Lesson video

Hi everybody.

Welcome to this lesson on rehearsing a texture of two or more parts.

This is from our "Playing together" unit, where we are discovering different vocal timbres.

My name is Mr. Croughan, and I'm excited to be working with you today as we are starting to layer up more of our beatboxing sounds.

Here we go.

In this lesson, you'll be able to focus on holding your own part as we build a texture in a beatboxing vocal ensemble.

Let's begin by looking at today's keywords.

We'll begin with texture.

Texture is that combination of different layers of sound.

Then to rehearse.

Rehearsing is to practice in order to improve and prepare for a performance.

The pulse, the regular steady heartbeat of the music.

And timbre, a description of the sound or tone of an instrument.

We know how important it is to warm up our voice and our bodies for each music lesson.

We're gonna focus on our breathing.

We're going to warm up our mouth and our tongue with some tongue twisters, and we'll gently stretch our vocal folds with some vocal exercises.

This is gonna keep our voices strong and healthy, as well as prepare us to make some quality beatboxing sounds.

Please follow these warmups so you're ready.

<v ->Join in with this breathing warmup.

</v> Imagine we are blowing out candles on a birthday cake.

Take a deep breath in, and blow.

Let's do that again.

<v ->Ck.

</v> <v ->Ck.

</v> <v ->Ck ck.

</v> <v ->Ck ck.

</v> <v ->Ts.

</v> <v ->Ts.

</v> <v ->Ts ts.

</v> <v ->Ts ts.

</v> <v ->Ts ts ts.

</v> <v ->Ts ts ts.

</v> <v ->Mm.

</v> <v ->Mm.

</v> <v ->Vv.

</v> <v ->Vv.

</v> <v ->Th.

</v> <v ->Th.

</v> <v ->Ck puh tuh.

</v> <v ->Ck puh tuh.

</v> <v ->Fuh fuh fuh.

</v> <v ->Fuh fuh fuh.

</v> <v ->Mm.

Ck.

</v> <v ->Mm.

Ck.

</v> <v ->Vv.

Tuh.

</v> <v ->Vv.

Tuh.

</v> <v ->Th.

</v> <v ->Th.

</v> <v Woman>Repeat after me.

</v> Gobbledygook, gobbledygook.

Hobbledy wobbledy bobbledygook.

Jump up and down, all about town.

Round and around and around and around.

<v ->Real good stuff.

</v> Now then.

Our song "build me up" develops our understanding of texture, and it warms us up ready for beatboxing as well.

I would like you to practice the three vocal parts that follow each other on the track.

I'm going to play the track in a moment.

So you've got the spoken one, the sung one, and then the slightly higher sung one.

So that part three, the second sung part, has the same melodic shape as part two, so the pitch goes up and down the same, it just starts on a slightly higher note.

So be ready for that.

The spoken bit first, follow on as best you can.

Here comes the track.

Great!

Really well done!

So, are we ready to make music?

Let's have a check in.

Is our body feeling relaxed and ready?

Is our voice warmer than it was before?

And we're feeling focused.

If we are, let's press on.

There are two learning cycles in today's lesson.

The first one, "Rehearsing beatboxing sounds", and then the second, "Holding a part in a musical texture".

Let's begin by rehearsing our beatboxing sounds.

We're gonna watch Jason.

He's gonna use his mouth and his voice to mimic the sounds of the kick drum, the hi-hat, and the snare drum.

Here comes Jason.

<v ->Okay, so this is the sound</v> of the three instruments altogether.

The bass drum, the hi-hat, and the snare drum.

Now after four, we'll do it together.

One, two, three, four.

Well done.

<v ->So each vocalization</v> creates a different sound or timbre.

We're now gonna practice our drum kit sounds, and we're gonna make them as accurate as we can.

Remember how to shape your mouth differently to mimic the different sounds.

The bass drum sound is locked in the letter B or the sound buh, with the air and vibration going through.

The hi-hat sound is locked in the letters T with a S on the end, so the ts.

And then the snare drum, locked in the letter K, which is pronounced as kh.

And then when we make that into the snare drum sound, the kh.

Okay.

We are going to work on each of these.

We're going to improve the bass drum, buh sound.

So making the buh for boat, as if we're about to say boat, buh.

Our lips are closed, and we let that pressure of air build up slightly.

