Lesson video

Hello, my name's Mr. Pate.

I am very much looking forward to playing some great rhythms with you in today's lesson.

This unit is called Compose and Create: notating and performing using rhythm grids.

And in this lesson, we'll be composing and notating on rhythm grids.

By the end of this lesson, you'll be able to compose and refine a rhythm composition using stick notation on a rhythm grid.

Here are some of the key words we'll be using in today's lesson.

We'll be using stick notation, which is a way of writing rhythms down.

We'll be composing, which is when we create a piece of music over time.

We'll be composing using lots of different rhythms, and rhythms are the patterns of sounds and silences that we play and sing.

The beat is when we play or show the steady pulse in a piece of music, like the ticking of a clock.

And finally, we'll be using notes of different duration, which means the length of a sound or silence.

Before we start though, it's important to warm up.

We're gonna do some rhythm and pulse warmups to help develop our sense of timing when we play together.

Here's a few different rhythms that we're gonna try and play using different Takadimi patterns.

Try clapping and chanting each rhythm along with me following a clockwise rotation around the circle.

We're gonna do each rhythm four times, starting with the one on the top.

Join in with me.

Ready, steady, off we go.

Ta-di Takadimi Ta Ta.

Ta-di Takadimi Ta Ta.

Ta-di Takadimi Ta Ta.

Ta-di Takadimi Ta Ta.

Takadimi Ta-di Ta-di Ta.

Takadimi Ta-di Ta-di Ta.

Takadimi Ta-di Ta-di Ta.

Takadimi Ta-di Ta-di Ta.

Takadimi Ta Takadimi Ta.

Takadimi Ta Takadimi Ta.

Takadimi Ta Takadimi Ta.

Takadimi Ta Takadimi Ta.

Ta-di Takadimi Ta Ta-di.

Ta-di Takadimi Ta Ta-di.

Ta-di Takadimi Ta Ta-di.

Ta-di Takadimi Ta Ta-di.

How did you do? Were you able to follow along with those rhythms correctly? Let's try some more warmups.

Here's a selection of action songs and movement warmups to get us feeling the pulse and get our bodies and minds ready for making music.

Join in with "Dr.

Knickerbocker." (lively music) ♪ Dr.

Knickerbocker Knickerbocker number nine ♪ ♪ He likes to dance and to keep in time ♪ ♪ Now, I've got the rhythm in my hands ♪ (middle singer claps twice) ♪ Now, I've got the rhythm in my hands ♪ (all clap twice) ♪ Now, I got the rhythm of the number nine ♪ ♪ One, two ♪ ♪ Three, four ♪ ♪ Five, six ♪ ♪ Seven, eight, nine ♪ ♪ Dr.

Knickerbocker Knickerbocker number nine ♪ ♪ He likes to dance and to keep in time ♪ ♪ Now, I've got the rhythm in my feet ♪ (middle singer stomps twice) ♪ Now, I've got the rhythm in my feet ♪ (all stomp twice) ♪ Now, I've got the rhythm of the number nine ♪ ♪ One, two ♪ ♪ Three, four ♪ ♪ Five, six ♪ ♪ Seven, eight, nine ♪ ♪ Dr.

Knickerbocker Knickerbocker number nine ♪ ♪ He likes to dance and to keep in time ♪ ♪ Now, I've got the rhythm in my hips ♪ ♪ Now, I've got the rhythm in my hips ♪ ♪ Now, I've got the rhythm of the number nine ♪ ♪ One, two ♪ ♪ Three, four ♪ ♪ Five, six ♪ ♪ Seven, eight, nine ♪ <v ->Now, join in with "I Have a Car."</v> (bright music) ♪ I have a car, it's made of tin ♪ ♪ Nobody knows what shape it's in ♪ ♪ It has four wheels and a rumble seat ♪ ♪ Hear us chucking down the street ♪ ♪ Honk, honk, rattle, rattle ♪ ♪ Toot, crash, beep, beep ♪ ♪ Honk, honk, rattle, rattle ♪ ♪ Toot, crash, beep, beep ♪ ♪ Honk, honk, rattle, rattle ♪ ♪ Toot, crash, beep, beep ♪ ♪ Honk, honk ♪ ♪ I have a car, it's made of tin ♪ ♪ Nobody knows what shape it's in ♪ ♪ It has four wheels and a rumble seat ♪ ♪ Hear us chucking down the street ♪ ♪ Honk, honk, rattle, rattle ♪ ♪ Toot, crash, beep, beep ♪ ♪ Honk, honk, rattle, rattle ♪ ♪ Toot, crash, beep, beep ♪ ♪ Honk, honk, rattle, rattle ♪ ♪ Toot, crash, beep, beep ♪ ♪ Honk, honk ♪ <v ->Finally, join in with "Obwisana."</v> (sticks clacking) ♪ Ready, steady, off we go ♪ ♪ Obwisana sanana ♪ ♪ Obwisana sa ♪ ♪ Obwisana sanana ♪ ♪ Obwisana sa ♪ ♪ Obwisana sanana ♪ ♪ Obwisana sa ♪ ♪ Obwisana sanana ♪ ♪ Obwisana sa ♪ <v ->So how do you feel?</v> Are you warmed up and ready to make music together? Alex says, "My body is warm." Aisha says, "My mind feels ready." And Lucas says, "I've moved and sung to the steady pulse." Sounds like Alex, Aisha and Lucas are really nice and warmed up, and I hope you are too.

