Myths about teaching can hold you back
- Year 8
Playing a melody with sharps
I can play the opening of a piece using sharps on the keyboard and can recognise minor and major scales
Copyrighted materials: to view and download resources from this lesson, you’ll need to be in the UK and
- Year 8
Playing a melody with sharps
I can play the opening of a piece using sharps on the keyboard and can recognise minor and major scales
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
- Scales have their own distinctive sound and are defined by the order of the intervals from one note to the next.
- A minor scale pattern is tone, semitone, tone, tone, semitone, tone, tone.
- The minor scale sounds more solemn than the major scale.
- When major and minor scales use notes outside the scale, these are called chromatic.
- Playing the opening phrase of Fur Elise, which uses both D sharp and D natural.
Keywords
Minor scale - a set of notes where the 3rd and 6th notes in the scale are flattened, and that sound sad or more solemn than a major scale
Sharp - the sharp symbol (#) is used to show that a note has been raised by a semitone
Natural - the natural symbol is used to show a note in the bar has returned to the normal pitch
Chromatic - a note that is not part of the key or scale
Common misconception
Adjacent white notes on the keyboard are all a tone apart.
Most of the adjacent white notes are a tone apart but because of the pattern of the black notes on the keyboard some of the adjacent white notes are also semitones. It's important for pupils to count the notes to work out an interval.
To help you plan your year 8 music lesson on: Playing a melody with sharps, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your year 8 music lesson on: Playing a melody with sharps, 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 Minor, major and developing keyboard skills unit, dive into the full secondary music curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.
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