And then we control the release of that with our lips, just enough so a little bit of a vibration happens as the air comes through.

Buh.

Buh.

Okay?

You're gonna practice that one.

Then, the hi-hat sound, that t as the end of hat.

We strengthen that consonant sound with a short burst of air, ts, and that, just allowing that S to follow through, and it creates a hi-hat effect, that ts, ts.

Okay?

And then you're going to look at your snare sound using the letter K and the sound kh.

So we make the sound kh as in kick.

And we strengthen that sound with a burst of air, kh.

And we're keeping our cheeks relaxed so we get a kh sound.

Okay?

I'd like you to pause and work on each of those.

Off you go.

Very good.

We're gonna match the beatboxing sounds to the instrument now.

There is A, B, and C.

I will play them in order, and you match if they are, if you're hearing the snare drum, the hi-hat, or the bass drum.

Here comes A.

Did you get that one?

The next one, B, I'll play for you now.

And now C.

Very good.

Let's see how you did.

Did you match them all up?

So, let's work it out.

A, that was the bass drum, using the letter B, the buh sound.

B, the snare drum, with our letter K, that kh sound.

And then C, the hi-hat with our ts sound.

Really well done if you got all of those right.

What is the musical element that describes the sound or tone of an instrument?

That name, that musical element, is describing the sound or the tone?

Something about the quality of sound?

What is it?

Do we remember?

Give you a clue.

It begins with a T.

If you think you know, give us a thumbs up, and I will reveal it is, timbre!

Thanks, Aisha.

Yes, timbre.

That's the word we use to give, to describe the sound or the tone of an instrument, or our voice, which is an instrument, too.

We can combine two drum kit sounds together to create a beatbox rhythm.

Now, if we chose to put the bass drum and the snare sounds together and kept a steady pulse, so the pulse is going one, two, three, four, we can add the bass drum and the snare and it'll sound like this.

And we can keep that going to a steady pulse.

I'm gonna show you one more, and then I'd like you to pause and work on both of these.

Jun's rhythm has a double kick on the first beat, so we hear on the first beat.

And then the third beat is delayed.

So the whole thing sounds like this.

Okay, I'd like you to pause, and work on those, first, the steady one from Sam, and then Jun's.

Okay, pause here, and work on both of those.

I'll see you when you're done.

Mighty fabulous, and great, well done.

Now, in two groups, you are going to combine the hi-hat sound and the new bass drum rhythm.

So we know our new bass drum rhythm goes with a steady two, three, four.

Underneath it, the hi-hat hits on every beat, just the keeping the steady beat going.

Okay?

In two groups, you're gonna combine that.

One half of the class on the new bass drum rhythm, the other half on the hi-hat, and then you can swap over.

What's gonna be great is when you pause, you can rehearse these beatboxing sounds to the backing track, 'cause that's gonna help you keep a steady pulse.

Pause now, and I'll catch you when you've had a go.

So how was it?

How did you feel?

Were you able to feel that steady pulse?

Were you able to keep to the beat?

Jacob says, "I listened to the beat on that backing track, and I kept in time.

" Hearing that backing track, feeling that steady beat, really helped keep his part of the rhythm in time.

And Izzy said, "I make sure I played in time with everyone else.

" So even if you're not a hundred percent confident, there's enough people in your group doing the same thing, so you can work together to keep that sound even and in time to the pulse.

Well done.

In beatboxing, the voice is used in different ways to mimic different instrumental timbres, and we're gonna practice the shaker sound and the claves sound to make them as accurate as possible, and we're gonna give the shaker a new rhythm.

So, if we think of the steady pulse as one, two, three, four, keep that going.

Our shaker sound is gonna go.

So to make the shaker beatboxing sound, our lips are forwards, and we're vocalizing a ch sound.

So if we think of the steady pulse like this, one and two and three and four and, we're coming in on the first and, so, one and, would be one ch.

So one ch ch ch, ch ch ch, and ch ch ch, ch ch ch.

One ch ch ch, three ch ch ch.

Okay?

The second rhythm is the claves rhythm, and we've got our tongue click, which is where we put our tongue on the roof of our mouth, sort of towards the front by the hard palate, suck the air away of any gap between it, and then pull our tongue down.

So it's kind of a,.

And remember, they're all on the beat, apart from the last one, which is slightly earlier, so if the steady beat is two, three, four, we get,.

