Lesson video

Hi, everybody.

Welcome to this lesson on drone accompaniments to songs.

This is from our Playing Together unit, building texture with melody, drone, and ostinato.

My name's Mr. Croghan and I'm looking forward to us building more texture in our music today.

Here we go.

By the end of this lesson, you'll be adding texture to a song by playing a drone.

Let's begin with our keywords for today.

Let's start with drone.

That is the constant pitched sound that runs throughout a piece of music.

Then we have texture, the combination of different layers of sound working together.

And then pitch, how high or low a note is.

We know how important it is to warm up our voices and our minds and bodies before we begin to make music.

Just like we would stretch our muscles before we exercise, we can stretch our vocal chords before singing, and if we're warming up our minds and our ears, that's gonna help us to play and sing together to a steady pulse.

So, I would like you to follow these warm-ups so that you're ready for singing.

Here they come.

This is a game called, "Don't Clap This One Back." You'll hear me clapping different rhythms, like this one.

(hands clapping) And that rhythm is actually our secret rhythm that we are never going to clap because that rhythm says, don't clap this one back.

So if you hear it, you do nothing.

Any other rhythm you hear we all clap together.

Let's try a couple.

(hands clapping) (hands clapping) (hands clapping) Very, very good.

Now you're going to listen super carefully because if you hear, (hands clapping) we don't clap that rhythm back.

Okay, let's play.

(hands clapping) (hands clapping) (hands clapping) (hands clapping) Did I catch any of you out? Let's try one more time.

Here we go.

(hands clapping) (hands clapping) (hands clapping) (hands clapping) (hands clapping) Very well done.

Now you can practice that where you are.

(uplifting piano music) ♪ One, one, two, one, one, two, three, two, one ♪ ♪ One, two, three, four, three, two, one ♪ ♪ One, two, three, four, five, four, three, two, one ♪ ♪ One, two, three, four, five, six, ♪ ♪ Five, four, three, two, one, ♪ ♪ One, two, three, four, five, six, seven ♪ ♪ Six, five, four, three, two, one ♪ ♪ One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight ♪ ♪ Seven, six, five, four, three, two, one ♪ ♪ Eight, eight, seven, eight, ♪ ♪ Eight, seven, six, seven, eight ♪ ♪ Eight, seven, six, five, six, seven, eight ♪ ♪ Eight, seven, six, five, four, five, six, seven, eight ♪ ♪ Eight, seven, six, five, four, three, four, five, ♪ ♪ Six, seven, eight ♪ ♪ Eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, three ♪ ♪ Four, five, six, seven, eight ♪ ♪ Eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one ♪ ♪ Two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight ♪ ♪ Ready, steady, off we go ♪ ♪ Senwa dedende, senwa ♪ ♪ Senwa dedende, senwa ♪ ♪ Senwa dedende ♪ ♪ Senwa dedende ♪ ♪ Senwa dedende, senwa ♪ ♪ Senwa dedende, senwa ♪ ♪ Senwa dedende, senwa ♪ ♪ Senwa dedende ♪ ♪ Senwa dedende ♪ ♪ Senwa dedende, senwa ♪ ♪ Senwa dedende, senwa ♪ ♪ Senwa dedende, senwa ♪ ♪ Senwa dedende ♪ ♪ Senwa dedende ♪ ♪ Senwa dedende, senwa ♪ <v ->And now we're all warm and alert and focused,</v> here are the two learning cycles in today's lesson.

The first one, hearing the effects of drones in music.

And the second one, we'll be adding a drone to a song.

Let's begin by hearing the effects of drones in music.

Hindustani classical music is from North India, and in this music, a drone is usually played on an instrument called a tanpura.

That constant sound provides a foundation for the rest of the music to sit on.

Have a listen to it.

Can you hear it being played under the other instruments? (classical Hindustani music) In Scotland, there is traditional music that uses drones too.

These are the bagpipes, and each bagpipe usually has at least one drone pipe.

Now, the bagpipes are played by inflating the bag part and blowing into the blow pipe and the air's let out of the pipes by squeezing the bag under the arm.

Have a listen and see if you can hear that constant sound of the drone that runs throughout.

(Scottish bagpipe music) Wonderful.

Time for a quick check then.

