Lesson video

Hi there, everyone.

Welcome to this lesson on "Stormy seas soundscapes".

This is from our compose and create unit, soundscapes of the sea.

My name is Mr. Croughan, and today, we're going to be inspired by stormy seas music to create our very own stormy sea soundscape.

Are we ready?

Let's press on.

In this lesson, we will improvise a stormy seas soundscape and we'll perform this as part of an ensemble.

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

We're going to begin with improvising.

Improvising in music is creating music right there in the moment using the voice or instruments, and that could be alone or with others.

Soloist, a musician who performs alone or they might perform the main melodic line with an accompaniment underneath.

So accompany, accompany is to play a supporting part underneath the main melody.

And melody, that combination of notes to make a memorable tune.

And lastly and importantly, ensemble, a group of people who perform together.

Today, you will be an ensemble.

And before playing and composing together, we want to warm up our playing skills, developing how well we can control our instruments.

So in a moment, we'll choose a classroom percussion instrument, and your job is to work out how to control playing your instrument quietly and also loudly, how you can get quieter and get louder too.

So we're gonna get ready to play the hoop game.

With the hoop game, step one, you put a hoop on the floor.

Each of you has a percussion instrument, and after you've worked out how to make loud and quiet sounds with it, you then choose a conductor.

That conductor can place their foot in the hoop, and if it's inside the hoop, you play your percussion instrument more loudly.

And then if they take their foot out, you can play it more quietly.

I wonder if you could break it down further.

So if one foot is in, how loud is it?

What about both feet, one foot out, and both feet out?

Can you control your instrument gradually playing louder and gradually playing quieter?

Off you go.

Very well done.

Great controlling of our instruments.

Today's learning cycles, there are two.

The first one, we're going to listen to a piece of music.

It's the "Storm" section from Sally Beamish's "Seavaigers".

And in the second part of our lesson, we're gonna be inspired by that to create our own stormy seas soundscape.

Let's begin with Sally Beamish.

"Storm" by viola player and composer Sally Beamish is performed by Chris Stout, Catriona McKay, and the Scottish Ensemble.

And this piece includes a lot of improvisation, lots of creating music in the moment.

You're going to pause now and listen, and while you listen, simply like you to think about how that music makes you feel.

Off you go.

Lovely.

Now that story in the music tells about the journey, a necessary journey of a boat traveling out of Dundee, which you can see that on the east coast of Scotland, north to Shetland.

Now that route, that sea, the weather there can be pretty dangerous sometimes with extremely high winds and storms.

This might have influenced the way we hear the music.

Chris Stout placed the Shetland fiddle.

Now the fiddle is a violin.

Lucas says, "It's called a fiddle when we play it in folk music.

" And I'd like you to just listen to this example of fiddle music and see if you could describe the timbre, that sound, the quality of sound that the fiddle or violin makes.

Have a listen.

(fiddle resonating) Now you might have said things like warm, lively, bright, dancing, fuzzy, or sweet.

Do you agree with any of those?

Perhaps you came up with many words of your own to describe that timbre of a fiddle.

By contrast, Catriona McKay plays the Scottish harp.

Now the Scottish harp, or clarsach as it's known, is Scotland's oldest national instrument.

I'd like you now to listen to this example of harp music.

How would you describe the timbre of the harp?

Here it comes.

(harp resonating) Well done, you might have said things like it sounds clear or shimmering, shiny, sweet, golden, or bright, and many other words besides.

I wonder if you agree with any of those and which words you used to describe that timbre of the harp.

If we listen now, there's a conversation between the fiddle and the harp, and it's before the storm starts, and I'd like you to be able to identify the two instruments by their timbre.

So when you think it's the fiddle playing, I'd like you to touch your nose and if you think yes, that fiddle that's leading the conversation right now.

And then touch your forehead when you think that the harp is leading the conversation.

Okay?

Nose for fiddle.

Forehead for harp.

Pause now and listen to that conversation between the fiddle and the harp.

Off you go.

Wonderful, now "Storm" is composed by Sally Beamish.

However, it does include lots of improvising, lots of making music in the moment between the fiddle and the harp musicians.

"The composer," as Andeep puts it, "has left space for the performance to decide on some of those musical ideas.

" And Alex says, "Well, that means that the piece is gonna sound different every time it's performed.

" You are right, Alex.

True or false?

Composed music never includes any improvising.

Do you think that's true or do you think that's false?

Thumbs up for true.

Thumbs down to false.

Do you think composed music never includes any improvising?

Is that true or not?

And then can you say why?

I'll give you a moment to decide.

Thumbs up if you think it's true.

Thumbs down if you think it's false.

And I can tell you it is false.

And the reason that's not true, composed music does contain improvising.

Sometimes, it can because composers can suggest ideas, including the mood and the structure, and they can leave space for performers to make some decisions for themselves.

Time for our main task of this part of the lesson.

I'd like you to stand in a circle and you're going to listen carefully to the beginning of "Storm", just standing in stillness, like the quiet before the storm.

And with your face and your body, you might show how you might be feeling about the journey.

When you are listening to the music when the storm begins, you're going to pass around an improvised storm movement gesture.

So one of you begin and you make your improvised stormy movement and pass it around the circle.

Everyone can create their own individual gesture as you go around the circle, making your stormy movements.

