Myths about teaching can hold you back
- Year 11
- OCR
Vocal types, styles and techniques
I can identify common voice types, styles and techniques.
Copyrighted materials: to view and download resources from this lesson, you’ll need to be in the UK and
- Year 11
- OCR
Vocal types, styles and techniques
I can identify common voice types, styles and techniques.
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
- Vocals are very diverse, with numerous voice types, styles and techniques.
- An SATB choir is made up of the following female and male vocal types: soprano, alto, tenor and bass.
- Some common vocal techniques include melisma, vibrato and rapping.
- In some styles, microtonal singing, scat singing and beatboxing can also be heard.
Keywords
SATB - a type of choir consisting of soprano, alto, tenor and bass singers
Vibrato - a vocal or instrumental technique in which the pitch ‘wobbles’ slightly
Melismatic - when there are syllables with more than one note sung to them
Beatboxing - a vocal technique that imitates drum kit and percussion sounds
Falsetto - a technique in which male voices can sing much higher than their normal range; it has a distinct, thin, airy timbre
Common misconception
Female voices are always higher pitched than male voices.
While this is mostly true, alto and tenor ranges overlap. A low alto voice can be as low as a tenor. Alongside this, men can use the falsetto technique to sing much higher than their normal range, in some cases higher than female voices.
To help you plan your year 11 music lesson on: Vocal types, styles and techniques, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your year 11 music lesson on: Vocal types, styles and techniques, 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 Timbre and texture in music around the world unit, dive into the full secondary music curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.
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