Lesson video

Hi there everybody.

Welcome to today's lesson on the importance and power of songs from the past.

This is from our Singing Together Unit, "Music that comments on social change." My name is Mr. Crawn, and I'm delighted and excited to be working with you today, exploring some music which I think you might not have heard before.

Let's go.

And by the end of this lesson, you should be able to say that you can understand how music can connect us emotionally to others and to the past.

So we'll begin by looking at today's key words.

The first one, "partition", simply to divide into parts, and we'll look at that more closely throughout the lesson.

"Score." In this case, a film score, original music composed specifically to accompany a film.

"Indigenous." Indigenous is the original inhabitants of a place.

"timbre", the description of the sound or tone of an instrument.

And "texture", that combination of different layers of sounds.

There are two learning cycles in today's lesson.

The first one, connecting emotions to the past.

And the second one, developing our performance using texture.

So we'll start with connecting emotions to the past.

Here we go.

India, before 1947, was ruled by the British for nearly 200 years.

Now, after plenty of protests and campaigns for independence, the British agreed to leave, but there were disagreements about how the country should be run, because some people thought that the two main religious groups there, Hindus and Muslims, can live together in one country, and others thought it would be safer to have two separate countries.

So in 1947, the British and Indian leaders agreed to divide the region into two countries.

There would be India, with a mostly Hindu population, and Pakistan, with a mostly Muslim population, and this was called Partition.

Now the borders were only completed a few days before independence, so that divided communities, villages, and even families.

So literally overnight, people had to move from one region to the other, and as a result of that, there was fighting and there was loss of life.

And it's estimated that 14 to 15 million people were displaced, and that between one to 2 million people died.

So even today, Partition is remembered as a very tragic and emotional moment in history.

Quick check.

Have a look at the three options and tell me what was one of the major consequences of the partition of India in 1947.

Is it A, communities and families were united by the new borders, or B, millions of people were displaced and had to leave their homes, or C, partition caused no significant impact on people's lives.

Just A, B or C.

Check.

And yes, you are absolutely right.

B, millions of people in 1947, as a consequence of Partition, were displaced and had to leave their homes.

Just like in the Caribbean, many people from India and Pakistan moved to the UK to seek opportunities and to escape the horrors of Partition, and also help rebuild the UK after World War II.

Now, a lot of music has been written and created about Partition.

The piece we're going to listen to is called "Exodus." It's part of the score for a film called "Viceroy's House." Now the composer, A.

R.

Rahman, he's an Indian composer, a singer, songwriter, music producer.

And what he does is take inspiration from both Indian classical music with orchestral music, pop music, electronic music to create his sound.

When you listen to "Exodus," you will hear these instrumental and vocal timbres.

First of all, the drone played on the Indian instrument, the tanpura, very common instrument for playing the drone in Indian music.

The second is a bansuri flute.

Now this flute plays the opening melody.

When I first listened, I thought that was a voice, and it wasn't until the vocals came in that I realized that in fact I'd been listening to the the bansuri flute playing that opening melody.

So listen carefully.

And then the Qawwali-style vocals that come in, this is an emotional, powerful form of singing rooted in Sufism, which is a spiritual path in Islam where music and poetry help people to feel closer to God.

These are then laid over a bed of orchestral strings, so we're getting that western influence, and that subtle electronic textures that weave their way through as well.

And throughout the score, Rahman uses female voices to represent Hindus, and he's chosen male voices to represent Muslims. So you hear these two sounds and how they begin to thicken the texture and work together.

I would like you to pause here.

Listen to almost the first two minutes of this track, and just as you're listening, listen out for the drone.

Listen out for that melody on the bansuri flute, which begins and then comes back in, and the Qawwali-style vocals.

See how you feel about it, and see what you can identify in those layers of sound.

Pause now and I'll catch up with you in a moment.

It's a haunting and powerful piece of music, isn't it? I hope you were able to identify those layers of sound, the constant drone, the melody on the bansuri flute, and the vocal, the Qawwali-style vocals that were happening over the top, all underpinned with the orchestral strings underneath.

If you did, very well done.

We're now going to think about how the music is played, because depending on the messages composers try to convey, what they're putting into the music, they will use different musical elements to help us, the audience, the listener, feel certain things.

It's that powerful tool to effect, to change our mood or make us feel something.

And if you think about a film, there's dramatic music, suspenseful music, calm, reflective music, and it's really carefully chosen to help support our emotions and help us be invested in that film.

So let's consider tempo.

A fast tempo that might make us feel excited, energetic, and a slower tempo might make us feel calmer, relaxed, reflective, serious.

Bright timbres in the sound might make us feel cheerful, those warm tones that can maybe bring comfort, and airy timbres might feel more mysterious or haunting.

Loud music can make us feel joyful, but it can also make us feel frightened if a big dramatic climax happens maybe in a film, and those quieter dynamics might make us feel sad or more peaceful.

