Lesson video

Hello, and welcome to another music lesson with me, Miss Miner, and today we're going to be trying our hand at harmonising.

So let's go.

What will we cover in this lesson? We'll start off with our warmup, "Do Your Dooty." We will then improvise basic harmonies.

Following that we will learn a new song called "In Harmony." And finally, the challenge will be for you to compose your own harmony to that song.

In this lesson, you will need your body, and of course, your voice.

Do make sure that you are clear of distractions and that you've turned off any notifications you have on any apps or any conversations you have running.

Do try and find a quiet place where you won't be disturbed during the lesson, and you have the space to move and the ability to sing without disturbing anybody else.

When you've done that, press play and we'll carry on.

We're going to be warming up for today's lesson with "Do Your Dooty", which we covered in the last lesson.

Let's start off with going through each of the four parts.

Let's sing the first part together.

Here we go.

♪ Doot, doot, doot, doot, ♪ ♪ Doot, doot, doot, doot ♪ ♪ Doot, doot, doot, doot ♪ ♪ Doot, doot, doot, doot ♪ ♪ Doot, doot, doot, doot ♪ ♪ Doot, doot, doot, doot ♪ ♪ Doot, doot, doot, doot ♪ ♪ Doot, doot, doot, doot ♪ Let's try the second part.

♪ Oh, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh ♪ Let's try the third part.

♪ Oh, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh ♪ And are you ready for part four with some vocal percussion? ♪ Gong ka tss gong ka ♪ ♪ Gong ka tss gong ka ♪ ♪ Gong ka tss gong ka ♪ ♪ Gong ka tss gong ka ♪ ♪ Gong ka tss gong ka ♪ ♪ Gong ka tss gong ka ♪ ♪ Gong ka tss gong ka ♪ ♪ Gong ka tss gong ka ♪ Now hopefully, you're feeling warmed up in your voice.

And also you've been reminded of those four parts.

I would like you to choose your favourite of those four parts now, and you're going to sing along while all the other parts are going on at the same time.

Good luck.

So here we go, pick a part and try and stick with it.

While you're singing that part, do have a listen to the other parts and see how they compliment each other in their harmony as you sing.

Let's go.

♪ Oh oh ♪ ♪ Doot, doot, doot, doot ♪ ♪ Oh oh ♪ ♪ Doot, doot, doot, doot ♪ ♪ Oh oh ♪ ♪ Doot, doot, doot, doot ♪ ♪ Oh oh ♪ ♪ Doot, doot, doot, doot ♪ ♪ Oh oh ♪ ♪ Doot, doot, doot, doot ♪ ♪ Oh oh ♪ ♪ Doot, doot, doot, doot ♪ ♪ Oh oh ♪ ♪ Doot, doot, doot, doot ♪ ♪ Oh oh ♪ ♪ Doot, doot, doot, doot ♪ ♪ Oh oh ♪ ♪ Doot, doot, doot, doot ♪ ♪ Oh oh ♪ ♪ Doot, doot, doot, doot ♪ ♪ Oh oh ♪ ♪ Doot, doot, doot, doot ♪ ♪ Oh oh ♪ ♪ Doot, doot, doot, doot ♪ ♪ Oh oh ♪ ♪ Doot, doot, doot, doot ♪ ♪ Oh oh ♪ ♪ Doot, doot, doot, doot ♪ ♪ Oh oh ♪ ♪ Doot, doot, doot, doot ♪ ♪ Oh oh ♪ ♪ Doot, doot, doot, doot ♪ ♪ Oh oh ♪ ♪ Doot, doot, doot, doot ♪ ♪ Oh oh ♪ ♪ Doot, doot, doot, doot ♪ ♪ Oh oh ♪ ♪ Doot, doot, doot, doot ♪ ♪ Oh oh ♪ ♪ Doot, doot, doot, doot ♪ ♪ Oh oh ♪ ♪ Doot, doot, doot, doot ♪ ♪ Oh oh ♪ ♪ Doot, doot, doot, doot ♪ ♪ Oh oh ♪ ♪ Doot, doot, doot, doot ♪ ♪ Oh oh ♪ ♪ Doot, doot, doot, doot ♪ And stop.

Well done.

So here's a vocabulary reminder for you.

You have been singing in harmony, quite literally, the combining of notes simultaneously, that means at the same time, to produce chords.

Pause the video to practise each of the four parts of "Do Your Dooty." When you've done that, press play and we'll continue.

So what is harmony? Is it when only one part can be heard at a time? Is it only when a pop artist has backing singers? Is it the combining of notes simultaneously to produce chords? Or is it the name of a Disney princess? Point to the answer you think is correct.

That's right.

It's the combining of notes simultaneously to produce chords.

Now it's time to recap our learning from the last lesson on hearing and singing thirds.

Let's look back at what we practised.

