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Lesson 2 of 6
  • Year 3

Singing and identifying the major pentatonic scale

I can sing major pentatonic folk songs and know that the major pentatonic is a five note scale.

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View unit
Lesson 2 of 6
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  • Year 3

Singing and identifying the major pentatonic scale

I can sing major pentatonic folk songs and know that the major pentatonic is a five note scale.

Download all

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Pentatonic scales are found in many ancient civilisations.
  2. Many folk songs around the world use the notes of the major pentatonic scale.
  3. The major pentatonic scale uses five notes. We call these do, re, mi, so, la.
  4. The sound of the major pentatonic scale might be described as bright, happy, light or joyous.
  5. 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.


To help you plan your year 3 music lesson on: Singing and identifying the major pentatonic scale, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

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.
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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

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4 Questions

Q1.
Before we sing and make music, it is really important to .

Correct Answer: warm up, warm-up, Warm up, Warm-up

Q2.
Call and response is a __________ musical structure.

verse and chorus
Correct answer: question and answer
chanted

Q3.
Which statements do you think are true?

Correct answer: Folk songs come from all around the world.
Folk songs only come from England.
Folk songs are usually shared and remembered by notating them.
Correct answer: Folk songs are usually passed down by the oral tradition.

Q4.
How would we chant this rhythm?

An image in a quiz
Ta-di Ta-di Ta-di Ta
Ta Ta-di Ta Ta-di
Correct answer: Ta-di Ta Ta-di Ta
Ta Ta Ta Ta-di

Assessment exit quiz

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4 Questions

Q1.
Penta is from the Greek, meaning .

Correct Answer: five, 5

Q2.
When we play the notes of a scale going down, we are playing the scale.

ascending
Correct answer: descending

Q3.
Many folk songs from all around the world use scales.

Correct Answer: pentatonic, Pentatonic

Q4.
True or false? Pentatonic scales are a new type of scale to help children learn and understand notes.

True
Correct answer: False