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Year 1

Feeling the pulse in songs and chants

I can feel the pulse in different songs and chants and know that pulse is the heartbeat of the music.

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New
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Year 1

Feeling the pulse in songs and chants

I can feel the pulse in different songs and chants and know that pulse is the heartbeat of the music.

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. We warm up before singing so that our bodies, minds and voices are ready to sing.
  2. We can use our voices to chant or sing in time to the pulse.
  3. We can use movements or body percussion to help us feel and show this pulse so we can see and hear the beat.
  4. We can keep a steady beat so we are able to sing our responses and join in with musical games at the correct moment.

Keywords

  • Warm up - a sequence of exercises used to prepare the mind, body and voice for singing

  • Sing - create musical sounds with our voice that can be a mixture of high sounds and low sounds

  • Chant - speaking in time to a pulse

  • Pulse - the regular, steady heartbeat of the music

  • Beat - the playing or showing of the steady pulse, like the ticking of a clock

Common misconception

Pulse and beat are the same thing.

Not quite! Pulse is the underlying feeling of uniformed beats - it is the heartbeat of the music. When organised into metres, we then feel it as beats e.g. counting or clapping 1,2,3 1,2,3.


To help you plan your year 1 music lesson on: Feeling the pulse in songs and chants, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

It is perfectly acceptable to repeat songs, chants and games many times. Build in opportunities for pupils to practise and develop their sense of pulse wherever possible. Create variations to spark interest such as clapping, then stamping, then a different action.
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This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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4 Questions

Q1.
Why is it important to warm up our voice?
So we can sing really loudly.
Correct answer: To protect our voice from getting hurt.
To learn more songs.
Q2.
Which of these are examples of body percussion?
Correct answer: clicking your fingers
using your thinking voice
Correct answer: clapping your hands
singing a song
Correct answer: tapping your knees
Q3.
When a leader sings a phrase and we answer with a different phrase, we are singing a...
chant.
echo song.
Correct answer: call and response song.
Q4.
When we speak in time to the pulse, we call this .
Correct Answer: chanting, Chanting, a chant, chant, doing a chant

4 Questions

Q1.
What is pulse?
How fast or slow the music is.
The pattern of sounds that we play and sing.
Correct answer: The regular, steady heartbeat of the music.
Q2.
Why is it important to develop a good sense of pulse?
Correct answer: So we can sing and play together in time to the music.
So we can know how high or low the notes are.
So we can know what kind of instrument is being played.
Q3.
Some examples of showing a good sense of pulse are...
Correct answer: marching in time to the music.
singing the right words.
Correct answer: knowing when it is the right time to sing.
Correct answer: tapping in time to the music.
singing quietly and singing loudly.
Q4.
When we play on the steady pulse, we are playing to the .
An image in a quiz
Correct Answer: beat, Beat

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