Year 9 - Music
Composing for voices
Approaches to contemporary composition
Study Hub
Study Guides
This pupil-friendly study guide includes a unit summary, clear notes, common mistakes, and quick questions with answers.
Unit Summary
In this unit pupils are introduced to contemporary compositional approaches and techniques. They learn about a range of current contemporary music and the differences in approach of how this is structured and put together from earlier classical style music and current popular music.
Lesson Summary
You will learn to describe some methods for composing for an SATB choir and have created a short contemporary choral composition.
Key Notes
- The SATB choir is a very common vocal ensemble, consisting of soprano, alto, tenor and bass voices.
- Contemporary composers write both tonal and atonal music for choir.
- We can create tension and release by creating dissonant chords that resolve to consonant chords.
- When doing so, it is most effective to move by step.
- It is important to consider the range of each voice type.
Vocabulary To Learn
- dissonance: where notes in a chord clash, creating harmonic tension
- consonance: where notes in a chord sound pleasant together, without tension
- SATB choir: a vocal ensemble consisting of four voice types - soprano, alto, tenor and bass
- tonal: music that has a tonic note (the opposite of atonal)
Common Mistakes To Avoid
- Different voice types cannot sing any of the same notes.
3 Quick Questions (With Answers)
1. Explain the lesson in two key points.
The SATB choir is a very common vocal ensemble, consisting of soprano, alto, tenor and bass voices. Contemporary composers write both tonal and atonal music for choir.
2. What does this key word mean in this lesson? 'dissonance'
where notes in a chord clash, creating harmonic tension.
3. Correct this common mistake.
Mistake: Different voice types cannot sing any of the same notes. Correction: The ranges of voices overlap, so there are some notes that can be sung by different voice types. For example, many notes that a bass can sing are also possible for tenor voices to sing.
More Lessons In This Unit
Browse all guides in the Year 9 Music guide library.