Lesson video

Hi, everybody! My name's Mr. Pate, and I'm really looking forward to making some great music with you today.

Our project is called Compose and Create, composing a major melody on a stave.

Composing means making up music yourself.

And in this project we are gonna learn how to compose our own music.

This lesson is called Major Tonalities.

And in this lesson, you are gonna learn how to identify a major melody and how to describe its character.

Here are some keywords that we're gonna be using in this lesson.

We're gonna be doing a warm-up.

And a warmup is a sequence of exercises used to prepare the mind, body, and voice for singing and playing instruments.

We're gonna be using the word "tonality", and that describes the organization of notes around a central note, which we call the tonic, which helps shape the music, sound, and character.

We'll also be using the words "major" and "minor." The major scale is organized around the note "do" and it can feel quite bright, whereas the minor scale is organized around the note "la" and it feels a bit darker.

We'll finally be using the words "ascending" and "descending." Ascending describes a melody that goes up, and descending describes a melody that comes down.

And we'll be using all of those words and learning more about them in our lesson today.

Here's the learning cycles we're gonna do.

We're gonna start with our warm-up, so we are ready for music; then we're gonna learn how to identify major or minor tonality; and finally we'll look at describing the character of a melody, all in preparation for composing our own melodies in a later lesson.

Let's start by warming up.

So it's important to warm-up before each lesson to get our bodies, minds, and voices ready for music.

They gently stretch our vocal chords to help prepare us for singing, and it helps to keep our voices strong and healthy.

So let's start with a body warm-up, which will help us think about how we stand, how we breathe, and how we use our voices.

Join in with these body warm-ups, and make sure you've got a bit of space around you, so you can move.

Here we go.

<v ->We'll begin with a stretch,</v> arms high into the air, onto our tiptoes.

Hold onto a monkey bar, and we are going to not let go of that monkey bar, but we are going to lower our heels to the ground, so we're going to get taller, lowering to the count of four.

Here we go.

One, two, three, four.

Gosh, you're all super-tall.

Drop your fingers, and your wrists, and your elbows, and your shoulders, relax your knees and go, urr-rrrh-rhh-uh-uh.

<v ->Urr-rrrh-rhh-uh-uh!</v> <v ->Very good.

</v> Let's do that one more time.

Stretch up, onto your tiptoes, hold onto the monkey bar, lowering our heels to a count of four.

Going one, two, three, four.

Gosh, you're so tall now.

Drop your fingers, and your wrists, and your elbows, and your shoulders, relax your knees, and urr-rrrh-rhh-uh-uh.

<v ->Urr-rrrh-rhh-uh-uh!</v> <v ->Very good.

</v> Now let's take up as much space as we can.

Make a really, really big space, huge shapes, and we are going to shrink down into an itty tiny shape.

Tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, like a little seed.

And we are now going to grow back to the big shape when you're ready.

One, two, three, go.

Grow, grow, grow, grow, grow, grow, grow.

And relax, feet slightly apart, arms by our side.

<v ->Great.

</v> Now let's start warming up our face.

When we gently warm-up and stretch our face muscles, they feel more relaxed and less tight.

So join in with me on these face warm-ups.

Now let's warm-up our face.

We're gonna start by tapping all over our face from our neck, all the way to the top of our head to wake ourselves up.

Ready? We're starting on our neck, and just lightly tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap.

Moving up, tap, tap, tap onto your chin, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap past your cheeks; tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap past your eyes to your forehead; tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap to the very top of your head.

Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, bing.

Lovely, very good! Now we're gonna pretend to brush our teeth, but with our tongue.

So our tongue is gonna move all the way across our top and bottom teeth, all the way into the corners of your mouth, like this.

Hmm, there we go, right through the back, coming down to the other side, all the way to the back, back around.

And there we go.

Hopefully that tongue's feeling nice and exercised.

Now we're gonna make our faces really small.

We're gonna close our eyes, close our mouth, scrunch up our nose small, small, small, small, small.

And then I'm gonna say, three, two, one.

And then on three, two, one, go, you're gonna make your face as big as you can.

