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Lesson 4 of 4
  • Year 4

Inspired by Earth Choir

I can create and combine small vocal musical ideas (golden bricks) based around themes to structure a vocal piece.

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Lesson 4 of 4
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  • Year 4

Inspired by Earth Choir

I can create and combine small vocal musical ideas (golden bricks) based around themes to structure a vocal piece.

Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Programme music is music that has been inspired by something non-musical. For example, a story or a piece of artwork.
  2. Deep Field composed by Eric Whitacre is a symphonic work in four movements that is an example of programme music.
  3. A piece of music can be inspired and built from one small musical idea. Eric Whitacre calls this a ‘golden brick'.
  4. Music can be mapped as we listen to help us make sense of the musical journey and its structure.

Keywords

  • Programme music - instrumental music that aims to represent something non-musical, such as a story, picture, scene, idea or emotion

  • Musical map - lines, shapes, colours and symbols that represent the flow of the music

  • Golden brick - Eric Whitacre’s term to describe a small musical idea that is the core building block on which the whole piece is built

  • Structure - the way the music is organised

  • Choral - an adjective relating to music written for or performed by a choir

Common misconception

A symphonic work only uses instruments.

Whilst a symphony traditionally only used instruments of the orchestra, composers over time have diversified and introduced voices into symphonic works.


To help you plan your year 4 music lesson on: Inspired by Earth Choir, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

Task A - You may wish to delve deeper with your class and see if you can find any Fibonacci relationships in the vocal melody. They are not necessarily meant to be there, but they are fun to find. E.g. 21st beat / 35 mapped out is the loudest. This is the golden ratio of this melody.
Teacher tip

Equipment

Only required for extension activity - classroom percussion required to perform all four movements together.

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2026), 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.
When we create vocal music, we use our ...

trombone
Correct answer: voice
violin

Q2.
When a melody is ascending, it is ...

staying the same
going down
Correct answer: going up

Q3.
When a melody is descending, it is ...

staying the same
Correct answer: going down
going up

Q4.
A self-contained section of a large-scale musical composition, like a chapter in a book, is called a ...

Correct Answer: movement

Assessment exit quiz

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4 Questions

Q1.
Deep Field composed by Eric Whitacre is a symphonic work in four movements that is an example of __________ music.

folk
Correct answer: programme
absolute
pop

Q2.
Match the musical element to its definition.

Correct Answer:dynamics,how loud or quiet the music is

how loud or quiet the music is

Correct Answer:structure,the way the music is organised

the way the music is organised

Correct Answer:pitch,how high or low a note is

how high or low a note is

Correct Answer:duration,the length of a sound or silence

the length of a sound or silence

Q3.
Eric Whitacre finds a golden brick and uses this to create his music. What is a golden brick?

a mathematical sequence
the texture of the music
Correct answer: a small musical idea

Q4.
Why might we create a musical map?

to list the instruments in a piece
to compose new music
Correct answer: to make sense of the musical journey