- Year 9
The brass family and playing in the F position
I can identify the characteristics of the brass family and can play in the F position on the keyboard.
Copyrighted materials: to view and download resources from this lesson, you’ll need to be in the UK and
- Year 9
The brass family and playing in the F position
I can identify the characteristics of the brass family and can play in the F position on the keyboard.
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
- The brass family consist of four main instruments: the trumpet, French horn, trombone and tuba.
- As the instruments get bigger, the pitch gets lower. The range of an instrument is how high and low it can play.
- The brass family are often used to play fanfares, which are triumphant melodies.
- The middle section of Going Home is played in F position.
- F position uses the notes F, G, A, B and C and the thumb should rest on F.
Keywords
Brass - a family of instruments in the orchestra made of brass metal, that produce sound by buzzing air through the instrument
Fanfare - a short, triumphant-sounding musical idea often played by brass instruments
Range - how high and low an instrument can play
F position - a hand position on the keyboard where your thumb rests on F
Common misconception
Pupils may mistake another note for F when changing position. Brass instruments can only be identified by pitch.
Reinforce that F is to the left of the three black keys; this has to be correct for the finger prompts to work. The ranges of the brass instruments overlap, so it's important to emphasise that the timbre of each instrument is slightly different.
To help you plan your year 9 music lesson on: The brass family and playing in the F position, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your year 9 music lesson on: The brass family and playing in the F position, 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 Orchestral melodies unit, dive into the full secondary music curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.
Equipment
Keyboard instrument
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!
