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Year 6 - Music

Composing a further variation to a theme

Compose and Create: creating melodic variations based on a theme

Unit Summary

In this unit, pupils will compose short variations on a given simple theme using glockenspiels or online keyboards on tablets or laptops. Exploring examples of theme and variations such as 'The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra' will create an understanding of how this structure is formed.

Lesson Summary

You will learn to make further changes to a theme to create a variation, changing the sound, mood and feel of the music.

Key Notes

  • Composers use the elements of music to vary the theme in lots of different ways.
  • A composer might alter the pitch, rhythm, tonality, timbre, dynamics or tempo in a variation.
  • Tonality is the organisation of notes around a central note, the tonic, which helps to shape the music's sound.
  • These changes affect the sound, mood and feel of the music in each variation.

Vocabulary To Learn

  • timbre: a description of the sound or tone of an instrument
  • tonality: the organisation of notes around a central note, the tonic, which helps to shape the music's sound and character
  • 2-time, 3-time: the organisation and feel of the beats, beginning with a strong beat
  • tempo: how fast or slow the music is played
  • dynamics: how loud or quiet the music is

Common Mistakes To Avoid

  • Changing the tonality from major to minor will automatically make the music sound sad.

3 Quick Questions (With Answers)

1. Explain the lesson in two key points.

Composers use the elements of music to vary the theme in lots of different ways. A composer might alter the pitch, rhythm, tonality, timbre, dynamics or tempo in a variation.

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

a description of the sound or tone of an instrument.

3. Correct this common mistake.

Mistake: Changing the tonality from major to minor will automatically make the music sound sad. Correction: This is an oversimplification. All of the musical elements work together to create the character or mood of a piece of music.

More Lessons In This Unit

Browse all guides in the Year 6 Music guide library.