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Working out pop hooks and riffs by ear

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Why this why now

In this unit, pupils develop their aural, performing and music technology skills. They learn to identify ascending and descending pitch by ear, recognise conjunct and disjunct melodic movement, and describe and match timbres. Pupils practise repeating syncopated and non-syncopated rhythms and utilise their drum groove understanding to work out specific drum patterns. They continue to develop their ability to use key DAW functions such as recording, quantising and selecting instruments.

Prior knowledge requirements

  • Pupils have enough fluency on the keyboard to play a riff
  • Pupils know how to create a simple drum groove in a DAW
  • Pupils know how to create tracks in a DAW and choose instruments
  • Pupils are familiar with the concepts of texture, timbre, dynamics and instrumentation
  • Pupils understand how to use all basic functions (e.g. record, quantise, selecting instruments) in a DAW

Threads

Why this why now

In this unit, pupils develop their aural, performing and music technology skills. They learn to identify ascending and descending pitch by ear, recognise conjunct and disjunct melodic movement, and describe and match timbres. Pupils practise repeating syncopated and non-syncopated rhythms and utilise their drum groove understanding to work out specific drum patterns. They continue to develop their ability to use key DAW functions such as recording, quantising and selecting instruments.

Prior knowledge requirements

  • Pupils have enough fluency on the keyboard to play a riff
  • Pupils know how to create a simple drum groove in a DAW
  • Pupils know how to create tracks in a DAW and choose instruments
  • Pupils are familiar with the concepts of texture, timbre, dynamics and instrumentation
  • Pupils understand how to use all basic functions (e.g. record, quantise, selecting instruments) in a DAW

Working out pop hooks and riffs by ear

This unit focuses on developing pupils' ability to work out simple melodic ideas from modern pop and rock songs by ear. It introduces techniques for accurately recreating rhythm and pitch patterns, and also develops their understanding of how to recreate specific timbres accurately.