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Lesson 4 of 6
  • Year 5

How singing affects our mood

I can understand how singing has a positive effect on the singers and the listener.

Lesson 4 of 6
New
New
  • Year 5

How singing affects our mood

I can understand how singing has a positive effect on the singers and the listener.

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Choirs can build a community and unite people with common experiences or musical tastes.
  2. Singing is good for our lung function, our brain function, our posture and our wellbeing.
  3. We can alter our dynamics and vocal timbre to convey an emotion when we sing.
  4. Musicians and songwriters often compose by putting their own emotions or emotions they want us to feel into their music.

Keywords

  • Choir - a group of people who sing together

  • Community - a group of people connected by a common interest, shared experience, or location

  • Rasa - Sanskrit word meaning 'essence' (of a piece of music)

  • Vocal timbre - the quality of sound produced by our voice

Common misconception

Listening to a song or singing can affect our mood while we listen or sing but it doesn’t have a lasting effect.

Bonds created when singing in a group are strong, lasting and continue to strengthen over time. Upbeat, happy music causes our brains to release dopamine and serotonin which help evoke feelings of joy. Listening to calm music helps us feel relaxed.


To help you plan your year 5 music lesson on: How singing affects our mood, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

When singing two notes together (in the second learning cycle), encourage softer singing rather than too loud so that both parts can hear each other. You can then build the volume using crescendos. Also useful to have a piano/keyboard/glockenspiel to hand to play the notes for each group.
Teacher tip

Equipment

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

Download quiz pdf

4 Questions

Q1.
Which of the following explains what timbre means?

a description of how fast the music is playing
Correct answer: a description of the sound or tone of an instrument
a description of how different notes make harmony
a description of how many layers of sound there are in a piece of music

Q2.
Match the dynamic directions to their meaning.

Correct Answer:crescendo,a gradual increase in loudness or intensity

a gradual increase in loudness or intensity

Correct Answer:decrescendo,a gradual decrease in loudness or intensity

a gradual decrease in loudness or intensity

Correct Answer:forte,perform strongly at a louder volume

perform strongly at a louder volume

Correct Answer:piano,perform softly at a quieter volume

perform softly at a quieter volume

Q3.
Sing the first three words of Three Blind Mice. How many different notes do you sing?

2
Correct answer: 3
4
5

Q4.
Some choirs call might call the person standing at the front who is in charge of directing the choir a 'choirmaster', or an 'MD' (musical director). Which term do we use for this person?

Correct Answer: conductor, Conductor, the conductor, The conductor, The Conductor

Assessment exit quiz

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4 Questions

Q1.
The Post Office Choir, the Dementia Choir, and military choirs are known as what type of choir?

Rock choir
Classical choir
Private choir
Correct answer: Community choir

Q2.
Match what happens in our bodies when we sing to the benefits they have.

Correct Answer:the way we stand or hold ourselves,improved posture

improved posture

Correct Answer:deeper breathing,improved lung capacity

improved lung capacity

Correct Answer:our brains releasing endorphins,supports our mood and well-being

supports our mood and well-being

Correct Answer:recalling lyrics and tunes,improves our memory

improves our memory

Q3.
Rasa (or ras) is a concept more than 2,000 years old and is written about in the Indian Sanskrit text, the Natya Shastra. What does the concept talk about?

Correct answer: how the artist adds emotion to a piece of work that can be felt by the listener
how the artist plays with many instruments
how the artist sings more clearly
how the artist uses layers of sound to create a thicker texture

Q4.
Which two of the below help us to change the emotion of our singing?

texture
Correct answer: vocal timbre
Correct answer: dynamics
structure