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Lesson 4 of 6
  • Year 8

Developing a motif

I can develop a motif by using notes of the minor scale to change the feel of the music.

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Lesson 4 of 6
New
New
  • Year 8

Developing a motif

I can develop a motif by using notes of the minor scale to change the feel of the music.

Copyrighted materials: to view and download resources from this lesson, you’ll need to be in the UK and

Copyrights help

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

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Programme music is music that is written to depict a story through music.
  2. The elements of music can be used in a certain way to convey a specific correct mood.
  3. The minor scale usually creates a more sombre mood to the major scale.
  4. Developing a motif from major to minor to change the feel of the music to suggest a sense of unrest.

Keywords

  • Programme music - instrumental music that tells a story or describes a scene

  • Motif - a short melodic idea that recurs throughout a piece of music

  • Minor scale - a set of notes where the 3rd and 6th notes in the scale are flattened, and that sounds sad or more solemn than a major scale

Common misconception

You can only change the 3rd or the 6th of the scale to change the mood of the music.

In the lesson task any suitable chromatic movement can be used to change the feel of the motif, so pupils don't explicitly have to change the 3rd and the 6th. Play a range of motifs in the major key and change different notes so pupils can see this.


To help you plan your year 8 music lesson on: Developing a motif, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

Using the terms happy and sad for major and minor is slightly simplistic, so allow pupils to consider their own description when reflecting on pieces of music in either key. Encourage them to recognise the major and minor third at this early stage to start to recognise the difference.
Teacher tip

Equipment

Keyboard instrument or other suitable instrument/DAW that can be used as a composition tool

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).

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