Myths about teaching can hold you back
- Year 8
Learning Gumama in unison
I can sing the melody of Gumama in a unison texture, focusing on producing clear, tall vowel sounds.
- Year 8
Learning Gumama in unison
I can sing the melody of Gumama in a unison texture, focusing on producing clear, tall vowel sounds.
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Lesson details
Key learning points
- Warming up the body is important for singing
- This includes warming-up our breathing, articulation, pitch and range
- Using tall vowels helps singers to produce a richer, clearer and more resonant tone
- Singing Gumama in unison, focussing on tall vowels, and moving to a pulse to feel the rhythm
Keywords
Tall vowels - vowels that are sung with an open, vertical mouth shape
Pulse - the steady feel of the beat
Downbeat - the strongest beat of the bar named after the downbeat a conductor makes on beat one
Ensemble - a group of musicians performing together e.g. a choir, band or orchestra
Common misconception
Tall vowels mean singing louder or just opening the mouth really wide.
Although they do help with projection, tall vowels are not about volume, they’re about the vertical space inside the mouth. If the mouth is too wide horizontally (grinning), this can tense the jaw, leading to a strained tone.
To help you plan your year 8 music lesson on: Learning Gumama in unison, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your year 8 music lesson on: Learning Gumama in unison, 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 Year 8 song guides unit, dive into the full secondary music curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.
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