New
New
Lesson 5 of 5
  • Year 10
  • OCR

The piano concerto through time

I can identify similarities and differences between the piano concertos of the Classical and Romantic periods.

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Lesson 5 of 5
New
New
  • Year 10
  • OCR

The piano concerto through time

I can identify similarities and differences between the piano concertos of the Classical and Romantic periods.

Copyrighted materials: to view and download resources from this lesson, you’ll need to be in the UK and

Copyrights help

These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. The piano became a very important instrument in Classical and Romantic concertos.
  2. Its dynamic range, pitch range, expressive abilities and ability to play multiple layers attracted composers to it.
  3. The piano concerto mirrored most of the trends of those periods, though there are some specific ways the piano is used.
  4. These include accompanying orchestral melodies with chords and playing both melody and accompaniment together.

Keywords

  • Chromatic - notes from outside the key; chromatic movement often involves moving by semitones

  • Diatonic - harmony which uses only notes from within the key

  • Arpeggio - a broken chord in which the notes of a chord are played in order, ascending or descending

  • Scalic - a melody using segments of a scale

  • Tutti - a section in a concerto where the orchestra play together, including the main melody

Common misconception

Piano concertos are just the same as other concertos.

Not quite. Because of the unique abilities of the piano - including its range and ability to play multiple lines at once - composers use it slightly differently to other instruments. This includes using it to accompany itself, or the orchestra.


To help you plan your year 10 music lesson on: The piano concerto through time, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

Watching a performance of a piano concerto will help pupils to understand the broader culture of classical music concerts. Consider showing pupils a performance of part of a Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky, Brahms or Chopin Piano Concerto to extend their learning.
Teacher tip

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This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

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