Lesson video

Hello, my name's Mr. Pate.

I'm looking forward to playing lots of rhythms with you in today's lesson.

This unit is called Compose and Create: Notating and performing using rhythm grids, and today's lesson is called reading stick notation on rhythm grids.

By the end of today's lesson, you'll be able to read and perform from body percussion and stick notation rhythm grids.

Here are some of the keywords for today's lesson.

We'll be doing a lot of work with the beat, and the beat is the playing or the showing of the steady pulse, a bit like the ticking of a clock.

We'll be playing lots of rhythms, and rhythm means the pattern of sounds and silences that we play and sing.

We'll be using body percussion, which is when we make musical percussive sounds with our bodies.

We'll be playing rhythms in various different times, 2-time, 3-time, 4-time, and 5-time.

We give these names depending on how the beats are organized, beginning with a strong beat.

And finally, we'll be playing rhythms with notes of lots of different durations.

The word duration means the length of sounds or silences.

We'll look at all of these words in more detail later in the lesson.

First, it's important to warm up before every music lesson.

This gets your mind and body ready to make music together.

When we do rhythm and pulse warmups, they help to develop our sense of timing for when we play together, and warming up with movement helps us feel that steady pulse.

Here's some rhythm warmups to join in with.

Let's start with, don't clap this one back.

<v ->This is a game called "Don't clap this one back."</v> You'll hear me clapping different rhythms like this one.

(clapping) And that rhythm is actually our secret rhythm that we are never going to clap because that rhythm says, don't clap this one back.

(clapping) So if you hear it, you do nothing.

Any other rhythm you hear, we all clap together.

Let's try a couple.

(clapping) Very, very good.

Now you're going to listen super carefully because if you hear, (clapping) we don't clap that rhythm back, okay? Let's play.

(clapping) Did I catch any of you out? Let's try one more time.

Here we go.

(clapping) (clapping continues) Very well done.

Now you can practice that where you are.

<v ->Now join in with sagadi, sagadi, sapopo.

</v> (metronome beeping) ♪ Sagadi, sagadi, sapopo ♪ ♪ Sagadi, sagadi, sapopo ♪ ♪ Sagadi, sagadi, sapopo ♪ ♪ Sagadi, sagadi, sapopo ♪ ♪ Sagadi, sagadi, sapopo ♪ ♪ Sagadi, sagadi, sapopo ♪ ♪ Sagadi, sagadi, sapopo ♪ ♪ Sagadi, sagadi, sapopo ♪ ♪ Sagadi, sagadi, sapopo ♪ ♪ Sagadi, sagadi, sapopo ♪ ♪ Sagadi, sagadi, sapopo ♪ ♪ Sagadi, sagadi, sapopo ♪ ♪ Sagadi, sagadi, sapopo ♪ ♪ Sagadi, sagadi, sapopo ♪ ♪ Sagadi, sagadi, sapopo ♪ ♪ Sagadi, sagadi, sapopo ♪ ♪ Sagadi, sagadi, sapopo ♪ ♪ Sagadi, sagadi, sapopo ♪ ♪ Sagadi, sagadi, sapopo ♪ ♪ Sagadi, sagadi, sapopo ♪ <v ->How do you feel?</v> Are you warmed up and ready to play together? Alex says, "I have practiced rhythms." Aisha says, "I can feel the pulse." And Lucas feels ready to concentrate.

That sounds fantastic.

I think we're ready to go.

In today's lesson, we'll be looking at body percussion rhythm grids, and then, we'll look at reading stick notation on rhythm grids.

Let's start with body percussion rhythm grids.

The rhythm grid you can see on the screen shows body percussion actions like tapping your chest, stomping your foot, or tapping your knee.

Each of these actions is one beat long.

Now, using this grid, we can perform a whole load of different rhythms. We just need to choose a direction that we're going to travel in.

You could start at the top and then travel left to right, then go down to the next row.

Or you could start in the top left hand corner and go up and down.

You might even decide to start at the bottom and go back up.

Try a few different combinations to practice performing these rhythms. Pause the video now and have a go.

Now you've spent some time performing from this body percussion rhythm grid.

You might have noticed that this grid is organized in groups of four.

There are four squares going along and four squares going down.

That means that this music is in 4-time.

Music can be in 2-time, in 3-time, 4-time, 5-time, really, any time.

Mostly though, we listen to and sing music that's in 2, 3, or 4-time.

Here's an example of a rhythm grid in 3-time.

We can see it's organized into groups of three beats.

Have a go at playing some rhythms from this grid.

Again, choose a direction and practice performing the different body percussion actions.

