Year 9 - Music
Learning Pompeii harmony parts and creating a performance
Year 9 song guides 2
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Study Guides
This pupil-friendly study guide includes a unit summary, clear notes, common mistakes, and quick questions with answers.
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 Pompeii in 3 part harmony with changing vocal textures.
Key Notes
- Changing vocal textures adds interest to a piece of music.
- Some harmony lines use a homophonic texture, meaning they use the same words and rhythms but sung at a different pitch.
- A polyphonic texture means each layer of harmony has a distinct melody that moves at different times.
- When we perform more complex vocal arrangements, we should consider balance, making sure the melody is always clear.
Vocabulary To Learn
- texture: the layers of instrumental or vocal sounds and how they fit together
- harmony: the notes that accompany the melody
- balance: how each part is matched against another to ensure that no one part overwhelms the others
- polyphonic: each layer of harmony has a distinct melody that moves at different times
- homophonic: two or more different layers of harmony which move at the same time
Common Mistakes To Avoid
- It is easy to sing the higher harmony parts too loud, as a higher pitch is often naturally accompanied by a louder dynamic.
3 Quick Questions (With Answers)
1. Explain the lesson in two key points.
Changing vocal textures adds interest to a piece of music. Some harmony lines use a homophonic texture, meaning they use the same words and rhythms but sung at a different pitch.
2. What does this key word mean in this lesson? 'texture'
the layers of instrumental or vocal sounds and how they fit together.
3. Correct this common mistake.
Mistake: It is easy to sing the higher harmony parts too loud, as a higher pitch is often naturally accompanied by a louder dynamic. Correction: Take care to sing the higher harmonies quieter so the melody is always the loudest part.
More Lessons In This Unit
Browse all guides in the Year 9 Music guide library.