Which of these following statements is the correct one? Is it a drone is the regular steady heartbeat of the music, or B, a drone is a musical instrument, or C, a drone is a repeating musical pattern, or D, a drone is a constant pitched sound? If you think A, B, C, or D, let me know.

And the answer is, are you all pointing to the right one? It is D, a drone is a constant pitched sound.

Our voices can also be used to create a drone.

I'd like you to find an instrument in your classroom that can play a C, and then as a whole class, sing that note to an open ah sound, a bit like this.

(sings ah) And then have a go at singing it more softly like this.

(sings ah) And holding that can form the basis of a vocal drone.

I'd like you to pause here and practice that where you are.

Lovely sound.

Now we can create a drone in our class that can last as long as we need it to.

You're gonna play that C again, trying to hold that pitch in your mind.

And if the whole class is singing, you can each one of you breathe when you need to and you won't all be breathing at the same time.

We call this staggered breathing.

So standing, if you can, sing your drone on a C as a whole class, not too loudly, that nice, soft, smooth voice coming through, and see if you can keep it going for about 20 seconds or so.

And just each one of you breathe whenever you need to and gently come back in with your open ah sound.

Pause now and try that for a constant drone sound.

Great.

And now we know how to create that drone, that constant sound as a class, we can experiment with the way it sounds.

We can explore its timbre, its vocal quality.

Now some of these sounds we can make might sound similar to different musical instruments.

So you're going to sing your drone four times and each time with a different sound.

The first one will be an ooh sound.

Then we'll have a hmm, then we'll sing it to an or, and then finally to vuh.

And decide as you are singing as a whole group, do any of those sound a bit like musical instruments and which sound to create a drone as a whole class do you like the sound of best? Remember, you still breathe whenever you need to.

Explore those four sounds now, off you go.

Really well done.

I'm sure there's a great rich drone sound coming through in your classroom.

Perhaps one of those sounds was a favorite that you enjoyed making together.

Here's your task.

You're going to sing Senwa Dedende once through.

Your very final note is the C, and that will become your drone sound.

You'll be in two groups, a melody group singing the song and the drone group.

Now you get to swap over each time so everyone gets a turn at everything.

I'd like you to sing Senwa Dedende with that vocal drone from the drone group under each time you do.

To that C note to that ah, you're singing softly.

Remember to take a breath whenever you need to.

That's what we call our staggered breathing in that drone group.

And change the drone sound each time to experiment and explore.

Just find out which one you really like.

We've got the ah, or the hmmm, or perhaps the vuh, and any sound that you've tried that works really well for you.

Enjoy exploring those drone sounds and accompanying Senwa Dedende.

Off you go.

How was that for you? I hope it sounded wonderful Andeep says, "Once we were singing the drone all together on the same note, I could begin to hear how that harmonized with the other notes," in the melody part.

So we've got the constant note and those other notes in the melody changing and sometimes they sounded really well harmonized together.

Sophia says she really liked the hvvv sound because when she sang it gently, it sounded like a string instrument being played.

Laura says, "We each breathed when we needed to, and because it was staggered, the drone sound was constant and sounded good." Well, I really hope that happened where you were too.

Really well done.

It's time to move on to our second learning cycle, which is adding a drone to a song.

Abiyo Abeyo comes from the Aboriginal people of Australia.

Now this song is a welcome song.

In Aboriginal culture, songs are very important.

They bring people together and they help share stories.

Aisha is singing the lines to Abiyo Abeyo, and you can see that the lyrics are short, abiyo, abeyo, abio, bio, bima, ma.

Abiyo Abeyo can be sung as an echo song.

In a moment, I'm going to play the track and I would like you to join in with the echoes.

So you'll hear Abiyo and you'll follow with abiyo.

What I would like you to do is hold your notes under the echo so it will sound like this, ♪ Abiyo ♪ ♪ Abeyo ♪ Because then you are providing almost a drone sound under the other voice.

Here comes the track.

Be ready to join in with those echoes and hold the longer notes.

Here we go.

