Johann Sebastian Bach

Toccata and Fugue in D minor

Primary classroom lesson plan

Written by
Rachel Leach
Lesson outcomes
After this lesson, pupils will be able to:
• listen and reflect on a piece of orchestral music
• invent their own musical motifs and structure them into a
piece
• perform as an ensemble
• learn musical language appropriate to the task

Copyright : Words - Rachel Leach, Design - BBC 2

Curriculum checklist
Learners will:
• play and perform in ensemble contexts, using voices and
playing musical instruments
• improvise and compose music for a range of purposes using
the interrelated dimensions of music
• listen with attention to detail and recall sounds with
increasing aural memory

Copyright : Words - Rachel Leach, Design - BBC 3

 Glossary of music terms
Term Definition
Fugue a complex musical shape similar to a round

Graphic score a diagrammatic representation of music

Orchestrate choose which instruments play which parts

Pitched percussion percussion instruments that can play different pitches – xylophones,
glockenspiels, chime bars etc.

Round a music shape with several groups performing the same music but
starting at staggered intervals

Tempo another word for speed

Toccata means ‘touch’ and is typically a piece with many fast notes

Unpitched percussion percussion instruments that can only make a limited number of sounds –
drums, shakers woodblocks, tambourine etc.

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 Lesson 1
Watching and listening

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Background – the composer
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685
- 1750)
• German composer
• Wrote his music during the
Baroque period when composers
were poorly paid servants
• One of the all-time best
composers, an absolute genius
who inspired everyone who
followed

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Background – the music
Toccata and Fugue in D minor
 Originally written for solo organist, this orchestral version
was made by a conductor called Leopold Stokovski in
1927.
 No one really knows when Bach wrote it. It was published
in 1833 after it was found by a composer called
Mendelssohn
 Toccata means ‘touch’. A toccata is a piece with a lot of
fast notes
 Fugue is a musical shape similar to a round but much
more complex
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 Watch the orchestral performance

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03cwd
g7
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 Draw what you hear

• 3 downward phrases
• a build-up with a rumble
• three big chords

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 Graphic score

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Toccata

Fugue

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 Lesson 2
Iconic opening

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The opening phrase

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The second phrase

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 Create your own class version
Wobble Wobble Wobble Build-up
Fall 1,2,3,4 Fall Three
Turnaround Turnaround loud
notes

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Lesson 3
Toccata

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 Toccata
• Idea 1: shimmering sounds that move
up and down. Bach’s shimmers look
like this –

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 Toccata
• Idea 2: a tune with an alternating note.
Bach chooses one note (below it’s A)
and alternates others around it like
this:

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Create your own toccata

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Lesson 4
Body Fugue

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Can you learn this pattern?

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 Split into teams

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 A ‘round’

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Can you learn this pattern?

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 Split into teams

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Create your own pattern

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Can you learn this pattern?

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Put the fugue together!

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 A ‘fugue’

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 Lesson 5
Instrumental fugue

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 Let’s use instruments!
 

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 Rehearse your fugue
 

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 Lesson 6
Structure and performance time!

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Let’s use instruments!

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How will you order your piece?

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 Let’s perform

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Taking it further – cross-curricular activities
MOVEMENT: Bach’s music is so lively and rhythmic, why
not dance to it?
  

LITERACY: Research Bach’s life and career and write a

story about him (he was very interesting, he had 20
children and he loved coffee!). A lot of his music was lost
for over 100 years until a composer called Mendelssohn
found it and started performing it. Write the story of this
discovery or make an advert for the first concert of long-
lost music

Copyright : Words - Rachel Leach, Design - BBC 38