So in the last lesson we were thinking about chords, particularly triads, singing those three notes from a triad.

♪ Do, do, do ♪ And we call the intervals between those notes, that's the gaps between the notes, we call that space a third.

So the difference between this note, ♪ Oo ♪ and this note ♪ Oo ♪ is a third, because if we were to count the steps individually, ♪ Oo, oo, oo.

♪ ♪ One, two, three ♪ It would be a third, the difference would be a third.

So we call that a third.

Now we're going to think about singing in thirds a little bit more today.

And you'll find with lots of harmonies that you've heard, to pop songs or to things on the radio, there is often a third involved.

So, if I sing this: ♪ Oo oo oo.

♪ You're then going to sing it a third higher for me.

♪ Oo oo oo ♪ Let's try it.

I'll sing my parts, and then you're going to sing it a third higher.

♪ Oo, oo oo oo, oo ♪ ♪ Mm, mm mm mm, mm ♪ Well done.

How about this? ♪ Doo doo, bee doo, doo doo ♪ ♪ Mm mm, mm mm, mm ♪ ♪ Oo oo, oo oo oo, oo ♪ ♪ Mm mm, mm mm mm, mm ♪ And what about if my note moves a little bit? ♪ Oo oo oo ♪ Your turn.

♪ Oo oo oo ♪ Let's try that again.

My turn.

♪ Oo oo oo ♪ Up a third.

♪ Oo oo oo ♪ Well done.

So how about if I sang this? ♪ Oo oo oo ♪ Your turn.

♪ Oo oo oo ♪ That's it, you're getting the hang of it.

So you always follow the same pattern, but you're going to put it up a third, or we might call this transposing something up a third in music.

Now we're going to try putting those harmonies together.

So I'm going to teach you a simple melody, and then we're going to learn both that and what the melody sounds like a third higher.

Have a listen to this.

♪ Doo doo doo doo ♪ Let's see if we can sing that together.

♪ Doo doo doo doo ♪ If you didn't that time, let me hear you joining in this time.

♪ Off we go ♪ ♪ Doo doo doo doo ♪ Well done.

So if we were to put it up a third, it would sound like this: ♪ Doo doo doo doo ♪ Sing it with me this time.

♪ Doo doo doo doo ♪ Can you remember the lower part? Sing it with me.

♪ Doo doo doo doo ♪ And up a third.

♪ Doo doo doo doo ♪ And let's see what those two parts sound like together.

So let's start off with our lowest part.

♪ Doo doo doo doo ♪ ♪ Doo doo doo doo ♪ Can you add a third above that? ♪ Doo doo doo doo ♪ ♪ Doo doo doo doo ♪ Keep going.

♪ Doo doo doo doo ♪ ♪ Doo doo doo doo ♪ Here's a challenge for some of you: Can you do a third above that? ♪ Doo doo doo doo ♪ ♪ Doo doo doo doo ♪ ♪ Doo doo doo doo ♪ ♪ Doo doo doo doo ♪ ♪ Doo doo doo doo ♪ ♪ Doo doo doo ♪ So now we're going to be trying our hand at improvising a harmony.

Now, when we're improvising, we're making it up.

There's nothing preset, there's nothing we've learned already, and there's certainly nothing written down.

The idea is for you to sing and use your ear to have a go at making up some new melodies and some new harmonies.

Now you can, of course, use the thirds that we've been practising and how to pitch a third higher, and that could be a good starting point.

But if you feel confident, try and experiment with some other notes to see if they clash, if they're dissonant or if they're resonant and they sound lovely and make a brilliant harmony.

Now don't forget, when you're improvising, you are likely to hit some notes that perhaps you don't like.

Don't worry if you do, just take a step up or a step down until you find something that's more pleasing to your ear.

I will show you now how improvising works, and my friend over here is going to have a go improvising.

She may well hit a few notes that perhaps don't sound as resonant as she'd like.

So she's just going to take a move up or down until she finds something that she does.

♪ Oh oh oh oh ♪ ♪ Oh oh oh oh ♪ ♪ Oh oh oh oh ♪ ♪ Oh oh oh oh ♪ ♪ Oh oh oh oh ♪ ♪ Oh oh oh oh ♪ ♪ Oh oh oh oh ♪ ♪ Oh oh oh oh ♪ ♪ Oh oh oh oh ♪ ♪ Oh oh oh oh ♪ ♪ Oh oh oh oh ♪ ♪ Oh oh oh oh oh ♪ So now it's your turn to harmonise with me.

Remember, if you hit a note that you're not so fond of, just move around until you find one that you are.

As I demonstrated in the last video, it's no problem if you find a note that doesn't quite fit as you'd like, you can always find another one.

If it wasn't for the wrong notes, we wouldn't know enough about the right ones.

