Lesson video

- Hello, and welcome to another music lesson with me, Miss Miner.

And today we are going to be exploring bass lines, especially in blues or jazz music.

I hope you're ready.

Let's go! What will we cover in this lesson? We'll start off with a warmup, learning a new melody from South Africa.

Following that, we will recognise and sing a walking bass line.

After that, we will add a bass line to a South African song.

In this lesson, you will need just your bodies, but of course your voice as well.

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

Try to find a quiet place where you won't be disturbed during the lesson and you are free to use your voice to sing.

When you've ensured all of that is ready, we can carry on.

So let's go.

So for our warmup today, we are going to be learning a new song.

This is a Zulu song from South Africa called "Si Njay Njay Njay." I'll perform it for you first, before we start learning the melody.

So now we're going to learn the melody of that line by line.

My turn first and then yours.

And we'll look at the pronunciation of the words as we go.

Your turn to sing.

We're going to do it one more time, a little bit more slowly to concentrate on the pronunciation of the words.

My turn first.

Your turn.

Now we're going to add some pitches to that.

Your turn.

Do you notice any similarities between lines one and two and lines three and four? Yes, that's right, lines one and two are the same.

It's like a repeated melody.

And then, lines three and four are the same.

They are a repeat of each other.

So, let's go from the beginning and we're going to try and sing it all the way through.

I'll try and show you the pattern of the pitches with my finger.

♪ Off we go ♪ Let's try it one more time.

♪ One, two, off we go ♪ Well done! So now it's time to practise it with piano.

And as you sing with the piano, I would like you to enjoy the syncopation, the stresses on the off beats in the melody.

♪ Ready, steady, off we go ♪ One more time.

Well done.

So here's a vocabulary reminder.

You have just learned a melody to that song, and that is the tune, a series of pitches put together to make a sequence.

Pause the video to practise this melody.

When you've sung it a couple of times through, press play and we'll carry on.

So where was the song "Si Njay Njay Njay" from? Was it from Croatia, South Africa, or Zimbabwe? Point to the answer you think is correct.

That's right.

It's from South Africa.

A Zulu song from South Africa.

Now we're going to be exploring the 12 bar blues and eventually we're going to be able to sing a walking bass line.

First of all, I would like you to listen to this extract of blues-inspired music and see if you can tune your ear in to the lowest part or the lowest sound.

If you can do that, see if you can trace its melody with your finger.

Does it go up? Does it go down? How does it move? So now we are going to learn to sing that walking bass line, a very typical feature of 12 bar blues music.

I'd like you to listen to the whole thing and listen out for some patterns or sections that are the same.

Did you hear any sections that were the same or similar? Hopefully.

The whole thing is built upon patterns.

So now we'll learn it bit by bit.

My turn first, and then yours.

Then back to the original.

Something new.

Super! This time, I'm going to sing the whole bass line.

And I would like you to show me whether I'm singing the original pattern, a sequence of the pattern, that's the same thing, just a little bit higher, or something that's more new.

Super! This time I would like you to join in.

♪ Off we go ♪ Let's try it one more time.

This time, I would like you to sing that walking bass line one more time, except you will be hearing a drum kit and some saxophone melodic lines over the top.

I would like you to stick with the walking bass line all the way through to see the effect it has on the rest of the music.

1, 2, 1, 2, 3, 4.

So, here comes your vocabulary reminder.

A bass line is the lowest part or sequence of notes in a piece of music or song.

Pause the video to practise a walking bass line.

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

Which of these instruments would most likely play the bass line in a blues ensemble? A saxophone, a drum kit, or a double bass? Point to the answer you think is correct.

That's right.

A double bass.

The bass line could also be played on an electric bass in a blues ensemble.

What is a bass line? Is it the lowest parts or sequence of notes in a piece of music? Is it the highest parts or sequence of notes in a piece of music? Or is it the part that can only be played by the double bass? point to the answer that you think is correct.

That's right, it's the lowest part or sequence of notes in a piece of music.

This time you are going to hear the song from our warmup, "Si Njay Njay Njay" but with an additional part, with a bass line.

Now this bass line doesn't have its own walking nature about it, but it does pick out the lowest note of all of the chords each time.

So I want you to listen for the lower part for the bass line and see if you can track the way it moves.

So now it's time for us to learn this bass line.

And let's just give you a little bit of information about the bass line before we start.

As I said, in the last video, it picks out the lowest notes of each of the chords.

Now the chords used in this song are chords one, four, and five.

You don't need to worry too much about that.

But if you imagine the scale ♪ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ♪ ♪ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ♪ The bass line picks up notes one, notes four and notes five.

And it doesn't in fact use two and three at all.

So the pattern is this.

So a quick quiz view, which numbers of the scale does the bass line not use? That's right, notes two and three.

It only uses one, four and five.

My turn first, and then yours.

Your turn.

- Sing Now naturally, you will be using the lower parts of your voice, which might feel a bit stretched.

But this is the nature of a bass line.

In a choir, this would be sung by basses, by men with really, really low voices.

And so we are using the lowest part of our voice to track the lowest part or the lowest note of each of those chords, which is why we are in the bottom of our vocal range.

Let's sing it together now.

♪ 1, 2, 3, 4 ♪ So now it's your turn to try that bass line while hearing the melody at the same time.

♪ Ready, steady, off we go ♪ Pause the video to practise the bass line.

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

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 learned 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 learned.

If you'd like to, please ask your parent 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!.