Okay.

You're gonna pause here and practice both of those rhythms and I'll see you in a moment.

Brilliant!

So, now we've got those, we're gonna split into two groups.

One half of the class will begin on the shaker rhythm and the other half of the class on the claves sound.

Okay.

So we get with our one, two, three, four.

Which group's gonna go first?

Which are we gonna hear first?

We're gonna hear the claves sound first, 'cause they are right on the first beat.

So if it's one, two, three, four.

Okay?

With the shaker group, you are starting on the and, so ready, steady, off we go.

One ch ch ch, ch ch ch, okay?

And you're gonna use the backing track that's gonna give you that steady pulse.

Once you've had a go in that formation, swap over instrument sounds, so you get a chance to make both the shaker and the claves rhythms.

Off you go.

You are getting better all the time.

Well done.

How did listening to each other help this time?

Well, Jacob says that, "Listening carefully to the other part made sure my shaker sound wasn't too loud.

" That's really good.

So Jacob's thinking about the dynamics as well.

He doesn't want to be too loud.

He wants an even balance of sound in both parts.

And Izzy says, "Listening to that other part helped me sound that tricky fourth clave note in right place.

" Well done, Izzy.

Keep practicing.

Now then, this is your first practice task.

You are going to divide into four groups to rehearse the beatboxing sounds together.

Four parts, it's gonna sound awesome, including the new bass drum rhythm.

So one group can start on the bass drum, giving it the.

Group two, on the hi-hats.

Group three on the shaker eggs.

One ch ch ch, ch ch ch, ch ch ch.

And then group four on the claves.

Okay, you're gonna add in each part one by one.

That doesn't mean the first group is gonna be going for the longest, but they are setting a great, steady pulse.

You then add in the second sound, then group three, then group four, until it's built up and you are building it slowly, to make sure everyone can feel that steady pulse, and keep in time.

When you're ready, you can perform this with the backing track, listening carefully.

That's gonna help you to keep in time with each other.

And we remember to balance each part so we can hear those different timbres, and one part isn't too loud, drowning out the others.

All right, pause here.

Work through both of those stages, and I'll see you when you're done.

Wow, brilliant.

Really well done.

You've worked through both of those parts.

You've built up that sound.

You've worked with that backing track, you've felt the steady pulse, and each time you rehearse, you're trying to hone those beatboxing vocalizations more accurately every time.

Great.

Last question.

Why is rehearsing important?

Now that you've made all those sounds, you can just have a pause and a little quick discussion in your class to think, why is rehearsing important?

And then come back to me.

Brilliant!

So what did you say?

Well, some ideas from the Oak class.

Andeep says, "Well, I improve when I rehearse, and it makes my performance more accurate.

" Great reason.

Aisha says, "It allows me to get better at keeping in time.

" And that's obviously gonna help her improve her performing as an ensemble.

Fantastic.

And Jun says, "It can help us balance the parts so that we can hear everyone," and whatever you said, too, really thoughtful answers.

Great job.

It's time for the second part of our lesson today, where we're holding a part in a musical texture.

So we're gonna begin by watching Jason perform, and he's using a loop station to record his initial beatboxing sounds.

So a loop station allows musicians to record, play that bit that they've recorded back, and then layer more musical phrases on top of it.

Have a watch and you'll see what I mean.

So cool.

So those layers are creating texture.

The more layers he's adding, the thicker that texture is.

Multiple layers create the texture.

You're gonna listen to the song "Build Me Up" now.

I'm gonna play you this track, and it's made up of five layers of sound, and I would like you to watch how each of these are added, one by one, during the song.

You'll see some appear and disappear on the screen.

Are you ready?

Listening and watching carefully.

Here comes the track.

So that song began with a thin texture, and ended with a thick texture, once those layers were all added in.

In "Build Me Up", Jason provides the beatboxing layer, which we've called part five.

Now his layer continues right throughout the piece, and it works with the piano layer to create the accompaniment for the song, for that singing part and the spoken part we hear.

Now, our new beatboxing rhythm, that we've rehearsed earlier this lesson, is gonna become the new part one for our song, "Build Me Up".

You are going to do the following.

Divide into four groups like you were before, to rehearse that new beatboxing rhythm using Jason's beatboxing and the piano accompaniment.

So the track that you're gonna use, this one here, just has the beatboxing and the piano, okay?