Pause the video now and have a go.

So we said that music can be in lots of different times and 5-time is a bit less common.

Because of that, it can be a bit tricky to count and follow.

Lucas here is counting one, two, three, four, five.

And to repeat that, one, two, three, four, five, one, two, three, four, five, we're counting in 5-time.

Let's listen to a song.

We're going to listen to a song called "Take Five" by Dave Brubeck.

Try tapping the beat gently and then when you feel ready, try whispering the numbers one to five along with this song.

You'll hear a saxophone playing the main melody to "Take Five." Pause this video now and listen to "Take Five." Now you've heard a song in 5-time, let's try performing some rhythms in 5-time.

This body percussion rhythm grid is in 5-time.

We can see those five beats going along the top and the different actions.

When you're performing from this grid, count the beats out loud so you can hear that 5-time pulse.

Keep it slow and steady.

Pause the video now and practice performing from this grid starting in the top left corner and going from left to right, top row, and then the second row.

Well done for performing in 5-time.

Let's have a listen to another song now.

We're going to listen to a sea shanty called "What Shall We Do with the Drunken Sailor?" While you are listening, I'd like you to try gently tapping the beat along with the music.

Then you're going to think, what time is this song in? Is it in 3-time, 4-time, or 5-time? Let's have a listen.

(upbeat music) ♪ What shall we do with the drunken sailor ♪ ♪ What shall we do with the drunken sailor ♪ ♪ What shall we do with the drunken sailor ♪ ♪ Early in the morning ♪ ♪ Hooray and up she rises ♪ ♪ Hooray and up she rises ♪ ♪ Hooray and up she rises ♪ ♪ Early in the morning ♪ ♪ What shall we do with the drunken sailor ♪ ♪ What shall we do with the drunken sailor ♪ ♪ What shall we do with the drunken sailor ♪ ♪ Early in the morning ♪ ♪ Hooray and up she rises ♪ ♪ Hooray and up she rises ♪ ♪ Hooray and up she rises ♪ ♪ Early in the morning ♪ <v ->So what do you think,</v> is this song in 3-time, 4-time, or 5-time? The answer is B, 4-time.

When you listen to this song, you can count along, one, two, three, four, and that will show you how the beats are organized.

Now you've had to listen to the song, "What Should We Do with the Drunken Sailor?" Let's try adding some body percussion along with the song.

We'll be using a body percussion rhythm grid.

You'll see the grid in a moment.

When you do, you'll be reading the grid from left to right, going from the top left hand corner and ending in the bottom right hand corner.

You'll do this to play along with the song.

First, have a practice of the body percussion actions on their own.

Then when you're feeling confident, you can sing the song as you do the actions.

Or if you prefer, you could split into two teams and have one team singing the melody and one sing following the body percussion grid.

Here's the grid showing the actions to go alongside this song.

Pause this video now and have a practice using the body percussion rhythm grids.

Then when you resume, we'll try doing it along with the song.

Okay, now you've had a practice, let's try doing that body percussion along with the song.

You'll hear an introduction from the piano, then start performing the body percussion actions starting in the top left corner.

(upbeat music) ♪ What shall we do with the drunken sailor ♪ ♪ What shall we do with the drunken sailor ♪ ♪ What shall we do with the drunken sailor ♪ ♪ Early in the morning ♪ ♪ Hooray and up she rises ♪ ♪ Hooray and up she rises ♪ ♪ Hooray and up she rises ♪ ♪ Early in the morning ♪ ♪ What shall we do with the drunken sailor ♪ ♪ What shall we do with the drunken sailor ♪ ♪ What shall we do with the drunken sailor ♪ ♪ Early in the morning ♪ ♪ Hooray and up she rises ♪ ♪ Hooray and up she rises ♪ ♪ Hooray and up she rises ♪ ♪ Early in the morning ♪ <v ->How did your performance</v> of "What Shall We Do with the Drunken Sailor" go? For a successful performance, you were reading the grid from left to right, you felt that sense of pulse as you were performing, and you did each action on the beat.

Finally, you sang confidently alongside those body percussion movements.

Now, let's have a look at reading stick notation from rhythm grids.

Stick notation can be used on rhythm grids to notate rhythms, and the word notate just means a way of writing music down.

This rhythm grid has five beats, so it's in 5-time, and each of the rhythms that you can see in each beat is one beat long.

I'm going to clap this rhythm for you now.

While you're listening, try counting the beats along with me.

One, two, three, four, five.

When you get the hang of it, you could even try tapping the rhythm out along with me.

I'll do the rhythm four times in a row.

Ready, steady, off we go.