So big wide open eyes, open mouth, tongue out, bah.

Ready, here we go.

So small, small, small, small, small.

Three, two, one, bah.

Lovely! Let's try that one more time.

Ready, small, small, small, small, small, small.

And three, two, one, bah.

Very good! Now we're gonna do some exercises that control our breathing.

This helps our lungs fill with more air, which makes us sing better, as well as keeping the muscles around our voice safe and strong.

Let's join in with these breathing exercises.

Now we're gonna do some breathing exercises.

We are gonna breathe in over a count of four, then we're gonna hold it for a count of five, and then exhale, breathe out over a count of six.

It's gonna be a bit like this, so in.

(Pate inhaling slowly) (Pate exhaling slowly) Now you try, ready? So in for four.

Ready? And in two, three, four, and hold.

Two, three, four, five, and out.

Two, three, four, five, six.

Lovely! And again in, two, three, four, and hold.

Two, three, four, five, and out.

Two, three, four, five, six.

Well done! We're can do that again, but this time you're gonna breathe out over a count of eight, so it's gonna be a bit longer.

And rather than just a simple exhale, breathing out of the air, I want you to imagine that you are a deflating balloon.

So instead we're gonna hiss a bit like this.

Sssshhhh! Imagine the air escaping from a deflating balloon.

Let's give it a try.

So in for four, hold for five, and then deflate outwards for eight.

Ready? And in, two, three, four, hold.

Two, three, four, five, and out.

Two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

Well done! Should we try that one more time? And in, two, three, four, hold.

Two, three, four, five, and out.

Two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

Well done! Now we've looked at our breathing and how we are standing, let's start using our voice.

Let's try a tongue twister to get our voices working.

Join in with this tongue twister.

Here's a tongue twister to get your mouths and voices working.

Repeat after me, all I want is a proper cup of coffee.

Let's try that again.

All I want is a proper cup of coffee.

The next line will go, made in a proper copper coffee pot.

Try repeating after me.

Made in a proper copper coffee pot.

And again, made in a proper copper coffee pot.

Let's put them both together, so we'll go, all I want is a proper cup of coffee made in a proper copper coffee pot.

Now your turn.

Ready? And, all I want is a proper cup of coffee made in a proper copper coffee pot.

Very good! Let's try it one more time with me.

Ready? And here we go.

All I want is a proper cup of coffee made in a proper copper coffee pot.

Well done! Hopefully now we're starting to feel quite warmed up.

What does it mean when we are warmed up? Well, Andeep says, "When I'm warmed up, I stand still like a statue and I sing loudly." Izzy says, "When I'm warmed up, I stand tall, my voice feels warm and clear, and I'm relaxed and focused." Who do you think is right? Izzy's correct with this one.

When we are warmed up, we stand tall, our voice feels warm and clear, and we are relaxed and focused.

Let's continue our warm-up with a bit of a song.

Please join in with this call and response warm-up song called "Captain Jack." This is a call and response warm-up.

So when I say, "Hey ho Captain Jack", you'll repeat after me.

Let's get a bit of a march going.

(upbeat music) Get ready.

Here we go.

Ready, and here we go.

♪ Hey ho Captain Jack ♪ ♪ Take me down that railroad track ♪ (upbeat music) ♪ Got my boots, got my hat ♪ ♪ I'm gonna be in a marching band ♪ Great, let's do it again.

♪ Hey ho Captain Jack ♪ (upbeat music) ♪ Take me down that railroad track ♪ ♪ Got my boots, got my hat ♪ ♪ I'm gonna be in a marching band ♪ Well done! And again.

♪ Hey ho Captain Jack ♪ ♪ Take me down that railroad track ♪ ♪ Got my boots, got my hat ♪ ♪ I'm gonna be in a marching band ♪ (upbeat music) One more time.

♪ Hey ho Captain Jack ♪ ♪ Take me down that railroad track ♪ ♪ Got my boots, got my hat ♪ ♪ I'm gonna be in a marching band ♪ Well done! Wow, what a lot of great singing! Now hopefully we are feeling really nice and warmed up and ready to sing.

