Myths about teaching can hold you back
- Year 5
How singing affects our mood
I can understand how singing has a positive effect on the singers and the listener.
- 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
- Choirs can build a community and unite people with common experiences or musical tastes.
- Singing is good for our lung function, our brain function, our posture and our wellbeing.
- We can alter our dynamics and vocal timbre to convey an emotion when we sing.
- 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...
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.
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 Singing together: how songs unite us unit, dive into the full primary music curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.
Equipment
Licence
Prior knowledge starter quiz
4 Questions
Q1.Which of the following explains what timbre means?
Q2.Match the dynamic directions to their meaning.
a gradual increase in loudness or intensity
a gradual decrease in loudness or intensity
perform strongly at a louder volume
perform softly at a quieter volume
Q3.Sing the first three words of Three Blind Mice. How many different notes do you sing?
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?
Assessment exit quiz
4 Questions
Q1.The Post Office Choir, the Dementia Choir, and military choirs are known as what type of choir?
Q2.Match what happens in our bodies when we sing to the benefits they have.
improved posture
improved lung capacity
supports our mood and well-being
improves our memory