Myths about teaching can hold you back
- Year 9
Understanding ground bass
I can identify, understand and compose a ground bass, using bass clef.
Copyrighted materials: to view and download resources from this lesson, you’ll need to be in the UK and
- Year 9
Understanding ground bass
I can identify, understand and compose a ground bass, using bass clef.
Copyrighted materials: to view and download resources from this lesson, you’ll need to be in the UK and
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Lesson details
Key learning points
- A ground bass is a short, repeated bass line that repeats throughout a piece, forming the structure of the music.
- Ground bass was popular in baroque music but repeated chord sequences are still common in today's pop music.
- A ground bass tends to start on the tonic note to reinforce the key.
- A ground bass finishes on the dominant or leading note which naturally wants to return to the tonic note to start again.
- Composing a ground bass
Keywords
Ground bass - a short, repeated bass line that repeats throughout a piece, forming the structure of the music
Baroque - a period in Western music between 1600 and 1750
Tonic - the first and most important note in a scale (often referred to as the home note)
Dominant - the fifth note in the scale, which often feels like it needs to resolve to tonic
Leading note - the seventh note in the scale, which often feels like it needs to resolve up to tonic
Common misconception
A ground bass pattern should finish on the tonic as it 'sounds' finished.
The final bar of the piece should finish on the tonic note, but until that bar, the pattern wants to repeat. Finishing on the dominant or the leading note naturally helps the music return to the first note of the pattern, which should be the tonic.
To help you plan your year 9 music lesson on: Understanding ground bass, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your year 9 music lesson on: Understanding ground bass, 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.
Explore more key stage 3 music lessons from the Harmonic progressions and bass lines unit, dive into the full secondary music curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.
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