Are you standing tall and relaxed? Does your voice feel clear and warm? Does your chest feel open and your breathing feel relaxed? And finally, do you feel focused and ready to sing? If you are feeling all these things, then you are ready to go.

Let's continue with our lesson by looking at identifying major or minor tonality.

So in this unit, we are gonna learn how to compose music in a major tonality.

What does that mean? Well, tonality is how the notes in a song are arranged around a main note, which we call the tonic.

And that arrangement gives the music its mood or character.

The different tonality can make music sound happy or sad or mysterious or exciting.

So it's a really powerful tool to give character and mood to our melodies.

Let's listen to a song with a major tonality called "Oh la la ley." As you listen think, what is the mood or character of this song? (upbeat music) ♪ Oh la la ley ♪ ♪ Another evening fades away ♪ ♪ You know the evening sun ♪ ♪ Won't disappear for long ♪ ♪ Because tomorrow is another day ♪ ♪ Oh la la ley ♪ ♪ Another evening fades away ♪ ♪ You know the evening sun ♪ ♪ Won't disappear for long ♪ ♪ Because tomorrow is another day ♪ A major tonality can sometimes help a song to sound really bright.

And in that case, that song felt quite bright and positive and happy.

Look at the words below, you can see that some of the words have been highlighted in green.

Those are the words that use the pitch "do." And as we mentioned, a major tonality is notes organized around that note "do", so you should hear it quite a few times.

The solfege sign for "do" looks like this.

And the fact that this song ends on the note "do" makes it feel really finished because it's the main note or the tonic note of this major tonality.

Let's have a go at singing this song together.

First, as you're singing the song, try holding up the hand sign for "do" every time the melody reaches "do." Have a look on your screen, whenever you see a green word, that's the note "do".

and you can hold up your "do" hand sign while you are singing the song.

Let's have a go.

(upbeat music) ♪ Oh la la ley ♪ ♪ Another evening fades away ♪ ♪ You know the evening sun ♪ ♪ Won't disappear for long ♪ ♪ Because tomorrow is another day ♪ ♪ Oh la la ley ♪ ♪ Another evening fades away ♪ ♪ You know the evening sun ♪ ♪ Won't disappear for long ♪ ♪ Because tomorrow is another day ♪ Fantastic! Now we're gonna sing it one more time, but this time we're gonna try singing it with a slower tempo.

And the tempo means the speed of the music.

And by slowing the tempo down, maybe it'll change the character or the mood of the song.

So pause the video now and try singing the song together one more time at a slow tempo.

So as we've heard, songs with a major tonality are organized around the pitch "do", and a major tonality can help make a song sound bright, joyous, or cheerful.

Songs with a minor tonality on the other hand are organized around the pitch "la", and our hand symbol for "la" looks like this.

Use of a minor tonality along with the other elements of music can sometimes make a song sound darker, calm, or even apprehensive.

Let's listen to a song with a minor tonality called "Ah poor bird." As you are listening think, what is the mood or character of this song? (upbeat music) ♪ Ah poor bird ♪ ♪ Take your flight ♪ ♪ Up above the sorrow ♪ ♪ Of this dark night ♪ ♪ Ah poor bird ♪ ♪ Take your flight ♪ ♪ Up above the sorrow ♪ ♪ Of this dark night ♪ A minor tonality can sometimes help a song to feel quite dark.

And in this case, I think the mood or character of that song definitely felt a bit darker, maybe a bit sad compared to "Oh la la ley", which had a major tonality, and sounded really bright and positive.

We mentioned that if you are in a minor tonality, the notes are organized around the pitch "la", and the words you can see below have some of them highlighted in green.

And those notes there in green are the pitch "la", which looks like this.

You can see that it starts and ends on the note "la", and that makes it feel finished coming back to that tonic note, the main note in the minor scale.

Let's try singing it together twice more.

And just like our last song, we're gonna start off by making the hand symbol for "la" when you hear that note "la", which will be highlighted on the words in green.

Try singing along and making the hand symbols.

Here we go.

