- Year 10
- Edexcel
Pop ballads from the 1970s to the 1990s
I can recognise key features of pop ballads and create a pop ballad chord sequence.
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- Year 10
- Edexcel
Pop ballads from the 1970s to the 1990s
I can recognise key features of pop ballads and create a pop ballad chord sequence.
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
- Pop ballads typically use a slow tempo, romantic lyrics, diatonic harmony, 4/4 metre and a verse-chorus structure.
- A piano/keyboard is often prominent in pop ballads and strings or brass are commonly used to thicken the texture.
- Typical artists include Whitney Houston and Elton John.
- A mix of root position and chord inversions can be used when composing chord sequences to create interest.
- Chord inversions affect the bass line as it has to play the lowest note of each chord.
Keywords
Pop ballad - a pop ballad is an important genre of pop music - typically a slow song with romantic or sentimental lyrics
Diatonic - diatonic harmony uses only notes from within the key (major or minor)
Root position - a root position chord has the root note (the note in its name) at the bottom
Chord inversion - a chord inversion is a chord with the notes repositioned so that the root note is not the lowest note in the chord
Common misconception
Chord inversions are inserted randomly by composers.
Chord inversions are used to add interest by bringing subtle amounts of tension to a chord and to create smoother transitions from one chord to another. They are not chosen randomly and are used sparingly to create a particular effect.
To help you plan your year 10 music lesson on: Pop ballads from the 1970s to the 1990s, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your year 10 music lesson on: Pop ballads from the 1970s to the 1990s, 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 Extending understanding of pop music: pop ballads and modern pop unit, dive into the full secondary music curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.
Equipment
DAW and MIDI keyboard
Licence
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