Myths about teaching can hold you back
- Year 9
Representing characters through music
I can explain how leitmotifs are used in film music and have created a simple leitmotif.
- Year 9
Representing characters through music
I can explain how leitmotifs are used in film music and have created a simple leitmotif.
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Lesson details
Key learning points
- Leitmotifs are musical ideas that represent ideas, characters or places.
- They were used in opera and became popular in films after the end of silent movies in the 1920s.
- Composers capture the important features of a character in a leitmotif to support the audience’s understanding of them.
- They do this by choosing suitable keys, pitch and rhythms, including the use of strong rhythms for powerful characters.
- By changing a leitmotif, a composer can reflect changes in that character or in the plot.
Keywords
Leitmotif - a musical idea that represents a specific character, place or idea
Opera - an important genre of theatre and music through the 17th-19th century
Strong rhythms - rhythms which accent the strong beat (beat 1 in the bar) or mainly land on the beat; they are predictable and repetitive
Common misconception
A leitmotif and a film theme are the same thing.
Not quite. Many films have themes that represent the overall mood, and can be heard throughout the film. The difference with a leitmotif is that it explicitly represents one thing - a character, place or an idea.
To help you plan your year 9 music lesson on: Representing characters through music, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your year 9 music lesson on: Representing characters through music, 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.
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The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
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Explore more key stage 3 music lessons from the Film Music unit, dive into the full secondary music curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.
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