(upbeat music) ♪ Ah poor bird ♪ ♪ Take your flight ♪ ♪ Up above the sorrow ♪ ♪ Of this dark night ♪ ♪ Ah poor bird ♪ ♪ Take your flight ♪ ♪ Up above the sorrow ♪ ♪ Of this dark night ♪ Fantastic! Now we're gonna try singing that one more time, this time changing the dynamics, and the dynamics means the volume that we are singing at.

Changing things like the dynamics or the tempo can also change the mood or character of a song.

So try singing it one more time, this time with really quiet dynamics, and see if that changes the mood or character of the song.

Pause the video now and have a go at singing it with quiet dynamics.

So let's see if we can remember.

Which of the following would describe a major tonality? Would it be songs organized around the pitch "la"? Would it be songs that are always happy sounding? Would it be songs that are organized around the pitch "do"? Or would it be songs that are fast and upbeat? What do you think? The answer is C, songs that are organized around the pitch "do." If you said B, songs that are in a major tonality, "do" quite often sound happy or positive, but not always.

It's how the other elements of music are used as well, like the tempo, the speed, or the dynamics, the volume.

All of these things come together to give a song its character.

What can we definitely say about a major tonality? Well, it's always organized around the pitch "do." Let's see if we can put that into practice.

We're gonna have a listen to a song and try and work out whether it has a major or minor tonality.

As a reminder, songs with a major tonality are organized around the pitch "do", and they often sound quite bright, whereas songs in a minor tonality are organized around the pitch "la", and they often sound a bit darker.

So that's what we can think about to try and work out whether we think it's major or minor.

Let's have a listen to the song "Tongo." And while you're listening think, is it major or is it minor? Here we go.

Join in the echoes with me.

(upbeat music) ♪ Tongo ♪ ♪ Tongo ♪ ♪ Tongo ♪ ♪ Tongo ♪ ♪ Jimnee bye bye oh ♪ ♪ Jimnee bye bye oh ♪ ♪ Tongo ♪ ♪ Tongo ♪ ♪ Tongo ♪ ♪ Tongo ♪ ♪ Oom ba de kim bye oh ♪ ♪ Oom ba de kim bye oh ♪ ♪ Ooh a lay ♪ ♪ Ooh a lay ♪ ♪ Mah le ka ah lo way ♪ ♪ Mah le ka ah lo way ♪ ♪ Tongo ♪ ♪ Tongo ♪ ♪ Tongo ♪ ♪ Tongo ♪ ♪ Jimnee bye bye oh ♪ ♪ Jimnee bye bye oh ♪ ♪ Tongo ♪ ♪ Tongo ♪ ♪ Tongo ♪ ♪ Tongo ♪ ♪ Oom ba de kim bye oh ♪ ♪ Oom ba de kim bye oh ♪ ♪ Ooh a lay ♪ ♪ Ooh a lay ♪ ♪ Mah le ka ah lo way ♪ ♪ Mah le ka ah lo way ♪ So what did you think, major or minor? Well, this song "Tongo" has a major tonality.

Songs with a major tonality are organized around the note "do", and in this case it really helps this song to feel quite bright and positive, which it does.

You can see the words there, and the words highlighted in green show every time it uses the note "do", and all that use of the note "do" particularly at the start and end gives it a really positive, bright sound.

Let's try singing it together.

And this time as you sing it, to make it sound even brighter and even more positive, try singing with loud dynamics.

You're gonna hear two voices on the recording, you are gonna sing along with the second one, which is what we call the response.

Let's try singing nice and loudly to emphasize the lovely bright sound.

Here we go.

Join in the echoes with me.

