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- Year 10
- AQA
The voice in Western classical music
I can explain the various ways that voices have been used throughout the periods of Western classical music.
- Year 10
- AQA
The voice in Western classical music
I can explain the various ways that voices have been used throughout the periods of Western classical music.
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Lesson details
Key learning points
- Composers have used voices in many different ways.
- Solo songs, such as lieder, were particularly common from the Romantic period onwards.
- They often used techniques such as word-painting and melisma.
- Opera used solo singers, a chorus and orchestra to tell epic stories, using arias and recitative.
- In the Baroque period, oratorios and anthems are two key genres of vocal music.
Keywords
Choir / chorus - a group of singers, often including soprano, alto, tenor and bass voices (SATB)
Lied - a solo song, most common in the Romantic period, usually with piano accompaniment (plural 'lieder')
Recitative - a vocal style that sounds semi-spoken, often used for dialogue in opera
Word-painting - where a vocal melody reflects the meaning of the words (e.g. a descending melody on the word ‘falls’)
Melisma - where multiple notes are sung during one syllable of a word
Common misconception
Oratorios and anthems are essentially the same - they are both religious, with similar musical features.
Anthems often are a capella, whereas oratorios always have orchestral accompaniment. Oratorios are long pieces of music, consisting of numerous songs that tell a biblical story. Anthems are shorter songs that are used as part of a Christian service.
To help you plan your year 10 music lesson on: The voice in Western classical music, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your year 10 music lesson on: The voice in Western classical music, 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.
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Explore more key stage 4 music lessons from the The Western Classical Tradition (1600-1910) unit, dive into the full secondary music curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.
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