- Year 11
- OCR
Analysing musical purpose
I can analyse how different elements have been used to achieve their musical purpose.
Copyrighted materials: to view and download resources from this lesson, you’ll need to be in the UK and
- Year 11
- OCR
Analysing musical purpose
I can analyse how different elements have been used to achieve their musical purpose.
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
- Most composers have a purpose in mind when they write music.
- This might be to tell a story (e.g. programme music), create a mood or encourage dancing.
- Composers use the musical elements in specific ways to suit the purpose of their music.
- We can create a sophisticated description of music if we link the elements to the purpose of the music.
- First we describe the element, then describe its effect, then analyse how that fits the purpose.
Keywords
Musical element - the building blocks of music, which include rhythm, melody, harmony, structure and others
Musical purpose - what the piece of music is trying to achieve; this could be to represent something, encourage an action or create a mood or emotion
Programme music - a type of music that represents a certain idea, character, place or story
Common misconception
When describing music, just describing each element is enough.
For some questions, it may be appropriate just to describe each element. However, often we should give a more sophisticated response that links each element to the compositional purpose - why did the composer use that and why is it suitable?
To help you plan your year 11 music lesson on: Analysing musical purpose, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your year 11 music lesson on: Analysing musical purpose, 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 Listening: long-form writing unit, dive into the full secondary music curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.
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