In today's lesson, we'll be composing on a stick notation rhythm grid.

Then we'll be refining and rehearsing a rhythm grid composition.

Let's listen to a clip from a piece of music.

This is a piece called "Carnival of the Endangered Animals" by the composer Debbie Wiseman.

While you listen, you're gonna hear some djembe drums playing a rhythm.

When you're hearing the song, I'd like you to try tapping along to the beat.

That's that steady pulse, the steady heartbeat of the piece of music.

That beat can be subdivided into smaller parts, and that's what we call the rhythm, which is what the djembes are playing.

Let's listen to "Carnival of the Endangered Animals." (dramatic upbeat music) True or false? The beat and the rhythm are the same thing.

Do you think that's true or false? The answer is false.

The beat is the playing or showing of that steady pulse, like the ticking of the clock or a heartbeat in a piece of music, whereas the rhythm is the patterns of sounds and silences that we play and sing along with the beat.

Here's a rhythm grid.

This rhythm grid uses stick notation, and stick notation can be used on rhythm grids to notate, which means to write down, different rhythms. Let's chant and clap this rhythm together.

We're gonna read from left to right.

So starting from the top left-hand corner, when we get to the end of that row, we'll go down to the second row and so on until we finish on the bottom right hand rhythm.

Let's try it together.

Ready, steady, off we go.

Ta-di shh Ta-di shh.

Takadimi Ta.

Takadi Ta-di Ta-di Ta.

Ta-di Ta.

Ta-dimi Takadimi Ta-di Ta.

When we perform from a rhythm grid, like the one we've just seen, each box represents one beat, and all of the rhythms that we're using at the moment are one beat long, all different ways of subdividing that beat into different rhythmic patterns.

We used Ta, which is just a single sound in that beat.

We also used the zed symbol, which is a rest, which we can perform with a shh.

And it's a good idea to open your hands when you're doing that as well, to make sure you leave enough space for the rest.

Shh.

Other divisions of the beat are Ta-di, which we perform like this.

Ta-di.

We've also got Takadi.

Takadimi, which is the four sounds per beat.

And Ta-dimi.

Those are all the rhythms that we'll be using in our compositions, and they're made up of notes of different durations, some longer and some shorter.

We're gonna have a go at composing our own rhythm.

That means we're gonna make one up ourselves And we're gonna notate it, which means write it down, using stick notation on a rhythm grid.

What does successful composing look like though? A successful composition will use simple, memorable patterns.

We want it to be catchy, not too overcomplicated.

You also need to create something that you can actually play.

If we use lots of very complicated rhythms, it can be really hard to perform it.

So keeping it simple is a great way to make sure that we can play it too.

It's always a nice idea to finish on a long note.

That makes our composition seem complete.

Finally, including repetition in your ideas is a great way of making your piece memorable and catchy.

It's always a good idea to include some repetition.

Let's have a look at an example rhythm composition.

I'm gonna clap and chant this one now.

Join in with me.

Ready, steady, off we go.

Takadimi Ta Takadimi Ta.

Takadimi Ta-di Ta-di Ta.

Takadimi Ta Takadimi Ta.

Takadimi Takadimi Takadimi Ta.

Now, you might recognize that rhythm because it's the rhythm for the Alligator chant.

The Alligator chant uses simple and memorable patterns.

Lots of times in this composition, we see the rhythms Takadimi Ta one after another.

And using that repetition helps make it memorable, simple and catchy.

It also uses rhythms that are not too difficult to play.

Lots of Ta-di Ta, which are nice and easy to perform.

And it ends on the longest note in the chant, the Ta rhythm.

It actually does this at the end of every line, which is a great way of making the line feel finished.

Thinking about the Alligator chant, how does the chant make use of repetition? The answer is, the first and third lines of the chant are exactly the same.

There's also lots of use of certain patterns, in this case, Takadimi.

The rhythm Takadimi comes back quite a few times.

And every line ends in the same way with a nice long note Ta.

This use of repetition makes the rhythm really nice and catchy and memorable.

Now, it's over to you.

We're gonna compose our own rhythms. Working with a partner, get a piece of paper and fold it to create a four by four grid like the one you can see in the photo.

Now, you're gonna choose a rhythm to include in each box.

And remember, each box represents one beat.

The rhythms that you can choose from are: Ta, Ta-di, Takadimi, Takadi, Ta-dimi, and the rest, shh.

Here's an example of what your finished rhythm might look like.

