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Lesson 4 of 6
  • Year 4

Building texture with a melodic ostinato

I can accompany a major tonality song with a melodic ostinato.

Lesson 4 of 6
New
New
  • Year 4

Building texture with a melodic ostinato

I can accompany a major tonality song with a melodic ostinato.

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Folk songs can be accompanied or unaccompanied.
  2. An ostinato can be rhythmic or melodic.
  3. Adding an ostinato underneath a song adds another layer of sound to the texture of the piece.
  4. We need to consider the dynamic balance when adding accompaniments to songs.

Keywords

  • Beat - the playing or showing of the steady pulse, like the ticking of a clock

  • Texture - the combination of different layers of sounds

  • Melodic ostinato - a repeating musical pattern that uses notes of differing pitch

  • Accompaniment - a musical part that supports the main melody or chant

  • Major pentachord - the first five notes of the major scale: do, re, mi, fa, so

Common misconception

Playing loudly shows we are playing confidently.

We want to encourage pupils to understand the importance of balancing their sound and that playing or singing loudly does not mean it is more confident or more correct.


To help you plan your year 4 music lesson on: Building texture with a melodic ostinato, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

The more time spent exploring the pitch of the ostinato with pitch actions, followed by hand signs, followed by singing and signing, the more successful pupils will be when given an instrument to play it on.
Teacher tip

Equipment

Pitched percussion, notes F, A, C', e.g. percussion tubes, chime bars, glockenspiels, hand bells or xylophones.

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.
Match the musical element to its definition.

Correct Answer:pulse,the regular, steady heartbeat of the music

the regular, steady heartbeat of the music

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

how loud or quiet the music is

Correct Answer:beat,the playing or showing of the steady pulse like the ticking of a clock

the playing or showing of the steady pulse like the ticking of a clock

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

the combination of different layers of sounds

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

how high or low a note is

Q2.
Partner songs are ...

songs where the same tune is sung at the same time
songs where multiple groups sing the same melody but start at different times
Correct answer: two or more songs that fit together sung at the same time

Q3.
The major pentachord has __________ notes.

3
4
Correct answer: 5
6

Q4.
Songs with a major tonality organise their notes around the central note, or tonic, ...

la
Correct answer: do
so
mi

Assessment exit quiz

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4 Questions

Q1.
When we add many layers of sounds underneath a melody, we create a texture.

Correct Answer: thick, Thick, dense, Dense, thicker

Q2.
A melodic ostinato can be played as __________ to a folk song.

Correct answer: an accompaniment
a partner song
a chorus

Q3.
True or false? Folk songs are never accompanied.

Correct Answer: false, False, untrue, Untrue

Q4.
What is an ostinato?

when you play two or more notes at the same time
the way the music is organised
Correct answer: a repeating musical pattern