Purpose: This unit explores music, inventions and conventions in the Victorian period starting with Victorian musical gadgets and how Victorians were fascinated by these.  Pupils will learn about different forms of the ‘piano’ as an instrument in Victorian times and early recording and playback equipment.  
 
Pupils then explore the use of music and song in Victorian market advertising through the use of street cries.  They begin with simple four-part, pentatonic Victorian street cry and explore the effect of overlapping vocal layers and textures, reminiscent of a Victorian marketplace where several traders would be singing at once.  They sing existing Victorian street cries before creating their own, using the notes of the pentatonic scale and combining these in an ensemble performance of a Victorian market scene.
 
Pupils then move on to learn about the popularity of the Waltz in Victorian times.  This allows them to explore and work with 3/4 metre, performing primary triads in the characteristic ‘oom-cha-cha’ waltz pattern and increases awareness of the texture of a Waltz: a clear melody with accompaniment.
 
Finally, pupils explore the Victorians love of melodrama and learn about the different voice types: Soprano, Alto, Tenor and Bass and how melodrama uses extremes of these vocal ranges.  The unit ends with a short five-minute Victorian melodrama: The mystery of midnight station where pupils are encouraged to perform with extremes of their vocal ranges, add suitable sound effects and music to create an effective performance suitable for inclusion in a Victorian Music Hall performance.  
 
Outcome: Pupils increase their musical understanding and vocabulary when using and describing musical texture: thin, getting thicker, thick, getting thinner as well as overlapping texture.  They know that the notes of the pentatonic scale sound good in any order and show, use and describe a drone as a type of musical accompaniment.  Pupils begin to be able to identify and describe different voice types when listening and use their voices in different ways exploring with extreme vocal registers.  Pupils understand the popularity of the Waltz in the Victorian period and can demonstrate, use and describe its characteristic music elements and features.   
 
Key Words, Theory and Musical Knowledge 
Texture (Thin/Getting Thinner; Thick/Getting Thicker, Overlapping Texture)
The Pentatonic Scale: (C, D, E, G, A)
Musical Devices: Drone (as a type of musical accompaniment)
Voices and Voice Types (Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass)
The Waltz: 3/4 time, characteristic ‘oom-cha-cha’ accompaniment, context, clear melody and accompaniment 
 
This fully-resourced KS2 Primary unit comes complete with 6 fully-resourced lesson plans, each containing a Lesson Plan, Worksheet and PowerPoint Presentation with all embedded audio files (also available separately as MP3 and WAV files).  Also included is a unit Knowledge Organisers.