So there's three musical tools that composers use to help us feel something.

Quick check.

Make sure we're all on the same page, I would like you to match those elements, those musical elements on the left, to their definition.

So pause here and do that now.

Great, let's have a check to make sure you've got them all.

The first one, tempo, is how fast or slow the music is played.

Timbre, that description of the sound or tone an instrument makes.

Texture, the combination of different layers of sound, and dynamics, how loud or quiet the music is.

Hope you've got that, because we're going to be using them in the next part of the lesson.

The track we are listening to, "Exodus", it appears near the end of the film, and it's one of the most poignant tracks in the score.

In the film at this point, families are packing their belongings, trains are overcrowded with refugees, and there is a breakdown and fragmentation of communities.

As Aisha says, it underscores the chaos, sorrow, and urgency of people being forced to leave their homes almost overnight.

So the music is really supporting the action that we can see on the screen as we're watching the film.

You're going to listen to A.

R.

Rahman's "Exodus" again, and you're gonna answer these two questions.

The first one, Exodus means the mass departure of people.

So how does A.

R.

Rahman use tempo, timbre, and dynamics to match that title, the title of that piece of music, "Exodus"? How does he make it feel like a mass departure of people? And it's also matching those scenes in the film, and the feelings that we have, those empathetic feelings when we are watching that, okay? So consider each one in turn, tempo, timbre and dynamics as you listen.

And the second question is, how does this piece cause us to reflect on Partition? What is it about the music that sort of brings to life this piece of history that we see in the film, and that "Exodus" uses in this part of the film? How does that piece help us to reflect on Partition? With both of these questions, there's not a strict right or wrong answer.

As a guide, I would suggest in the first question, focus on those musical elements of tempo, timbre, and dynamics.

And in the second question, think more about the human impact and what Partition means.

Okay? Have a pause there and I will catch up with you with your answers.

This is some good work you're doing.

It's really useful for us to think how is it that when I'm watching that film and that music is playing, that I'm now feeling a certain way? Is it just the images on the screen, or how much is the music responsible for the way I'm feeling? And if you think about whether you're watching a film, playing computer games with music, or if there's just the radio on, our mood gets altered.

So it's important and fascinating for us to work out how is it doing that.

In this piece, the question was how does Rahman use tempo, timbre, and dynamics to match the title of the music and the scenes in the film? Here's some suggested answers for each one.

The piece has a slow tempo, so that music moves gently but steadily.

And that's almost reflective of people walking with heavy hearts.

There's no steady pulse.

It makes the music feel unsettled, like something's about to happen.

Thinking about timbre now, the music starts with a drone played on the tanpura, which underpins that sad mood.

And then the timbre of the bansuri flute and the slides between the note sound quite haunting and serious.

And then the timbres of the voices, that Qawwali-style vocals, they're sorrowful, like people crying or remembering.

And the dynamics was the third thing we were going to look at.

Starts very quiet, but there is a gradual crescendo, which builds the tension and the emotion of the music.

There's some suggested answers, and I imagine some of them you'll have picked up on, and you may have some of your own too, so well done.

The second question, how does this piece cause us to reflect on Partition? What is it about that music that helps us to reflect on that piece of history? And you might have suggested, the music helps us think deeply about what Partition meant for real people.

The slow tempo and the soft sounds helps us to feel that sadness of the families being split apart, and the gentle instruments and emotional singing reminds us of a very human tragedy.

And as the music gets louder, that feels like the emotions are growing stronger, showing how scary and upsetting it was to leave everything behind.

Again, some suggestions for your answers, and I'm sure you've got many other ideas as well.

Really well done.

The second learning cycle of today's lesson is developing our performance using texture.

The land that we now call North America, so including both the United States of America and Canada, was home to indigenous peoples long before European settlers arrived.

These communities had lived there for thousands of years.

There was rich cultures, languages, and traditions.

And today, the terms that are used to describe these peoples are indigenous or first nation peoples, and Native Americans to describe these original inhabitants.

Now there's many different nations and tribes and they each have their own identity.

Some examples.

In Canada, the Cree and Ojibwe peoples, who are indigenous to Canada, and then in the States, Cherokee, Navajo, Choctaw peoples, indigenous to to the United States of America.

Now, when European settlers arrived in North America, they brought with them new rules, their ways of life, and this deeply disrupted indigenous communities.

Over time, much of their land was taken, European diseases spread, and many indigenous people were treated cruelly and unfairly.

And these changes caused deep pain, separated loved ones, and led to the loss of millions of lives.

Today, many indigenous musicians create music that shares the powerful stories of what their communities have endured.

Native American music has many different styles, as different tribes have developed their own unique ways of singing and playing.

Now, although many Native Americans will play and create music like hip hop and pop, rock, classical, there's still a strong traditional music scene, and that can be seen at Powwows and other special events too.

A Powwow is a gathering of native people to sing, dance, and to honor their ancestors.

