Folk songs from around the world
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Threads
Developing our singing voice
Practising and preparing for a performance
Creating, composing and improvising
Why this why now
Pupils learn about the folk song tradition, continuing to learn about the pentatonic scale and modes as a compositional starting point. They sing songs changing from unison to harmony passages and the impact this can have. They develop keyboard skills, learning to move out of position within a phrase, learning the notes outside C to C and reinforcing their understanding of crotchet, quavers and dotted rhythms. They learn about folk instruments outside of the orchestra and about alternative structures to ABA form. They also consider lyric writing and the relationship between lyrics and rhythm.
Prior knowledge requirements
- Pupils have been introduced to the notation C to C and crotchets, minims, semibreves and dotted rhythms
- Pupils understand of the concepts tempo, dynamics, pitch and rhythm
- Pupils can find the C position on the keyboard
- Pupils have experience of finding patterns in music to help them learn a piece
- Pupils may have experience of putting a melody and accompaniment together in pairs or with two hands
- Pupils have experience of singing in unison and in simple harmony
Threads
Developing our singing voice
Practising and preparing for a performance
Creating, composing and improvising
Why this why now
Pupils learn about the folk song tradition, continuing to learn about the pentatonic scale and modes as a compositional starting point. They sing songs changing from unison to harmony passages and the impact this can have. They develop keyboard skills, learning to move out of position within a phrase, learning the notes outside C to C and reinforcing their understanding of crotchet, quavers and dotted rhythms. They learn about folk instruments outside of the orchestra and about alternative structures to ABA form. They also consider lyric writing and the relationship between lyrics and rhythm.
Prior knowledge requirements
- Pupils have been introduced to the notation C to C and crotchets, minims, semibreves and dotted rhythms
- Pupils understand of the concepts tempo, dynamics, pitch and rhythm
- Pupils can find the C position on the keyboard
- Pupils have experience of finding patterns in music to help them learn a piece
- Pupils may have experience of putting a melody and accompaniment together in pairs or with two hands
- Pupils have experience of singing in unison and in simple harmony
Folk songs from around the world
This unit explores folk music from around the world, with detailed looks at sea shanties and Russian folk dance. Pupils are exposed to a diverse array of folk music, exploring characteristics that are typical of folk traditions, composing simple melodies, singing and performing using keyboards.
6 lessons in unit
slide decks, worksheet PDFs, quizzes and lesson overviews. You can select individual lessons from the Folk songs from around the world unit and download the resources you need, or download the entire unit now. See every unit listed in our secondary music curriculum and discover more of our teaching resources for secondary music programmes.