Y2. Lesson 10. Texture - one sound or many sounds?
Prior learning: Thick or thin?
Duration: 30 minutes
Materials:
Keywords: Beat, rhythm, singing, chanting, partners, rhymes, circle games.
Difficulty: 
Prepare
Present
Texture - One sound or many sounds?
Practise
Melodic development
Students listen to music and discover if the music is thick or thin.
- Teach that texture in music refers to how many layers of sound are used to create the music.
- In simple terms, texture may be described as thick, with many layers, or thin, with a few layers.
- In the examples on the audio player, there are two songs - each has a version that may be described as thin and the other thick.
- Play each one to the class and ask whether the texture is thick or thin.
Rhythmic development
Students sing and clap in an ostinato pattern.
Dr James Cuskelly and students of St Joseph's School, Stanthorpe.
- Students are seated and attentive.
- Demonstrate a simple clapped ostinato pattern such as ti-ti, ta.
- Explain that the class will sing Big Black Train and clap the ostinato pattern.
- Lead the class in singing and clapping the ostinato.
- When secure, choose a student to come forward and perform the ostinato and sing.
- Offer praise and gentle guidance if required.
- Repeat with as many individual students as time permits.
Creative movement
Students practise gross locomotor skills by bouncing a ball in time to the beat.
Dr James Cuskelly and students of St Joseph's School, Stanthorpe.
- Students form a circle.
- Have a soft ball ready and stand in the middle of the circle.
- Lead the class in singing Bounce High and gently throw the ball to a student in time with the beat.
- The student should throw the ball back, and you will (hopefully) catch it and throw it to another student.
- This is a great exercise to develop gross locomotor skills.
Listening
Students listen to an excerpt from 'Spring' by Antonio Vivaldi as an example of texture in art music.
Questions
- If the music is softer, which word is used? [piano]
- If the music is louder, which word is used? [forte]
- Students are seated and attentive.
- Explain that the class will listen to a short piece of music written long ago by an Italian composer called Antonio Vivaldi.
- Teach that the music starts with a thick texture, with many string instruments playing.
- The music then becomes quieter, and the texture is a little thinner.
- Finally, the texture becomes very thin as the number of string instruments is very small.
Visual learning
Students discover texture through visual representations.
- Project the graphic showing jars of lollies.
- Explain students should imagine the first jar, with only a few lollies, is a thin texture. Music with only one or two layers has a thin texture.
- The second jar is half full, and students should imagine this represents a texture that is halfway between thin and thick.
- The last jar is full of lollies, and it can be imagined that this would be a thick texture with many layers.
- The same process can be used to describe music texture using pizza as an example.
- The first pizza only has one topping, so this could represent a thin texture, with the last pizza having many toppings representing a thick texture with many layers.
Instruments
Students play Big Black Train using tuned percussion.
- Divide the class into two groups, one group will use glockenspiels and the other marimbas or similar instruments.
- Teach the melody of Big Black Train to the first group, using a good mallet technique.
- When secure, teach the accompaniment to the second group.
- When secure, lead both groups to play together and conduct whilst monitoring class progress.
- This exercise may take more than one learning period to master.
Part work
Students walk to the beat of a song and stop at the teacher's command.
Dr James Cuskelly and students of St Joseph's School, Stanthorpe.
- Students spread out across the room.
- Begin singing Walk, And You Walk as students walk to the beat through the classroom.
- On your command of "stop!" students must freeze.
- Any student who moves after your command is 'out'.
- This applies to any student not singing as they walk.
- The game continues until everyone is 'out' or ends due to time constraints.
Students section
Assess
Suggested lessons
Y1. Beat II
Y1. Beat III
Y1. Beat IV