Pitch
Introduction
Pitch includes the musical features of melody, harmony and scales/tonality.
Pitch can be high or low or anywhere in between.
When listening to the melody of a song you might hear a singer combine higher and lower notes using lyrics or syllables. When different notes are assigned different lengths or rhythms, the music is combining the concepts of pitch and duration.
The musical concepts of pitch (high/low), duration (long/short) and dynamics (loud/soft) work together to create one layer of music.
Suggested activities
Teaching notes
Formative assessment
Engagement with the concept of pitch can be observed and assessed through activities that encourage students to:
differentiate between high and low pitch (as distinct from loud and soft dynamic)
explore pitch across a wide range
demonstrate a willingness to experiment with various ways to organise pitch, such as pentatonic scales and improvisation
listen carefully to notes, chords and music in order to respond verbally or physically.
Syllabus outcomes
The student:
demonstrates an understanding of musical concepts through exploring, experimenting, improvising, organising, arranging and composing (4.4)
demonstrates an understanding of the musical concepts through listening, observing, responding, discriminating, analysing, discussing and recording musical ideas (4.7)
demonstrates an understanding of musical concepts through aural identification and discussion of the features of a range of repertoire (4.8)
Music 7-10 Syllabus © NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) for and on behalf of the Crown in right of the State of New South Wales, 2003, accessed 04/04/22.