♪ Oh oh oh oh ♪ ♪ Oh oh oh oh ♪ Start to improvise.

♪ Oh oh oh oh ♪ Good! ♪ Oh oh oh oh ♪ ♪ Oh oh oh oh ♪ ♪ Oh oh oh oh ♪ ♪ Oh oh oh oh ♪ ♪ Oh oh oh oh ♪ ♪ Oh oh oh oh ♪ ♪ Oh oh oh oh ♪ ♪ Oh oh oh oh ♪ ♪ Oh oh oh oh ♪ ♪ Oh oh oh oh ♪ Keep trying! ♪ Oh oh oh oh ♪ ♪ Oh oh oh oh ♪ ♪ Oh oh oh oh ♪ Last time.

♪ Oh oh oh oh oh.

♪ Well done.

How did you get on? So, now it's time for you to pause the video, to practise your harmony.

When you've done that, press play, and we'll carry on.

So what does improvise mean? Does it mean to make something up spontaneously? That means on the spot.

Does it mean to read notation you've never seen before? Does it mean to sing on your own or does it mean to sing with others? Point to the answer you think is correct.

That's right.

When we improvise, we make something up spontaneously.

Improvising is something that happens all the time, especially in jazz and blues music.

So now we're going to learn to sing a three-part song called "In Harmony" by Emily Barden.

So I will sing all of the parts separately, we will learn them and then we'll put them together.

The first part goes like this.

♪ I sing and you sing and we sing together, yes ♪ ♪ Everything's better in harmony ♪ I'll sing it again.

♪ I sing and you sing and we sing together, yes ♪ ♪ Everything's better in harmony.

♪ Let's have a go, my turn first and then yours.

♪ I sing and you sing ♪ ♪ And we sing together ♪ ♪ Yes, everything's better ♪ ♪ In harmony ♪ Super, let's try and sing it together.

One, two, three, four.

♪ I sing and you sing and we sing together, yes ♪ ♪ Everything's better in harmony ♪ One more time.

♪ I sing and you sing and we sing together, yes ♪ ♪ Everything's better in harmony.

♪ Well done, the second part goes like this.

♪ I sing, we sing together, yes ♪ ♪ We sing in harmony ♪ So my turn first and then yours.

♪ I sing, we sing together, yes ♪ Let's have one more go at that.

♪ I sing, we sing together, yes ♪ ♪ We sing in harmony ♪ One more turn at that second part.

♪ We sing in harmony ♪ Let's have a go at that whole second part from "I sing," from that bit.

♪ One, two, three, four.

♪ ♪ I sing, we sing together, yes ♪ ♪ We sing in harmony ♪ One more time.

♪ I sing, we sing together, yes ♪ ♪ We sing in harmony ♪ Well done.

The third part goes like this.

♪ Everybody's singing, everybody is singing ♪ ♪ Everybody is singing today ♪ ♪ Everybody's singing, everybody is singing in harmony ♪ ♪ Everybody's singing, everybody is singing ♪ ♪ Everybody is singing today ♪ ♪ Everybody's singing, everybody is singing in harmony ♪ What a mouthful, let's do it slowly ♪ Everybody's singing, everybody is singing ♪ Let's try that one more time.

♪ Everybody's singing, everybody is singing ♪ ♪ Everybody is singing today ♪ Let's do that section, have a listen.

♪ Everybody's singing, everybody is singing ♪ ♪ Everybody is singing today ♪ Have a go.

My turn.

♪ Everybody's singing ♪ ♪ Everybody is singing in harmony ♪ Super, let's have a go in slow-mo together.

♪ One, two, three, four ♪ ♪ Everybody's singing, everybody is singing ♪ ♪ Everybody is singing today ♪ ♪ Everybody's singing ♪ ♪ Everybody is singing in harmony ♪ One more time.

♪ Everybody's singing, everybody is singing ♪ ♪ Everybody is singing today ♪ ♪ Everybody's singing ♪ ♪ Everybody is singing in harmony ♪ Do we think we can go just a little bit quicker? ♪ Off we go ♪ ♪ Everybody's singing, everybody is singing ♪ ♪ Everybody is singing today ♪ ♪ Everybody's singing ♪ ♪ Everybody is singing in harmony ♪ A little bit quicker.

♪ Off we go ♪ ♪ Everybody's singing, everybody is singing ♪ ♪ Everybody is singing today ♪ ♪ Everybody's singing ♪ ♪ Everybody is singing in harmony ♪ Well done.

We're going to play a quick game of switch.

You're going to start on the first part.

And when I shout, "Switch," you're going to move to the next part.

When I shout, "Switch," you will move to the third part.

When you're on that third part and I shout, "Switch," you're going to go back up to the first part and so on.

I hope that makes sense.

So everybody starting on the first part.

♪ I sing and you sing ♪ One, two, three, go.

