- Year 10
- AQA
Creative chord progressions
I can create a chord progression as the starting point for a free composition.
Copyrighted materials: to view and download resources from this lesson, you’ll need to be in the UK and
- Year 10
- AQA
Creative chord progressions
I can create a chord progression as the starting point for a free composition.
Copyrighted materials: to view and download resources from this lesson, you’ll need to be in the UK and
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Lesson details
Key learning points
- Composers often create chord progressions to underpin their music.
- You can start with a chord progression before you create a melody, or start with a melody then add chords.
- Adding chords to a melody is called harmonisation.
- You can create dissonance by using chords that are not triads and using occasional melody notes from outside the chord.
- Broken chords and chord inversions can add interest to a chord progression.
Keywords
Chord progression - A chord progression (or chord sequence) is a repeating pattern of chords.
Harmonisation - Harmonisation is adding notes or chords to a melody to provide harmony in the music.
Triad - A triad is a chord made up of three notes from the scale: the root, third and fifth.
Dissonance - Dissonance is when notes clash. The harmony sounds uncomfortable and feels like it needs to resolve.
Inversion - A chord inversion is when the notes of a chord are repositioned so the root note is no longer the lowest note in the chord.
Common misconception
Harmony and chords are the same thing.
Although the harmony is created by the different notes of the chord progression, harmony also includes all parts in the music including the melodic line.
To help you plan your year 10 music lesson on: Creative chord progressions, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your year 10 music lesson on: Creative chord progressions, 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 4 music lessons from the Free composition: Creative starting points unit, dive into the full secondary music curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.
Equipment
A keyboard (or other suitable instrument) or DAW/notation software
Licence
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