We're going to listen now to a piece of music called "Remember Me," sung by the Plains Cree and Salish singer Fawn Wood.

The song helps people remember someone they love, someone who might be far away, or someone who's passed away.

And the song's actually been used in campaigns to raise awareness of indigenous women and girls, and two-spirit people who are missing or who have been harmed.

While we listen, I would like you to pay careful attention to the vocals at the beginning.

It's a typical Native American vocal expression, and it leans on the syllables to help convey expression and emotion.

So we're gonna pause here, and you are going to listen and then have a short discussion about how you would describe their sound.

So pause here and enjoy listening.

Well done for having a go at describing the vocal timbres.

One suggestion from Izzy is she says, "I can hear a male voice and a female voice.

And during some of the longer sounds, their voices shake in time to the pulse of the music." I'm sure you've got many of your own descriptions that you use to describe the vocal timbre of the vocals in that song.

Fawn Wood, she comes from the tradition of round dance and hand drum music.

Hand drums are often seen as representing the heartbeat of Mother Earth, and the steady beat helps people feel connected to the land, to their ancestors and to each other.

A round dance is a dance where people hold hands and they move in a circle to show friendship and respect, and that dance is often used to honor loved ones, celebrate community, or share stories.

Another musical element used by composers to create an effect is texture.

So far we've looked at tempo, and dynamics, and timbre.

Now we're gonna think about texture.

So a thick texture with lots of layers of sounds can feel powerful or emotional, overwhelming almost.

Whereas thin textures might feel lonely, peaceful, calm.

In "Remember Me," the texture is created by male and female voices, the hand drum, and the Native American wooden flute.

I would like you to listen again just to the vocal section towards the beginning, and I'd like you to think, how do those vocal layers interact with each other? Okay, pause here, have a listen to that bit, and then come back with to me with your suggestions.

Okay, so you may have said, "The piece starts with a solo in the male voice and then the chorus starts with a female solo, and then there's an echo on the words 'remember me." "And when they sing together," Aisha says, "sometimes they both sing at the same pitch, and sometimes she sings an octave higher." We can take inspiration from this piece when we're creating our own pieces of music.

And so texture-wise, you're gonna listen one more time, and listen out for the hand drum layer that's playing the heartbeat rhythm underneath the vocal lines.

there's the flute that's playing its own tune that's soaring over the vocals, and that matches the description of the eagle in the lyrics.

And there's an echo on the words "remember me" and "there I will be." It sounds like one person's calling and the other one's answering.

And then one point the drum stopping on the words, "you and me, hand in hand," that leaves just the vocalists singing together and matching the words.

So pop that part of the track on and listen out for those four.

And we're gonna use some of these ideas to create our own piece.

Have a pause here and a play of that music.

Right then, it's time to let all of those inspirations help us with our creativity now.

We are going to use the minor pentachord, that's those five nextdoor neighbor notes, D-E-F-G-A.

And you can use the backing track, that backing track groove, and add textures.

So we can do this in different ways.

You can play those notes holding longer notes.

You're going to explore with dynamics, maybe start with how quiet you're thinking about playing.

And you can add vocal timbres.

So if you are singing a note, whether that's a word or just an open sound, like an "Ah," use D-E-F-G-A, choose one of those.

And you can create textures by layering up the instrument and voice.

You can do this in small groups, in pairs, however best works for you.

And to create different effects, you could just play notes at the same time if you've got two beaters or two of you doing it, and they might sound great together, or they might sound, that word dissonance, they might create some tension because those notes aren't harmonious, okay? Okay, so this is your creativity time.

Pause here and work to create a short piece over the backing track, experimenting holding longer notes, both sung and played.

Off you go.

Great, I hope that was some good time to allow some creativity to happen where you are.

So how did it go? From the Oak Class, Sofia had a flute lesson today, so her flute was in school, and she said, well, I used my flute to play a long F note, whilst Aisha added an E underneath on a keyboard.

So that's something to consider.

If you are learning an instrument, that's something that you could bring in and add to this piece as well.

She said that with this E and the F, they're right next to each other.

They clashed creating a dissonant texture that sounded a bit uncomfortable, a bit tense, which is what they were after.

And Jacob said, well, we held the note A with our voice, so he played that a note on the xylophone and then sang that, whilst Jun played D and F on the xylophone.

And I imagine holding those long notes to create that very different feeling with our inspiration from the music we've listened to today.

So I hope you've enjoyed working together where you are.

That's almost the end of the lesson.

Let's look at our summary.

Singing songs about the past can help us to connect emotionally with others and can keep cultural traditions alive.

Composers manipulate the elements of music, such as tempo, dynamics, timbre, and texture to achieve particular effects, and to give us a sense of emotion from that music.

And we can add different layers of music to our piece to create different textures.

Great work today, really well done, and I'll look forward to seeing you next time.

Bye for now.