Unit Plan - Ancient Egypt

Year - 4

Unit Description
In this unit students will explore the music and instruments of Ancient Egypt. They will listen to
authentic music and develop their understanding of musical elements through discussion based
and written activities. Through this they will then develop their composition, performance and
notation skills. They will utilise their understanding of rhythm and how to compose simple
melodies to then compose in groups a piece of Egyptian style music that incorporates rhythm,
melody and drones. Students will start by composing rhythmic ostinatos and polyrhythms using
notation. Before learning and using the Phrygian scale to compose a melody and drone to
accompany their rhythmic composition. Students will perform their piece at the end of the Half
term and will evaluate their own music.

Learning Objectives:
To explore the use of musical elements in Ancient Egyptian Music.
To compose ostiantos and polyrhythms using rhythm notation.
To learn the Phrygian Mode and compose a melody using the notes of the Phrygian Mode.
To understand what a canon, drone and pedal note are and incorporate them into their
composition.
To perform composition as part of an ensemble.

Learning Outcomes
1. All will be able to compose a simple rhythm using notation. All will be able to state the
definition of key terms learnt in this unit (i.e. ostinato, polyrhythms, canon, drone)
2. Most will be able to compose a simple melody using notes of the phrygian mode. Most
will be able to state key terms that they can hear in examples (i.e. in this piece there is
an ostinato) and will add more layers to their composition (i.e. pedal note/drone)
3. Some will be able to compose creative and interesting melodies using notes of the
phrygian mode, incorporating ornaments to add more interest. Some will be able to give
more detailed descriptions of Egyptian music heard using key terms learnt.

Key Skills to develop

Rhythmic notation, melodic notation, composing more than one part, performing as part of an
ensemble, understanding of historical context of music, musical elements.

Key terminology
Ostinato, Polyrhythms, Canon, thick texture, unison, Phrygian Mode, Melody, Drone, Pedal
Note, trill, turn.

Assessment:
Written activities, observation and discussion/questioning.
Lesson Breakdown
Lesson 1 - Ancient Egypt music and Ostinato (rhythm recap), and writing ostinatos
Lesson 2 - Writing Ostinato/Polyrhythms/canon section of piece in groups
Lesson 3 - Phrygian scale and improvising on the phrygian scale
Lesson 4 - Writing a melody using the Phygian scale
Lesson 5 - Putting it together
Lesson 6 - Performing