Myths about teaching can hold you back
- Year 7
How music can paint pictures
I can compose a piece of music with appropriate use of the elements of music to represent a chosen stimulus.
Copyrighted materials: to view and download resources from this lesson, you’ll need to be in the UK and
- Year 7
How music can paint pictures
I can compose a piece of music with appropriate use of the elements of music to represent a chosen stimulus.
Copyrighted materials: to view and download resources from this lesson, you’ll need to be in the UK and
These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.
Switch to our new teaching resources now - designed by teachers and leading subject experts, and tested in classrooms.
These resources were created for remote use during the pandemic and are not designed for classroom teaching.
Lesson details
Key learning points
- Using the elements of music appropriately can help us depict an image or tell a story with music.
- Structure is an important element of music that refers to how the sections within a piece of music are organised.
- Composing a musical idea as a starting point for a composition which depicts a scene.
- It is important that a musical idea recurs like a motif, or repeats like an ostinato, to ensure the piece is memorable.
Keywords
Elements of music - important aspects of music (such as pitch, tempo and dynamics) which can be used to help us understand music
Structure - the different sections of a piece of music and how it is organised
Motif - a short musical idea that recurs throughout a piece of music
Ostinato - a short repeated pattern
Common misconception
We can develop a composition around any element of music.
Using the elements of music, particularly individually, is not always helpful for pupils to make a start on a composition. Finding a musical starting point such as a set of notes or rhythm allows pupils to then explore the elements through that idea.
To help you plan your year 7 music lesson on: How music can paint pictures, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your year 7 music lesson on: How music can paint pictures, 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 Making music together unit, dive into the full secondary music curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.
Equipment
Keyboard, or other suitable instrument such as tuned classroom percussion
Licence
Sign in to continue
Our content remains 100% free, but to access certain copyrighted materials, you'll need to sign in. This ensures we’re both staying within the rules.
P.S. Signing in also gives you more ways to make the most of Oak like unit downloads!