(upbeat music) ♪ Tongo ♪ ♪ Tongo ♪ ♪ Tongo ♪ ♪ Tongo ♪ ♪ Jimnee bye bye oh ♪ ♪ Jimnee bye bye oh ♪ ♪ Tongo ♪ ♪ Tongo ♪ ♪ Tongo ♪ ♪ Tongo ♪ ♪ Oom ba de kim bye oh ♪ ♪ Oom ba de kim bye oh ♪ ♪ Ooh a lay ♪ ♪ Ooh a lay ♪ ♪ Mah le ka ah lo way ♪ ♪ Mah le ka ah lo way ♪ ♪ Tongo ♪ ♪ Tongo ♪ ♪ Tongo ♪ ♪ Tongo ♪ ♪ Jimnee bye bye oh ♪ ♪ Jimnee bye bye oh ♪ ♪ Tongo ♪ ♪ Tongo ♪ ♪ Tongo ♪ ♪ Tongo ♪ ♪ Oom ba de kim bye oh ♪ ♪ Oom ba de kim bye oh ♪ ♪ Ooh a lay ♪ ♪ Ooh a lay ♪ ♪ Mah le ka ah lo way ♪ ♪ Mah le ka ah lo way ♪ Now let's try it with another song.

Have a listen to this song and think, does it have a major or a minor tonality? The song's called "Hey ho, nobody home." Have a listen.

(upbeat music) ♪ Hey ho, nobody home ♪ ♪ Meat nor drink nor money have I none ♪ ♪ Yet I would be very, very merry ♪ ♪ Hey ho, nobody home ♪ ♪ Meat nor drink nor money have I none ♪ ♪ Yet I would be very, very merry ♪ ♪ Hey ho, nobody home ♪ ♪ Meat nor drink nor money have I none ♪ ♪ Yet I would be very, very merry ♪ ♪ Hey ho, nobody home ♪ So what do you think, does this song have a major or minor tonality? Well, this song has a minor tonality.

It's organized around the note "la", and the minor tonality helps it to sound a bit darker than the last song we listened to.

The words highlighted in green used the note "la", which is the first note and a few other notes in the song, and that helps to give it its character.

Let's try singing it again, but this time to help it sound even darker, we're gonna try singing it with a slow tempo, which can really emphasize that mood that this song has.

Here we go.

(upbeat music) ♪ Hey ho, nobody home ♪ ♪ Meat nor drink nor money have I none ♪ ♪ Yet I would be very, very merry ♪ ♪ Hey ho, nobody home ♪ ♪ Meat nor drink nor money have I none ♪ ♪ Yet I would be very, very merry ♪ ♪ Hey ho, nobody home ♪ ♪ Meat nor drink nor money have I none ♪ ♪ Yet I would be very, very merry ♪ ♪ Hey ho, nobody home ♪ Now let's have a look at describing the character of a melody.

Let's listen to a song, which has a major tonality.

It's called "Oh when the saints go marching in." Let's have a listen.

(upbeat music) ♪ Oh when the saints ♪ ♪ Go marching in ♪ ♪ Oh when the saints go marching in ♪ ♪ I want be in that number ♪ ♪ When the saints go marching in ♪ ♪ Oh when the saints ♪ ♪ Go marching in ♪ ♪ Oh when the saints go marching in ♪ ♪ I want be in that number ♪ ♪ When the saints go marching in ♪ (upbeat music) <v ->So this song has a character</v> that sounds really bright and joyful.

That's 'cause it has a major tonality, but it also has a fast tempo, which helps it to feel really bright and bouncy.

The start of this melody is also ascending, which means it goes up, and melodies that go up can also help to give it a character of positive, bright, and joyful.

The words highlighted in blue on your screen are the words that go up, ascending in this melody.

Let's listen again to a song we heard earlier on in the lesson "Oh la la ley." While you're listening think, does the first line of the melody ascend, which means go up, or descend, go down? Let's have a listen.

(upbeat music) ♪ Oh la la ley ♪ ♪ Another evening fades away ♪ ♪ You know the evening sun ♪ ♪ Won't disappear for long ♪ ♪ Because tomorrow is another day ♪ ♪ Oh la la ley ♪ ♪ Another evening fades away ♪ ♪ You know the evening sun ♪ ♪ Won't disappear for long ♪ ♪ Because tomorrow is another day ♪ So what did you think? The answer was, it descends.

♪ Oh la la ley ♪ The notes are coming down, which is descending.

