Listening to Music
Learn what to notice when listening to music: instruments, voices, changes in speed or loudness, and returning tunes. Practise with written descriptions and pictures, then try the listening activities with someone.
What a learner can do afterwards
- Choose a way to share observations after listening and put described instrument entrances and stops in order
- Identify a piano from a stated playing clue and distinguish changes in voices, speed or loudness described in words or pictures
- Recognise a returning tune as a repeat and count appearances of a named tune in a picture
1 · Read
Listen to a short song from start to end. Notice a sound or a change. When it ends, tell someone what you heard. You can like a song and describe its sounds too.
Theo hears a flute. Drums join halfway through. Then the flute stops. He tells the order: flute, both, drums. Singers can join too. One voice can become many voices.
Read what plays at each part of Theo's song.
A piano has black and white keys. Its notes can ring after a key is pressed. A guitar has strings that a player may pluck or strum. A drum may thump or tap when hit. Listen to examples with someone who can name them. Each instrument can make different sounds.
Music can get faster or slower. It can also get louder or quieter. Speed and loudness are different changes. A picture can show loudness with bars. Read each bar's name. A taller bar means a louder part in that picture.
A tune is a line of notes you can remember. Listen for it to return later. You can hum a short tune to help remember it. In a picture, the same tune has the same name each time. Count its name to find how often it plays.
Listen all the way through, notice the changes, and remember the tune.
Original lesson, questions and flashcards written for this dataset.
Two original readings written for this dataset.
More to read
Listen for a change
Choose a short song with someone at home. Listen from start to end. Tell each other one thing you heard.
Play it again. Listen for a singer or instrument joining in. Did another sound stop? You can say what happened first and what happened next. Listen to that part again together if you want to check.
Follow a drum sound
Play a short song at a comfortable volume. Try to follow one drum sound. Does it make a boom or a tap? Does it keep playing, or stop for a while?
Tap a short pattern gently on your knee. After the song ends, try the pattern again. Tell someone which part you remember.
2 · Watch
En anglaisTake it off screen
Where it sits
Learn first
Nothing; this is a starting point.
Where this leads
Jobs that lean on this skill. Follow one to see everything it is built on.
8 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.