Singing and identifying the major pentatonic scale
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
Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
4 Questions
Q1.Before we sing and make music, it is really important to .
Q2.Call and response is a __________ musical structure.
Q3.Which statements do you think are true?
Q4.How would we chant this rhythm?
Assessment exit quiz
4 Questions
Q1.Penta is from the Greek, meaning .
Q2.When we play the notes of a scale going down, we are playing the scale.
Q3.Many folk songs from all around the world use scales.
Q4.True or false? Pentatonic scales are a new type of scale to help children learn and understand notes.
To help you plan your 3 music lesson on: Singing and identifying the major pentatonic scale, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 3 music lesson on: Singing and identifying the major pentatonic scale, 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.