Secondary Curriculum – Pathway to a Piece: Lesson 1, Main 2: Examining Scores

Time: 20 minutes

Group size: Whole Class

Tag words: examine, score, instrument, missing, improvised, harpsichord, continuo, favourite, sections, instrumentation 

The class now examine the first few pages of the score.

Ask the class – “which instruments are there on the score?” “Which instrument is missing?” (Ans: Harpsichord. The part is improvised in this music. Optional: Explain the historical use of continuo/figured bass) Explain that the top lines (solo violins) sometimes play exactly the same as the next two (violins 1 & 2).

Now listen again with the score. Ask the pupils to locate one section they really enjoy in the score, and be ready to discuss it with the class. Insist on musical answers/use of vocabulary – they should be able to say what it is about the music that they like and why.

Class discussion. Ask pupils for feedback about a few ‘favourite bits/sections’. Find them in the score and discuss: “How has the composer created that sound?” e.g. instrumentation, melody, chord, rhythm, texture, timbre, tonality, pitch etc.

Tell the class to look at how the two top parts take turns and overlap [bars 10 – 12 in score] where one part plays and the other one holds a note. They will use that idea in their pieces