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Lesson 4 of 6
  • Year 9

The percussion family and performing the full melody

I can identify the characteristics of the percussion family and can perform the full melody for Going Home.

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Lesson 4 of 6
New
New
  • Year 9

The percussion family and performing the full melody

I can identify the characteristics of the percussion family and can perform the full melody for Going Home.

Copyrighted materials: to view and download resources from this lesson, you’ll need to be in the UK and

Copyrights help

These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. The percussion family has the most varied instruments in the orchestra.
  2. The instruments are either tuned, which can play pitched sounds, or untuned, which play notes without clear pitch.
  3. To perform the melody of Going Home, you have to move hand positions from C to F on the keyboard with your right hand.
  4. The piece is in an ABA structure.
  5. It's important to play with a steady pulse.

Keywords

  • Percussion - a family of instruments in the orchestra which are hit or shaken to make the sound

  • Tuned - instruments that can play pitched sounds

  • Untuned - instruments that only play sounds without clear pitch

  • Pulse - the steady underlying beat

  • ABA structure - a structure with three sections where the first and last are the same and the middle section is different

Common misconception

Mistaking another note for F when changing position quickly. The timpani are untuned percussion because they are drums.

Reinforce that F is to the left of the three black keys. Highlight that the timpani are tuned to specific pitches.


To help you plan your year 9 music lesson on: The percussion family and performing the full melody, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

Encourage pupils to practise difficult bars in the piece, particularly the end of each section where the hand position changes.
Teacher tip

Equipment

Keyboard instruments

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

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