How does this affect the character of the melody? What does it feel like because it's descending? What do you think? Perhaps you thought, the descending melody reminds you of the setting sun, like the words in the lyrics describe.

So what do we think are the things that affect the character of a melody? Is it whether it's major or minor? Is it whether it ascends or descends? Is it how it uses other musical elements like dynamics and tempo? Or is it all of those things? What do you think? The answer is, all of these things affects the character of a melody.

The tonality, whether it's major or minor, whether the melody ascends or descends, and how it uses all the other musical elements as well, all come together to give it its character.

Let's listen to another song now.

This one's called "I like the flowers." As you listen, we're gonna think about a couple of things.

Firstly, we're gonna think about the overall mood and character of this song.

What does it feel like? Then we're gonna sing the song together.

Finally, you are gonna describe the mood or character of this song.

And when you're doing that, you might think about whether you think it has a major or minor tonality, about whether it has a fast or slow tempo, whether it's loud or quiet in dynamics, and whether it has an ascending or descending melodic shape.

First, let's listen to it, and think about that mood or character.

Here's "I like the flowers." (upbeat music) ♪ I like the flowers ♪ ♪ I like the daffodils ♪ ♪ I like the mountains ♪ ♪ I like the rolling hills ♪ ♪ I like the fireside ♪ ♪ When the lights are low ♪ ♪ Singing a do-wap a do-wap ♪ ♪ A do-wap a do-wap ♪ ♪ I like the flowers ♪ ♪ I like the daffodils ♪ ♪ I like the mountains ♪ ♪ I like the rolling hills ♪ ♪ I like the fireside ♪ ♪ When the lights are low ♪ ♪ Singing a do-wap a do-wap ♪ ♪ A do-wap a do-wap ♪ Now we've heard it once, maybe you're starting to get a bit of an idea about the mood or character of this melody, and you're starting to think about how you could describe that.

Before we do, let's sing it together, so join in with me, and let's sing "I like the flowers." Here we go.

(upbeat music) ♪ I like the flowers ♪ ♪ I like the daffodils ♪ ♪ I like the mountains ♪ ♪ I like the rolling hills ♪ ♪ I like the fireside ♪ ♪ When the lights are low ♪ ♪ Singing a do-wap a do-wap ♪ ♪ A do-wap a do-wap ♪ ♪ I like the flowers ♪ ♪ I like the daffodils ♪ ♪ I like the mountains ♪ ♪ I like the rolling hills ♪ ♪ I like the fireside ♪ ♪ When the lights are low ♪ ♪ Singing a do-wap a do-wap ♪ ♪ A do-wap a do-wap ♪ Great singing.

Okay, now we've heard this a couple of times.

Let's think about our answer to that question.

How would you describe the mood or character of this song? Now while you're thinking about it, you should consider, do you think it has a major or a minor tonality? Do you think it has a fast or slow tempo? Does it have loud or quiet dynamics? And does it have an ascending or descending melodic shape? Pause the video now while you consider, and jot down your answers to this question, and then we'll see an example of what you could have written.

Good luck! So now you've finished your answers, maybe your answer looks a little bit like this.

Aisha says, "'I like the flowers' has a bright, bouncy, and happy mood.

It has a major tonality, and is sung at a moderately fast tempo.

The melody first descends, and then ascends during the part where they're talking about a mountain, and it's often sung at a loud dynamic.

That's a great description of this melody taking into account all of those things we've been looking at today.

Maybe yours look similar.

So let's have a little summary of what we've done today.

Firstly, we did a warm-up, and it's essential to warm-up the voice before singing to keep it strong and healthy to prevent injury.

Then we talked about tonality, many songs have a tonal center or tonality, and often this is described as major or minor.

Major tonalities are organized around the note "do", and they're often quite bright sounding.

Finally, we looked at describing the character of a melody.

And when we're doing that, we could mention the tonality whether it's major or minor, we could also mention whether it ascends or descends, and the use of other elements of music like the dynamics or the tempo.

Thank you very much, everybody.

Well done for your work in today's lesson, and I look forward to seeing you in the next one.

Thanks, bye.