Lesson video

Hello guys and welcome to lesson four of the songs for a better world unit.

My name is Mr. Chapman and in today's lesson, we've got quite a busy one actually.

We're going to start off by looking at song structures.

Then we're going to take a look at the different roles in a band, and then we're going to explore some contemporary protest songs.

So without further ado, let's take a look at what we need to be successful in today's lesson.

In this lesson you need a piece of paper, a pencil to take notes with, you'll also need your voice or instrument or access to an online app or instruments or digital audio workstations, such as Band Lab.

This lesson is back to headphones but it's not required.

If you need to pause the video to get any of the equipment you see on screen or find a quiet space to work in, please do so now and press play when you are ready to continue.

Song structures, popular songs usually follow a verse chorus structure or song form.

Artists arrange songs into different structures that may include introduction, verse, chorus, breakdown, bridge, and outro.

However, not all songs follow the structure.

Some are through composed, which means non-sectional.

I have some tasks for you here at the bottom of the screen.

Task one, arrange the sections above into the correct order and task two, play two of your favourite songs and identify their structure.

You can pause the video and take about five to seven minutes to complete this task and then click resume when you're ready to go.

The following headings are incorrect.

Let's read through the bullet points and match them with the correct heading.

So which section is found at the start of a song, establishes the key, tempo, and mood, and can be instrumental? Which section tells the main story, has multiple verses in the song, and the same melody fits different lyrics? Which section is often the climax of the song, it's repeated and it's simple and could include the title of the song? Which section takes a break from the repetitive nature of the song, has different lyrics and chords, and the music could also be instrumental here? And finally, which section gives the listener closure, it could fade out or repeat the line, the song then the sound's finished? Let's take some time now to arrange the headings onto the correct set of bullet points.

If you need to pause the video to do that, then do so now and click resume when you're ready to go.

Just double check your answers intro, then verse, then chorus, then bridge then outro.

Hopefully you got those rights.

If you didn't just make sure you've corrected it on your piece of paper before moving on, Which section is missing? We have the climax of the song that's repeated and could include the title.

We have the section that tells the main story, could have multiple verses, has the same melody, but different lyrics.

We have the section that gives the listener closure and we have the section that is the break from the repetitive nature of the song.

So which section are we missing? Write down your answer on your piece of paper.

You can pause the video to do so and click resume when you are ready to move on.

The correct answer is the intro.

Remember the intro starts the song, establishes the key and the tempo and can be instrumental.

The next task should only take you about one or two minutes, and that is to put the features in the correct box.

We have a box for verse section and the box for a chorus section.

You may just divide your piece of paper into two.

The words we have are has less energy, the lyrics tell a story, the main message, repetitive, every line is different and the catchiest part.

Can you arrange these words and sentences into the correct box? As always pause the video while you complete the task and click play when you're ready to continue with the lesson.

If you haven't yet completed the task so far in the lesson, then write out the song sections in order, write the correct purpose next to each of them and write a purpose for the section without a description.

If you need to flip back through the video to recap yourselves on those tasks, then please do so and click resume when you're ready to move on.

Roles in the band.

Before we get started, can you list all of the instruments you might find in a typical rock band, then we'll talk about the different roles that those instruments and musicians play.

So let's have a look at this first box.

Often the front man or front woman of the band sings the main melody and lyrics, may also be the rapper.

Out of the people or the instruments on your list, who or which instrument would go with this first box.

Well done if you put the lead vocals.

The second box, it can be another instrumentalist in the band, provides harmony to the lead vocals.

Now who might do that? A backing vocalist.

Now, as it says, in that first point, the backing vocals may be another instrumentalist in the band.

It could be the drummer it could be the guitarist, or it could be a dedicated backing vocalist.

Might bring the band in after four clicks, keeps the band in time, sets and maintains the steady tempo and plays drum fills in between sections, which member of the band or instrument would be connected with this box.

That's right, it would be the drummer.

Okay, so how about this one, few or no chords supports the vocals might play a countermelody.

It might play the main riff and also guitar solos, there's a big clue there.

That would be the lead guitar.

Now often in a band, we have two guitars, a lead guitar and a rhythm guitar and the difference is that the rhythm guitar mainly plays the chords of the song.

They may also provide backing vocals as we said before.

The rhythm guitarist would work closely with the lead guitarist and also the bass player.

That leaves us with potentially one more.

Provides the bass line for the song, is often a simple rhythmically, mostly plays the root note of the chords and works closely with the rhythm guitarist and the drummer.

And then we would have the bass guitar and of course, some bands might have a keyboard player, synthesiser, it might have multiple singers, or it might have a singer and a rapper.

Of course there's no set one band, but these are the most common instruments and roles in the band.

Here's a typical rock band, which parts need to be heard more than others? And is this going to be the same throughout the song? I'm going to throw up some roles here on screen and what I would like me to do is match the role to the instrument.