Alex and Andeep have had a go at composing and they've come up with this rhythm grid.

They've done a really good job because they haven't made it too complicated.

They've chose rhythms that they could play successfully and they've made use of repetition.

The top line is exactly the same as the bottom line.

As you're composing, think about what direction you will read your rhythm grid in.

Will you go up and down, left to right, right to left? Make sure you're really clear on how it will be played.

Finally, when you've written down your rhythm, practice your composition, make sure that you can play it to a steady pulse.

Pause this video now, make your rhythm grid, compose your rhythm using different rhythmic patterns, and finally, practice playing it.

So now you've had some time composing and practicing your rhythm, how did it go? Laura said, "We checked that each box had a one beat rhythm in it, and we made changes if we needed." Andeep said, "We only used one beat rhythms that we can play well." That's a good idea, making sure it isn't too complicated.

Lucas says, "We tried chanting as we clapped the rhythm, and this was useful to keep us in time together." How did yours go? Now, let's look at refining and rehearsing a rhythm grid composition.

We can use many different symbols to add further musical directions to our rhythm grid compositions.

As Jacob tells us, "We can add symbols to mean how loud or quiet to play." That's a musical element we call the dynamics.

And having some parts be played louder than others can really add musical interest to your piece.

Jun says, "A key can help us know what body percussion sound or instrument to use," and that can help to make a piece of music sound really exciting, when it's got various different sounds or instruments being used.

Here's just some suggestions for how you could show loud and quiet dynamics in your composition.

You could shade the boxes in different colors.

A light color could be used for quiet rhythms and a darker color could be used for louder rhythms. You could add a dramatic shape for beats that you wish to be louder.

In this case, the final beat, we want to be loud, so we've drawn a big spiky star to show, play this one loud.

Finally, you could use some musical symbols to tell performers how loudly or quietly to play.

We often use Italian terms in music, like the word piano, which means soft, or forte, which means strong.

Putting a P or an F will tell your performers whether to play soft or strong.

Have a look at this rhythm grid.

How do you think Andeep and Alex want this line of their rhythm grid played? The answer is, beats one and two are lightly shaded, so we want them to be played quietly.

Beats three and four are shaded in with a dark color, so they want them to be played loudly.

Now, here's some suggestions for how you could show when different instruments should play in your composition.

You could use different colors and those different colors could represent different instruments or different body percussion sounds.

Make sure you provide a key, like for example, the dark green color could represent a clap, and the pink color could represent a stomp.

You could label a group of rhythms showing that they should all be played by one instrument.

In the case of example B here, this line should all be played on the claves because we see a picture of them at the start.

Finally, you could include a symbol to show when each instrument plays.

In this case, we've got the purple circle and the blue triangle, and they could each represent a different body percussion sound or a different instrument.

Make sure you provide a key to show what they represent.

Let's have another look at one of Andeep and Alex's rhythms. How do you think that they want this line of their rhythm grid played? The answer is, they've used different symbols to show different instruments.

We can tell from the key on the left-hand side, the purple circle represents the claves and the blue triangle represents the tambourine, so beats one and four would be played on the claves and beats two and three would be played on the tambourine.

Let's try now adding these new details into your rhythm composition.

Think about the most effective way of notating the new ideas that you're going to add in.

Make sure you include dynamics, loud or quiet, and the instrumentation.

Pause the video now and spend some time adding this detail into your composition.

Now, you've finished your rhythm compositions.

Choose a selection of them and display them so everyone in the room can see them.

As a class, let's now practice playing these with a backing track.

First, start by chanting the Takadimi syllables, so we're really confident with how those rhythms should sound.

Then add the instrumentation, whether it's body percussion sounds or different instruments.

Next, add in the dynamics, which parts are gonna be quieter and which parts are gonna be louder.

And finally, perform the full rhythm.

It's a great idea, when you're performing, to chant those Takadimi syllables in your head, in your thinking voice, to help you remember how the rhythms go.

Pause the video now to spend some time practicing the rhythms. Then when you resume, we'll play them with a backing track.

Okay, now you spent some time practicing your rhythms, let's play them to a backing track.

Wait for the count in and then join in.

(beat clicking) (upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) Now you've played your rhythms to a backing track, how did it go? Izzy says, "We practiced chanting the rhythm names first, and this helped us to internalize the rhythms." That's a really good way to practice before you perform.

Jun says, "We followed the directions to know which body percussion sounds to make." Well done, those extra details really helps to make the piece even more interesting.

Jacob says, "We played together with a steady sense of pulse." This is one of the most important things when you're performing, is to stay together with your group with a steady sense of pulse.

In today's lesson, we've learned that stick notation is one way of representing different rhythms on a rhythm grid.

We've learned that effective compositions make use of simple, memorable ideas and repetition.

And we've learned that rhythms are built up of notes of differing durations.

Well done for your excellent rhythmic compositions and your performances in today's lesson.

Thanks.

I'll see you again next time.