You are gonna feel that steady pulse, and you are gonna add your layer of that beatboxing rhythm that we've rehearsed in those four parts to that track.

Are you ready?

Off you go.

How was it?

Did you manage to balance the parts so those three layers were quite clear?

So you've got Jason's beatboxing part, you've got the piano accompaniment part, and then you've got your new beatboxing rhythm part.

If those sounds, you could hear them all, they were all balanced, then you've done a great job.

We're now going to rehearse the sung vocal layers.

These are parts two and three.

I'd like you to first listen to the two sung vocal parts.

They follow each other on the track.

Part two starts, then part three, and then you'll hear part two and three together.

That's the first thing you're going to do.

You're just going to listen, become familiar.

The second time you put the track on, you're gonna join in with part two.

Just singing part two, everyone together, and then join in with part three.

By this point, everyone's gonna be pretty familiar with the tune that follows for part two and the tune for part three.

All right?

Then, because you're amazing, you get to divide into two groups to rehearse both sung parts together.

So you're still singing with the track.

This group is following part two, this group is following part three, and you all sing together, part two and part three at the same time, okay?

So pause here, listen first, join in second, one track at a time, one part, and then put it all together.

All right?

Catch you when you're done.

You are a talented bunch!

Well done!

Now, Aisha says, "When performing different layers together, what helps is really feeling the pulse.

" Good advice.

Sofia also says, "Watching other people can help the performance stay in time as well.

" When we're really aware of what everyone's, what everyone's doing, that helps us all feel that steady pulse together.

And Izzy adds, "Listen to how the parts fit together, and then you can enjoy singing together in harmony.

" It's something to feel pretty proud of.

Quick check-in for you then.

True or false?

To improve a performance in parts, it's important to try and ignore the other layers of sound.

Just focus on yours.

Is that true or false?

I'll say it one more time.

To improve a performance that we're doing in parts, it's important to try and ignore the other layers of sound so you can just focus on yours.

What do you think?

Is that true or false?

If you think it's true, gimme a thumbs up.

If you think it's false, gimme a thumbs down.

And if you have your thumb down right now, you are absolutely right.

Really well done.

We want to listen to all the parts, that's gonna help us stay together as an ensemble.

We're connecting with each other.

We're looking and we're listening.

This helps the whole performance shine.

Now then, this is your last task of the day.

This is "Build Me Up".

Here's how it's gonna work, because you are fantastic.

You divide into three groups.

One group, say you're 30 in a class.

One group of about 10, okay?

Is gonna vocalize the new beatboxing rhythm.

So you need to then divide up so you can create those four parts.

Yes?

The second group is going to sing part two, the sung bit, which we did just then, and then the other group sing part three.

These are three layers that then come together.

You will use the backing track that has just the piano and Jason's beatboxing accompaniment, and then it's up to you to decide how you build the texture.

For example, does the beatboxing group start?

When does group two come in?

When does group three come in?

Are they, do they do one then the other then both together?

It's entirely up to you.

So now is your chance to create.

Use that backing track to help you, and have a brilliant time.

See you in a bit.

Well done.

That is super impressive.

I hope you had a brilliant time.

I'm sure it wasn't absolutely perfect, but what is fantastic is you are listening, getting that steady pulse, so that you can create your part in time with those other parts coming in and out too, thickening that texture.

I'm super impressed.

How did you rehearse successfully?

Well, Andeep says, "We performed the song more than once and we practiced the tricky bits.

" This is sound advice.

Aisha says, "Listening and watching to the other members of the ensemble.

" Very important.

Super advice, and really helps.

And Jun says, "We kept a steady pulse.

" If you're all feeling that pulse together, you're gonna keep in time.

It's gonna sound marvelous.

If you've time, you can pause.

You can take some of that advice and have another go, and then we are going to be done for this lesson.

So just time for a summary of our learning.

Beatboxing sounds can be layered with vocal parts to make a texture of two or more parts.

To hold a part in a texture, it's really important to rehearse together, and we rehearse as a musical ensemble, holding our part, creating a bigger texture as part of a whole.

A loop station.

This is something that allows musicians to record and play back and layer up musical phrases.

And then different beatboxing sounds create different timbres when they imitate instruments.

You have been amazing today.

Really well done.

I look forward to seeing you next time.

Bye for now.