Some instruments might have multiple roles.

Each of these roles are really different, but also really important.

It's not always going to be about the main singer or the guitarist, and it can depend on the section.

So we're going to listen to the introduction of a song by the Red Hot Chilli Peppers called "Can't Stop." What I would like you to do is list the instruments you can hear, what role they are filling and also what you think would happen next.

Now the extracts will cut out just before the new section.

Tell me what you think would happen in that new section.

And if you would like you can look up the song yourself and see if you were correct.

So here is "Can't Stop" by the Red Hot Chilli Peppers.

What can you hear? What are the instruments playing and what do you think will happen next? Let's take a look at the answers to that question.

So the bass player was playing a pedal note that gradually got louder.

Was playing the same thing as the drums. The drums were also playing semiquavers and also gradually got louder.

Now, crucially, there was no vocalist and we can anticipate the vocalist to come in in the first verse, the lead guitar played a three note riff over and over again.

And after the main buildup the guitar then played solo chords.

So what happens next? Well, you can assume that the full band comes in with the vocals.

Find the full song and see if you were correct.

Protest songs, protest songs have been present in music for a long time.

Even in classical music, people wrote songs with political messages.

Protest songs are common in many different genres.

On the right hand side, I've put some images of some musicians.

At the top there I have Bob Marley.

On the right I have a classical composer, or a composer from the 20th century called Dmitri Shostakovich, who is a Russian composer and even though his music didn't have any lyrics, they were still regarded as highly, highly political.

We have John Lennon on the bottom left, who wrote the song, "Imagine" and on the right there, we have Marvin Gaye, a very popular Motown artist who wrote lots of protests songs.

One of his most famous one was "What's Going On," which we'll take a look at.

Here we have "Imagine" by John Lennon, got the music for the verse there, which we've had a look at.

And we also have the chords for the pre-chorus.

On the right hand side we have a song by UK rapper, Dave, called "Black." We've got the opening four bars and also the chords for the verse.

Let's take a listen to the two protest songs, these songs are from different genres and different times, but as they're both protest songs, they will share some musical features.

As we're listening, let's think about the similarities and the differences that these songs have.

Afterwards we will try to play the melody of "Imagine" with the bass line of "Black" and then vice versa.

Let's think about how this will change the power and the mood of the song.

Here is "Imagine." ♪ Imageine there's no heaven ♪ ♪ It's easy if you try ♪ ♪ No hell below us ♪ ♪ Above us only sky ♪ ♪ Imagine all the ♪ ♪ Look, black is beautiful, black is excellent ♪ ♪ Black is pain, black is joy, black is evident ♪ ♪ It's workin' twice as hard as the people ♪ ♪ You know you're better than ♪ ♪ 'Cause you need to do double what they do ♪ ♪ So you can level them ♪ ♪ Black is so much deeper than just African-American ♪ ♪ Our heritage been severed, you never got to experiment ♪ ♪ With family trees, 'cause they teach you ♪ ♪ 'About famine and greed ♪ ♪ And show you pictures of our fam on their knees ♪ Compare and contrast "Imagine" by John Lennon and "Black" by Dave.

On the screen I've got some suggested elements that we could compare.

The texture, the lyrics and the structure.

However, if you would like to compare other elements such as instrumentation, melody, harmony, or tonality, then feel free to do so.

Pause the video here and spend some time really listening to those extracts and filling out your box.

Make sure to have at least two points per element.

You may click continue when you're ready to move on.

I'm now going to sing the lyrics to "Imagine" over the music of "Black" by Dave.

So let's see how that sounds and let's see how it changes the power of the song.

♪ Imagine all the people ♪ ♪ Living for today ♪ And now the lyrics, to "Black" by Dave over the music from "Imagine" by John Lennon.

♪ Look, black is beautiful, black is excellent ♪ ♪ Black is pain, black is joy, black is evident ♪ ♪ It's workin' twice as hard as the people ♪ ♪ You know you're better than ♪ ♪ 'Cause you need to do double what they do ♪ ♪ So you can level them ♪ ♪ Black is so much deeper than just African-American ♪ ♪ Our heritage been severed, you never got to experiment ♪ ♪ With family trees, 'cause they teach you ♪ ♪ 'About famine and greed ♪ ♪ And show you pictures of our fam on their knees ♪ Access to a piano or keyboard or even online keyboard, try and do what I just did.

Play the chords on the music from one song and sing the lyrics or rap the lyrics from the other song.

You can experiment with rhythm and melody, just like I did and hopefully you noticed a difference in the mood.

It felt like because the major tonality of the song, "Imagine" by John Lennon, suddenly Dave's lyrics sounded hopeful and empowering.

Write a paragraph that answers this question, how do contemporary musicians show us their passions and beliefs? Pause the video to complete the task and click resume when you're ready to continue with the lesson.

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