Study Guides

Unit Summary

Pupils learn about programmatic and descriptive music and how music can be used to set the scene. They compose a piece of music to accompany a story that includes a recurring motif and demonstrates an understanding of how key/chromatics and other musical elements can have an impact on the mood.

Lesson Summary

You will learn to develop a motif by using notes of the minor scale to change the feel of the music.

Key Notes

• Programme music is music that is written to depict a story through music.
• The elements of music can be used in a certain way to convey a specific correct mood.
• The minor scale usually creates a more sombre mood to the major scale.
• Developing a motif from major to minor to change the feel of the music to suggest a sense of unrest.

Vocabulary To Learn

• programme music: instrumental music that tells a story or describes a scene
• motif: a short melodic idea that recurs throughout a piece of music
• minor scale: a set of notes where the 3rd and 6th notes in the scale are flattened, and that sounds sad or more solemn than a major scale

Common Mistakes To Avoid

• You can only change the 3rd or the 6th of the scale to change the mood of the music.

3 Quick Questions (With Answers)

More Lessons In This Unit

• Composing music for an extended story Study Guide
• Composing music that doesn't sound scary Study Guide
• Creating a sense of style Study Guide
• Creating scary music Study Guide
• The effect of timbre Study Guide