Year 8 - Music
Learning the accompaniment for Fur Elise
Minor, major and developing keyboard skills
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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 introduces major and minor scales and explores what makes music distinctive and memorable. Pupils develop keyboard technique and rehearsal strateiges, learning more complex melodic lines with accidentals and varied articulation.
Lesson Summary
You will learn to play the broken chord accompaniment part to Fur Elise.
Key Notes
- Performing broken chords on the keyboard.
- Performing two independent parts at the same time on the keyboard.
- We can use expressive elements such as dynamics and rubato to add expression to a performance.
- Emphasising the downbeat helps to show a sense of rhythm.
Vocabulary To Learn
- broken chord: when the notes of a chord are sounded one at a time
- root note: the main note of a chord, and what the chord is named after
- octave: an interval of eight notes; octaves in music have the same name i.e. C to C on the keyboard
- downbeat: the first and strongest beat of the bar
Common Mistakes To Avoid
- Sense of pulse and sense of rhythm are the same thing
3 Quick Questions (With Answers)
1. Explain the lesson in two key points.
Performing broken chords on the keyboard. Performing two independent parts at the same time on the keyboard.
2. What does this key word mean in this lesson? 'broken chord'
when the notes of a chord are sounded one at a time.
3. Correct this common mistake.
Mistake: Sense of pulse and sense of rhythm are the same thing. Correction: A sense of pulse is understanding the underlying beat in the music. A sense of rhythm is understanding where the stress should be in a bar or rhythm. This is much more nuanced. At this point, encourage pupils to stress the downbeat.
More Lessons In This Unit
Browse all guides in the Year 8 Music guide library.