Analysing musical purpose
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Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can analyse how different elements have been used to achieve their musical purpose.
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?
Teacher tip
To extend and embed learning, create opportunities for pupils to further practise their long-form descriptions. This can be done with any unfamiliar music and is an important step for embedding the methods required. Another useful step is to practise the planning (table) stage of lots of questions.
Licence
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