♪ Ready, steady, off we go ♪ ♪ Abiyo ♪ ♪ Abiyo ♪ ♪ Abeyo ♪ ♪ Abeyo ♪ ♪ Abio, bio, bima, ma ♪ ♪ Abio, bio, bima, ma ♪ ♪ Abio, bio, bima, ma ♪ ♪ Abio, bio, bima, ma ♪ ♪ Abiyo ♪ ♪ Abiyo ♪ ♪ Abeyo ♪ ♪ Abeyo ♪ ♪ Abiyo, bio, bima, ma ♪ ♪ Abiyo, bio, bima, ma ♪ ♪ Abiyo, bio, bima, ma ♪ ♪ Abiyo, bio, bima, ma ♪ <v ->Great job, good.

</v> So now what we can do is explore how a drone can affect the sound and feel of a song.

And we can choose which drone pitch sounds better with the song.

So the starting note of Abiyo Abeyo is an A.

It's abiyo.

(sings) And then the lower note is the do, that D that we're playing down there.

So we've got this one to choose from or this one to choose from.

Do is the final note that we sing at the end of the song.

Both of these are potential drone sounds.

We're gonna explore which one we prefer.

So our two options, the A or the D, and I'd like you to find an instrument that can play both of those notes.

Might be a xylophone or a glockenspiel or some chime bars.

Pop the track on, add your drone first.

Everyone who's playing those instruments at the time, you can swap when you're sharing and play the A.

And then try on a D.

And if you want to explore further, you can use your voice.

So an oh as an O sound.

And then if it's on the D, oh, maybe a hum as well.

You've got a bit of time to, with that track, explore which drone sound sounds good in your class.

Make sure when you're working that you are using the same drone at the same time to get that clear drone sound and help you decide which one you prefer.

Off you go.

Lovely work.

So now we've probably decided if we're going to be playing on the A or the D and which instrument we're going to use, whether that's our voice, a xylophone or chime bar, or perhaps maybe you even have recorders or ocarina's or something in your class that can play that constant sound.

Our next step is to build the texture of the song further.

You are going to divide into two groups, where one group sings the call and the other group sings the echo.

(sings) So abiyo, abiyo, abeyo, and so on, making sure you're holding those long notes each time.

What I'd like you to notice when you do it is in the last line we get abio, bio, bima, ma, there is an overlap when the second part comes in.

Listen, I'll try and do it for you.

♪ Abio, bio, bima, ma ♪ ♪ Abio, bio, bima, ma ♪ So the ma at the end of the first group is overlapped by the second group coming through, okay? When you've mastered that, we'll be ready to add our drone in.

So pause here and sing the song in two parts.

Off you go.

Wonderful.

And here is your practice task.

You are going to add a drone to this song with the echoes.

So number one, now you're feeling more confident with those echoes, sing Abiyo Abeyo in two groups with the echoes.

Then you're going to explore which instrument it is you're going to play that drone on.

Now you can still be exploring whether you've decided on the A or the D.

That's up to you.

And also explore singing the drone like to an ah, or a hmm, or a hum, whichever note you've decided upon of the A or the D.

It might be that in your classroom, there's someone that plays a violin or a recorder that also might be able to provide that drone sound.

You can work in groups, a drone group, and then the two groups singing both parts of the song.

I would like you to sing with the echoes and add your drone.

Do it a couple of times.

Explore with those drone sounds and see which one you like best.

How neat can you make your work? You can use the track to help you and can you have that constant drone sound sounding rich and smooth and not too loud while the two groups are singing Abiyo Abeyo? Good luck, and I'll see you when you're done.

Super work, people, a great variety of drone sounds.

Now I wonder how it sounded to you and which sounds you preferred and why.

Jun says that in his group, they tried an A and a D on chime bars.

Jun says, well, I preferred the D.

I thought it sounded more solid.

I see what he means.

Maybe that just, that root note at the, the note we end the song with sounded solid to him.

Great if that worked for you, super.

Sam said, I really liked the texture within the sung echoes and the drone together.

That was a great sound, a warm, thicker sound.

So we're building texture with our echoes and the drone.

Andeep says "In our class, Alex and Izzy can play the recorder so they played the drone for us." What a lovely thing to have if you've got something like that where you are.

Really well done.

Great work adding texture creating a drone.

That's almost all we have time for so let's look at what we've learned today.

A drone is a continuous or repeated sound that can be played throughout a piece of music, and that drones can be played by many instruments, including bagpipes, tanpura, even didgeridoos.

A drone can accompany a melody to add depth and texture, and we can play drones using instruments available to us, including our voices.

Really well done today.

Looking forward to seeing you next time.

Bye for now.