Study Guides

Unit Summary

The song guides cover a diverse selection of songs, designed to develop vocal technique, musical expression and ensemble skills, and building confidence and musical literacy. They can be broken down across multiple lessons and intergrated into the sequence, but can also be taught as full lessons.

Lesson Summary

You will learn to sing Wade In The Water with changing polyphonic textures.

Key Notes

• When songs are based on similar harmonic patterns, they can often be combined as partner songs.
• A polyphonic texture means each layer of harmony has a distinct melody that moves at different times.
• When we perform using more complex polyphonic textures, we need to pay close attention to balance.
• We need to listen carefully to the other parts and adjust our dynamics so that every line can be heard clearly.

Vocabulary To Learn

• polyphonic: each layer of harmony has a distinct melody that moves at different times
• anacrusis: the opening note or notes of a phrase which starts before the first beat of the bar (also called a pickup)
• balance: how each part is matched against another to ensure that no one part overwhelms the others
• blue note: a note sung at a lower pitch than the standard note in the scale to give an emotional, blues like effect

Common Mistakes To Avoid

• When singing different melodies on top of each other, sometimes singers "compete" to see which is the loudest!

3 Quick Questions (With Answers)

More Lessons In This Unit

• Harmony in Royals and creating a performance Study Guide
• Layering parts in Wade In The Water Study Guide
• Melody and call and response in Royals Study Guide