New
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Lesson 4 of 6
  • Year 6

The importance and power of songs from the past

I can understand how music can connect us emotionally to others and to the past.

Lesson 4 of 6
New
New
  • Year 6

The importance and power of songs from the past

I can understand how music can connect us emotionally to others and to the past.

These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.

Switch to our new teaching resources now - designed by teachers and leading subject experts, and tested in classrooms.

These resources were created for remote use during the pandemic and are not designed for classroom teaching.

Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Singing songs about the past can help us connect emotionally with others and keep cultural traditions alive.
  2. Composers manipulate the elements of music such as timbre and texture, to achieve particular effects.
  3. We can add different layers of music to our piece to create different textures.

Keywords

  • Partition - to divide into parts

  • Score - original music composed specifically to accompany a film

  • Indigenous - the original inhabitants of a place

  • Timbre - the description of the sound or tone of an instrument

  • Texture - the combination of different layers of sounds

Common misconception

Music and songs written a long time ago aren’t relevant to us now.

Music and songs from the past can help us to connect with, and better understand many people, both at home and abroad.


To help you plan your year 6 music lesson on: The importance and power of songs from the past, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

Encourage the pupils to improvise different notes over the backing track to create their texture. They could do this in different group sizes or on their own. Encourage them to experiment with dissonant as well as consonant harmonies.
Teacher tip

Equipment

Tuned instruments with the notes DEFGA.

Content guidance

  • Depiction or discussion of discriminatory behaviour
  • Depiction or discussion of sensitive content

Supervision

Adult supervision recommended

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.
Which musical element describes the sound or tone of an instrument?

rhythm
texture
Correct answer: timbre
melody

Q2.
What does texture in music mean?

the speed of the music
the volume of the music
Correct answer: the combination of different layers of sounds
the length of a piece

Q3.
Which musical element describes the volume of the music?

timbre
pitch
structure
Correct answer: dynamics

Q4.
A long held note throughout a piece of music is called a

Correct answer: drone
ostinato
riff
scale

Assessment exit quiz

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4 Questions

Q1.
Why doesn’t music always have to sound “nice”?

because musicians don’t practise
because mistakes make it better
Correct answer: because dissonance can create tension to help tell a story
because silence is always preferred

Q2.
Why might group singing be more powerful than singing alone?

it saves time
Correct answer: it builds a sense of unity and connection
it makes the music louder
it makes it easier to sing the same part

Q3.
What is a film score?

the total number of films made
Correct answer: original music composed to accompany a film
background sound effects only
the written script of a film

Q4.
When music gradually gets louder, we call it a ...

forte
Correct answer: crescendo
piano
dynamics