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Year 5 - Music

The key features of minimalism

Compose and rehearse: creating and combining minimalist cells

Unit Summary

This unit introduces minimalism with its repetitive, hypnotic, short musical cells. Pupils will use Terry Riley's In C to inspire their compositions. Working in groups, pupils will create short musical cells and decide how to use these to create and rehearse a larger minimalist piece.

Lesson Summary

You will learn to identify key features of minimalism.

Key Notes

  • Music can often be identified as fitting within a certain genre by its key features.
  • Minimalism consists of short, repetitive musical cells.
  • Ostinato is a musical phrase or rhythm that is repeated persistently.
  • Cells are the building blocks (structure) of a minimalist piece of music.
  • The use of repetition in music is an effective musical tool.

Vocabulary To Learn

  • minimalism: a musical genre originating from the 1960s that includes the layering of multiple short, repeated musical ideas (cells) that subtly change over time
  • minimalist: a composer who creates new music in the style of minimalism
  • cell: simple musical patterns that can be rhythmic or melodic (on ostinato in minimalism)
  • ostinato: a repeating musical pattern which can be rhythmic or melodic
  • repetition: reusing musical ideas, patterns or phrases to make the music more memorable, add impact or create a musical structure

Common Mistakes To Avoid

  • Musical genres have rules to follow, and styles never mix or borrow ideas from each other.

3 Quick Questions (With Answers)

1. Explain the lesson in two key points.

Music can often be identified as fitting within a certain genre by its key features. Minimalism consists of short, repetitive musical cells.

2. What does this key word mean in this lesson? 'minimalism'

a musical genre originating from the 1960s that includes the layering of multiple short, repeated musical ideas (cells) that subtly change over time.

3. Correct this common mistake.

Mistake: Musical genres have rules to follow, and styles never mix or borrow ideas from each other. Correction: Like the rainbow, music is a continuing spectrum of ideas, with genres of blending and merging into each other, borrowing, sharing and adapting key features and ideas.

More Lessons In This Unit

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