- Year 11
- OCR
Describing melody, harmony, tonality and texture
I can accurately describe the melody, harmony, tonality and texture of a piece of unfamiliar music.
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- Year 11
- OCR
Describing melody, harmony, tonality and texture
I can accurately describe the melody, harmony, tonality and texture of a piece of unfamiliar music.
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
- We can use the musical elements to help structure simple, clear descriptions of unfamiliar music.
- Accurate description of a melody should include its shape and intervals as well as any melodic devices.
- A description of tonality should identify whether the music is diatonic (major or minor), modal, atonal or microtonal.
- Harmony encompasses the types of chords used, harmonic rhythm, cadences and harmonic devices.
- A description of texture should describe the specific texture (e.g. homophonic) and any changes that occur.
Keywords
Scalic - a melody that uses segments of scales
Arpeggiated - a pattern that uses the notes of an arpeggio (an ascending or descending broken chord)
Melodic device - specific techniques used in melodies, including ornamentation and sequences
Tonality - the set of notes a piece (or section) of music is based on (e.g. major key)
Harmonic device - composition techniques that affect the harmony, including pedals and modulations
Common misconception
Harmony and tonality are the same thing.
They are related, though not the same. Tonality refers to the set of notes that a piece is based on (e.g. the D minor scale) and refers to a whole piece or section of a piece. Harmony explores individual chords, chord sequences and harmonic devices.
To help you plan your year 11 music lesson on: Describing melody, harmony, tonality and texture, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your year 11 music lesson on: Describing melody, harmony, tonality and texture, 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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