Responding to tempo changes within a song or piece of music
I can hear tempo changes in a piece of music and can respond by moving in time to the beat.
Responding to tempo changes within a song or piece of music
I can hear tempo changes in a piece of music and can respond by moving in time to the beat.
These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.
Lesson details
Key learning points
- Tempo can change within a piece of music.
- Movement can help us to feel, show and hear the changing tempo.
- We know a piece of music can speed up (accelerando) or slow down (rallentando).
- When the tempo changes within a piece of music, it changes how the music feels and helps us create stories in our mind.
Keywords
Tempo - how fast or slow the music is played
Accelerando - gradually getting faster
Rallentando - gradually getting slower
Common misconception
The tempo always stays the same throughout a piece of music.
Although we learn to feel the pulse and follow the steady beat, music can get gradually faster or gradually slower.
To help you plan your year 1 music lesson on: Responding to tempo changes within a song or piece of music, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your year 1 music lesson on: Responding to tempo changes within a song or piece of music, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 1 music lessons from the Music and movement: feeling the pulse and changing the tempo unit, dive into the full secondary music curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.
Equipment
Licence
Starter quiz
4 Questions

how fast or slow the music is played
the regular, steady heartbeat of the music
the playing or showing of the steady pulse like the ticking of a clock
Exit quiz
4 Questions