♪ I sing and you sing and we sing together, yes ♪ ♪ Everything's better in harmony ♪ Keep going.

♪ I sing and you sing and we sing together, yes ♪ ♪ Everything's better in harmony ♪ ♪ I sing and you sing and we sing together, yes ♪ ♪ Everything's better in harmony ♪ ♪ I sing and you sing and we sing together, yes ♪ ♪ Everything's better in harmony ♪ Switch! ♪ I sing, we sing together, yes ♪ We sing in harmony ♪ I sing, we sing together, yes ♪ ♪ We sing in harmony ♪ Switch! ♪ Everybody's singing, everybody is singing ♪ ♪ Everybody is singing today ♪ ♪ Everybody's singing, everybody is singing in harmony ♪ ♪ Everybody's singing, everybody is singing ♪ ♪ Everybody is singing today ♪ ♪ Everybody's singing, everybody is singing in harmony ♪ Switch! ♪ I sing and you sing and we sing together, yes ♪ Everything's better in harmony ♪ I sing and you sing and we sing together, yes ♪ ♪ Everything's better in harmony ♪ Switch! ♪ I sing, we sing together, yes ♪ ♪ We sing in harmony ♪ Switch! ♪ Everybody's singing, everybody is singing ♪ ♪ Everybody is singing today ♪ ♪ Everybody's singing, everybody is singing in harmony.

♪ Well done.

So now it's time for you to pick a part and see how those harmonies and those parts fit together.

Pick a part and stick with it.

So you can either sing with part one, part two, or part three.

Let's go.

♪ I sing, we sing together, yes, everybody's singing ♪ ♪ Everybody is singing, everybody is singing today ♪ ♪ We sing ♪ ♪ Everybody is singing ♪ ♪ In harmony ♪ ♪ I sing, we sing together, yes, everybody's singing ♪ ♪ Everybody is singing, everybody is singing today ♪ ♪ We sing ♪ ♪ Everybody is singing ♪ ♪ In harmony ♪ ♪ I sing, we sing together, yes, everybody's singing ♪ ♪ Everybody is singing, everybody is singing today ♪ ♪ We sing ♪ ♪ Everybody is singing ♪ ♪ In harmony ♪ ♪ I sing, we sing together, yes, everybody's singing ♪ ♪ Everybody is singing, everybody is singing today ♪ ♪ We sing ♪ ♪ Everybody is singing ♪ ♪ In harmony ♪ ♪ I sing, we sing together, yes, everybody's singing ♪ ♪ Everybody is singing, everybody is singing today ♪ ♪ We sing ♪ ♪ Everybody is singing ♪ ♪ In harmony ♪ ♪ I sing, we sing together, yes, everybody's singing ♪ ♪ Everybody is singing, everybody is singing today ♪ ♪ We sing ♪ ♪ Everybody is singing ♪ ♪ In harmony ♪ ♪ I sing, we sing together, yes, everybody's singing ♪ ♪ Everybody is singing, everybody is singing today ♪ ♪ We sing ♪ ♪ Everybody is singing ♪ ♪ In harmony ♪ ♪ I sing, we sing together, yes, everybody's singing ♪ ♪ Everybody is singing, everybody is singing today ♪ ♪ We sing ♪ ♪ Everybody is singing ♪ ♪ In harmony ♪ Pause the video to practise each part of "In Harmony." When you've done that, press play and we'll carry on.

So which part was the highest in pitch? Was it part one? ♪ I sing and you sing and we sing together, yes ♪ ♪ Everything's better in harmony ♪ Was it part two? ♪ I sing, we sing together, yes ♪ ♪ We sing in harmony ♪ Or was it part three? ♪ Everybody's singing, everybody is singing ♪ ♪ Everybody is singing today ♪ ♪ Everybody's singing, everybody is singing in harmony ♪ Which part do you think was the highest? Yes, that's right.

The second part was the highest in pitch.

Your challenge for this lesson is to see if you can add your own fourth part to this song.

We have practised harmonising.

You can use some of the words that are already there and think of a fourth part, and don't worry if at first, some of the notes aren't as pleasing to your ear as you wanted them to be.

As I said before, move up or down the notes and you might find one that fits perfectly.

Good luck.

So that brings us to the end of the lesson.

A really big well done on all the fantastic learning you've achieved in this lesson.

I've got two final things I'd like you to do now.

Firstly, think back and identify one key thing you've learnt today.

It's totally up to you what it is.

Secondly, if you'd like to, please take a picture of your work and ask your parent or carer to share it with your teacher so that they can see all the fantastic things you've learnt.

If you'd like to, please ask your parents or carer to share your work on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter, tagging @OakNational and #learnwithOak, Now, don't forget to complete the end of lesson quiz.

Well, all that's left for me to say is thank you.

Take care and enjoy the rest of your learning for today.

Bye.