Improvising around a melody
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can improvise around a simple melody.
Key learning points
- Our melody is an unusual length (14 bars), and has an anacrusis. The song is in the key of G major, which includes F#.
- When improvising, we should use notes from the key of the music. In this song, we use the G major scale.
- One strategy for improvisation is to use target notes.
- When we are improvising more freely, we can use other strategies to help us to structure our improvisation.
Keywords
Anacrusis - an anacrusis is when a melody starts before beat 1
Scale - a scale is a set of notes
G major scale - the G major scale is a scale in the key of G major, including F#
Common misconception
There are 'rights' or 'wrongs' in improvisation.
While there are rules that help us improvise effectively, a big part of learning to improvise is experimenting and seeing what works and what doesn't. Be willing to make 'mistakes' and don't fixate on doing it perfectly first time.
Teacher tip
Some students will naturally start improvising more freely during the target notes task - encourage this, as this task is scaffolding for improvisation. Learning cycle 3 could be used as an extended task.
Equipment
A DAW or other suitable compositional tool or instrument.
Licence
Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.What is improvisation?
Q2.What can we use alongside the root note to make a bass line more interesting?
Q3.What is a scale?
Q4.What is a major chord?
Q5.How many notes does an extended chord have?
Q6.Samba and batucada include many different rhythms playing at the same time. This is called a .
Assessment exit quiz
6 Questions
Q1.Which note has a # in the G major scale?
Q2.What is an anacrusis?
Q3.Which statements are true?
Q4.Why do we improvise in our Brazilian song using only the notes of the G major scale?
Q5.When improvising, what is a target note?
Q6.Which of these could be a helpful improvisation strategy?
To help you plan your 9 music lesson on: Improvising around a melody, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 9 music lesson on: Improvising around a melody, 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. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 3 music lessons from the Understanding samba unit, dive into the full secondary music curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.