And if you're stuck for an idea, you can borrow someone else's.

Have a pause and play that way you are.

Wonderful, I wonder how you felt when you were playing that and how these different characters are feeling about the storm.

You could have a pause and a chat.

Maybe you could talk about these characters on the screen or perhaps there was something in your circle when you were waiting for that storm to happen that you really liked or enjoyed that showed an emotion or feeling.

Now onto the second part of our lesson, our stormy seas soundscape.

"Storm" by Sally Beamish can be organised into two big parts.

There's part one that's before the storm, and then part two, the storm.

Structure is the way that the music is organised.

When we're listening to the music, we also think about dynamics.

How loud or quiet is the music being played or sung?

The tempo, how fast or how slow is that music played?

And then texture on many sounds happening at the same time.

You're going to pause and listen to part one.

This is the before the storm.

Think about as you listen, what do I notice about the dynamics?

How loud or quiet?

What do I notice about the tempo?

Is it fast or slow?

And the texture, is there just one clear sound or are many sounds happening together?

Pause and do that now.

Well, I wonder what you noticed.

Let's have a look.

With dynamics, many phrases start loud, and then they get quieter and it's perhaps like waves moving in and moving out.

I wonder if you said anything similar.

When we think about tempo, the pauses feel like stillness, like only the waves move and sometimes there is no tempo.

And then texture, the texture's what we would call thin, mostly just one sound at a time, having a little conversation.

Thinking again with part two, you are also going to now think about, how have the dynamics changed this time?

What's different?

Is this some loud, some quiet and when?

The tempo, is it faster or slower?

What's changed?

How is it changing?

And the texture, do you hear one line of sound?

Is it thin or is there a thicker texture with more things happening at once?

Pause here and try and answer those questions about part two, the main part of the "Storm".

So a bit different this time.

I wonder if you said something like there's lots of loud dynamics in the melody and the accompaniment.

And the tempo feels fast this time, like the music's constantly pushing forward into the storm.

And with the texture, the texture's thick at times with lots of overlapping musical ideas.

Very well done.

"Storm" is the first part of what's called a concerto.

Now, as Izzy explains, "A concerto is a composition for an ensemble and a solo instrument.

The solo has an impressive melody to play.

" "And in this piece, there are two soloists, the fiddle and the harp.

" We're going to compose our own stormy seas soundscape to accompany the violin and harp melody.

And we're going to use pitched and unhitched percussion, vocalisations or body percussion too.

Let's have a listen to the melody.

Can you identify when the storm begins?

(light music) (energetic music) (energetic music continues) Lovely, so Sofia explains that just after 30 seconds in, the storm is starting to brew, and then a few seconds after that, around about 38 seconds, the storm really begins and kicks off.

Jacob suggests, "When we create soundscapes, we're thinking about combining sounds to create that feeling, that place, or that story to make us feel like we're really there, for example, in this case, out in the stormy seas.

" Have a listen and a watch of this example of a storm created with body percussion.

Here it comes.

(fingers snapping) (hand tapping) (wind susurrating) (table thuds) (wind continues susurrating) (hand continues tapping) (table thuds) (fingers snapping) Quick check in for you then, which of these means soundscape?

A, how fast or slow the music is played, or the way the music is organised, or is a soundscape using sounds to create a feeling, a place, or a story, making you feel like you are really there, for example, out in the stormy sea.

Point to the one you think is correct, A, B, or C.

That sounds like a clue, doesn't it?

It is C, using sounds to create that feeling.

That's what we're gonna bring alive, maybe a place or a story, so we can feel like we're really there.

And our final task then as a class ensemble, you are going to create a stormy seas soundscape to accompany that violin and harp melody.

The first thing you'll do is select a pitched to pitched instrument each, or decide to use your voice or decide to use some body percussion.

What will you use to create your part of before the storm and the storm?

Practice different ways to play your instrument.

Think about how you'll play it differently before the storm and how that might change.

Would your dynamics change or your tempo change if it's during the storm?

And then you are free to improvise your soundscape as that melody plays.

So you'll play the melody, and you can improvise in and out throughout.

You don't need to play all the time.

It's really useful to take rests and pauses.

Listen to the music around you 'cause you are playing as an ensemble, listening to everyone and deciding when should your instrument come back in.

Pause here and enjoy improvising your stormy sea soundscape.

Off you go.

Wow, brilliant.

It's really good to record your soundscape and listen to it back.

If you can do that, you can ask yourself these questions.

Think about the instrument that you chose.

Did that work well in the storm and with the music of the fiddle and harp?

Show a partner how you played your instrument.

Ask them, "Did that work well?

What other ideas could we use?

" And then think about your improvising.

Did you listen to the sounds around you?

And were you responding, almost creating that musical conversation?

Now is a good time to pause.

Have a listen back to your piece or record it and listen back, and ask each other those questions.

Off you go.

Great work today, everyone.

And that's all we have time for.

Let's have a recap on our learning.

Composed music can include space for improvising.

Dynamics, tempo, and texture are three musical elements we can think about when we're creating stormy music.

In a concerto, the soloist is accompanied by an ensemble, and in "Storm", both the fiddle player and the harpist are the soloists.

The fiddle is another name for violin.

What a great bunch of learning and a great bunch of ensemble players.

Really well done for today and I'll see you soon.

Bye-bye.