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Lesson 6 of 6
  • Year 3

Rehearsing songs with layers of instrumental accompaniments

I can rehearse, sing and play as part of an ensemble performance.

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View unit
Lesson 6 of 6
New
New
  • Year 3

Rehearsing songs with layers of instrumental accompaniments

I can rehearse, sing and play as part of an ensemble performance.

Download all

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. We can layer a drone, rhythmic ostinati, melodic ostinati, and vocal parts and work together as an ensemble.
  2. Following a conductor can help keep us in time.
  3. The more layers of sound we add, the thicker the texture becomes.
  4. Rehearsal helps us to improve by focusing on listening, pulse, following a conductor, and our playing technique.
  5. Accompaniments to songs support the main melody and therefore are played a bit quieter to allow the lyrics to be heard.

Keywords

  • Rehearse - to practise in order to improve and prepare for performance

  • Ensemble - a group of people who perform together

  • Texture - the combination of different layers of sounds

  • Conductor - a person who directs musicians or singers

  • Tempo - how fast or slow the music is played

Common misconception

We can play at our own tempo without listening to the other groups.

The songs we are layering are all played at different tempi. Feeling the steady pulse and following a conductor, as well as listening to the playing of all groups will help the class to play to the same steady pulse.


To help you plan your year 3 music lesson on: Rehearsing songs with layers of instrumental accompaniments, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

This lesson may suit a carousel style class set up. This would utilise stations for drone playing and singing, rhythmic ostinati and melodic ostinato. Pupils learning recorder, ocarina or other instruments could play the drone part on their instrument.
Teacher tip

Equipment

Classroom percussion such as shaker eggs and claves, pitched percussion such as glockenspiels or xylphones, lower pitched percussion where available for drone sounds.

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.
An instrumental part that supports the main melody or chant is called ...

a duet
a beat
an echo
Correct answer: an accompaniment

Q2.
Texture is ...

the speed of the music - how fast or slow the music is played
Correct answer: the combination of different layers of sounds
a repeating musical pattern which can be rhythmic or melodic
a combination of notes to make a memorable tune

Q3.
A group of people who perform together is called an .

Correct Answer: ensemble

Q4.
Dynamics is ...

a constant pitched sound that continues throughout a piece of music
Correct answer: how loud or quiet the music is
how high or low a notes is
the regular steady heartbeat of the music

Assessment exit quiz

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4 Questions

Q1.
Match the musical words to their definitions.

Correct Answer:tempo,the speed of the music - how fast or slow the music is played

the speed of the music - how fast or slow the music is played

Correct Answer:texture,the combination of different layers of sounds

the combination of different layers of sounds

Correct Answer:melody,a combination of notes to make a memorable tune

a combination of notes to make a memorable tune

Correct Answer:accompaniment,a musical part that supports the main melody or chant

a musical part that supports the main melody or chant

Q2.
The person who directs the performance of an ensemble is called a .

Correct Answer: conductor

Q3.
When we play together, we all need to play at the same .

Correct Answer: tempo, Tempo

Q4.
When we play together as an ensemble, we need to play in time together. What else do we need to do?

Play as loudly as possible so that we can hear our own part.
Avoid listening to the other parts, so it doesn't put us off our own.
Correct answer: Play our part at the right volume so we can hear all the different layers.
Ignore the conductor so we don't lose our place in the music.