Year 10 - Music
Thinking about structure
Free Composition: Extending ideas
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Unit Summary
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Lesson Summary
You will learn to plan for and create developed and contrasting sections in a free composition.
Key Notes
- When musical material returns, composers often make subtle changes to it.
- Keeping the melody and harmony recognisable is important when developing repeated sections.
- In new sections, like a B section in ternary form, new melodic and harmonic ideas can be derived from earlier sections.
- This maintains the coherence of the music and shows understanding of how musical elements can be explored creatively.
Vocabulary To Learn
- Ternary form: Ternary form is a musical structure in three sections, with the first section repeated at the end. It is also referred to as ABA.
- Melodic material: Melodic material refers to musical ideas that contribute to the melody (e.g. the melody and key musical ideas such as motifs, riffs or counter melodies).
- Harmonic material: Harmonic material refers to musical ideas that contribute to harmony of the music (e.g. the chords and chord sequence, the bass line and devices, including pedals).
Common Mistakes To Avoid
- Contrasting sections should be totally different to other sections in a composition.
3 Quick Questions (With Answers)
1. Explain the lesson in two key points.
When musical material returns, composers often make subtle changes to it. Keeping the melody and harmony recognisable is important when developing repeated sections.
2. What does this key word mean in this lesson? 'Ternary form'
Ternary form is a musical structure in three sections, with the first section repeated at the end. It is also referred to as ABA.
3. Correct this common mistake.
Mistake: Contrasting sections should be totally different to other sections in a composition. Correction: Contrasting sections of music can be derived from some of the same ideas but should have their own recognisable melodic and harmonic ideas.
More Lessons In This Unit
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