light or joyous.
- Hand signs can be used to show different notes in a melody.
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
Scale - a series of notes arranged in an ascending or descending order
Pentatonic - a scale five notes
Major - a specific musical tonality that might be described as joyous, bright or cheerful
Common misconception
The major pentatonic scale comes from a simplified version of the major (heptatonic) scale.
The major pentatonic scale comes from ancient civilisations and is not a simplified form of the heptatonic scale. Pentatonic music, in its various forms, is found in folk music from all around the world.
Teacher tip
Help the pupils to realise that as the notes ascend, so the hand signs get higher up the body and visa versa. Take the time to explore how our pitch actions used in KS1 relate to our hand signs - the higher up the body, the higher the note.
Licence
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