Year 7 - Music
Folk dance and the minor scale
Folk songs from around the world
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This pupil-friendly study guide includes a unit summary, clear notes, common mistakes, and quick questions with answers.
Unit Summary
This unit explores folk music from around the world, with detailed looks at sea shanties and Russian folk dance. Pupils are exposed to a diverse array of folk music, exploring characteristics that are typical of folk traditions, composing simple melodies, singing and performing using keyboards.
Lesson Summary
You will learn to describe some common features of European and Russian folk dance and can perform the melody of Korobeiniki.
Key Notes
- Many folk music traditions use music for dance, including for celebrations like marriages and harvest.
- Like most dance music, folk dance needs a clear pulse, suitable tempo and repeated rhythms.
- Korobeiniki is a Russian folk song often used for dancing, that was famously used for the video game Tetris.
- It includes four-bar phrases, dotted crotchets and it is based on a minor scale.
- The music repeats and uses repeat marks in the notation to show this.
Vocabulary To Learn
- minor scale: a set of seven notes in a minor key
- dotted crotchet: a note that lasts for one and half beats
- phrase: a short section of a melody, normally lasting 1, 2 or 4 bars
- repeat mark: a symbol at the end (and also often start) of a section that tells the performer to repeat it
Common Mistakes To Avoid
- Hand positions should only change at the start of new phrases.
3 Quick Questions (With Answers)
1. Explain the lesson in two key points.
Many folk music traditions use music for dance, including for celebrations like marriages and harvest. Like most dance music, folk dance needs a clear pulse, suitable tempo and repeated rhythms.
2. What does this key word mean in this lesson? 'minor scale'
a set of seven notes in a minor key.
3. Correct this common mistake.
Mistake: Hand positions should only change at the start of new phrases. Correction: This depends entirely on what notes are used. Sometimes, like in Korobeiniki, it is more useful to change hand position during a phrase. When doing this, we should always practise making it seamless, so there is no obvious change in sound.
More Lessons In This Unit
Browse all guides in the Year 7 Music guide library.