♪ Ta, ta-di, ta ♪ (clapping) ♪ Takadimi ta ♪ ♪ Ta, ta-di ta ♪ ♪ Takadimi ta ♪ ♪ Ta, ta-di ta ♪ ♪ Takadimi ta ♪ ♪ Ta, ta-di ta ♪ ♪ Takadimi ta ♪ Now to help me clap that rhythm, I was using takadimi, a system which can help us to decode what rhythms will sound like.

You heard me do, ta, ta-di, and takadimi.

Here's a couple of other sounds we can use takadimi to help us work out.

This rhythm is called takadi, and takadi is made up of three sounds in one beat.

The first two are shorter than the third.

It sounds like this.

Takadi.

(clapping) I'll do that one more time.

Takadi.

(clapping) Here's another rhythm.

This one is called tadimi, and it's also made up of three sounds in one beat, but it's different to takadi because the last two sounds are shorter than the first.

Where takadi sounds like this, takadi, (clapping) tadimi sounds like this.

Tadimi.

(clapping) Notice how that ta is much longer than the dimi, which is quick.

I'll do that again.

Tadimi.

(clapping) so we've got two new rhythms there, takadi and tadimi.

(clapping) Let's try another rhythm grid in 5-time that uses the takadi rhythm.

Again, I'll do a counting and then clap this rhythm four times in a row.

While you're listening, try stomping the beat.

When you're feeling confident, tap that rhythm along with me and chant the rhythm names as we go.

Ready, steady, off we go.

♪ Takadi, ta-di, ta ♪ (clapping) ♪ Takadimi ta ♪ ♪ Takadi, ta-di, ta ♪ ♪ Takadimi ta ♪ ♪ Takadi, ta-di, ta ♪ ♪ Takadimi ta ♪ ♪ Takadi, ta-di, ta ♪ ♪ Takadimi ta ♪ Let's try another rhythm grid also in 5-time.

This one includes the rhythm, tadimi.

Remember with that long first sound, tadimi.

Something to watch out for with this rhythm is it also includes a rest.

That's that Zed symbol on the second beat.

When we're clapping or tapping this rhythm, it's a good idea when we get to that rest, to open our hands to gesture where that rest would be so we can feel the space that it takes up.

Again, I'm going to clap this rhythm four times in a row.

Stomp the beat, tap the rhythm along with me, and when you feel confident, chant the rhythm names as well.

For the rest, I'm going to go, "Shh." Ready, steady, off we go.

♪ Ta-di, shh ♪ (clapping) ♪ Tadimi takadimi ta ♪ ♪ Ta-di, shh ♪ ♪ Tadimi takadimi ta ♪ ♪ Ta-di, shh ♪ ♪ Tadimi takadimi ta ♪ ♪ Ta-di, shh ♪ ♪ Tadimi takadimi ta ♪ True or false? Takadi and tadimi are the same rhythm, as they both have three sounds.

What do you think? True or false? The answer is false.

Although both rhythms have three sounds, they have different durations.

Takadi has two quick sounds followed by a slow one, takadi, (clapping) whereas tadimi has a slow sound followed by two quick ones, tadimi, (clapping) so they're organized in different ways.

Here's a summary of all the different rhythms we've learned.

We've got ta, (claps) we've got ta-di, (claps) takadimi, (claps) shh, the rest, takadi, (claps) and tadimi.

Each of these rhythms last for just one beat.

Here you can see a few different rhythms. Have a look at the different patterns.

Which of these rhythms do you think has just three beats? The answer is C.

Pattern C has three beats.

It would sound like this.

Takadi, ta, takadi.

(clapping) And each one of those rhythms lasts one beat with three in total.

Now let's practice reading stick notation on rhythm grids.

You can see a rhythm grid here with lots of different rhythms, and we could read this in several different ways.

We could read the rows from left to right, like the top row, the second row, third row, or fourth row, or we could read the columns going from top to bottom, the first, second, third, or fourth column.

You're going to hear some clips of rhythms being performed, and I'd like you to use this grid to work out which row or column is being performed.

Remember, the rows will only be left to right and the columns will only be top to bottom.

You'll hear each rhythm twice.

Write down your answers and then we'll check them in a moment.

Here's rhythm A.

(metronome ticking) Let's hear that one more time.

Here's rhythm A.

(metronome ticking) Now let's move on to rhythm B.

Here's rhythm B.

(metronome ticking) Here it is again.

Here's rhythm B.

(metronome ticking) Now let's move on to rhythm C.

Here's rhythm C.

(metronome ticking) Let's hear that one more time.

Here's rhythm C.

(metronome ticking) Finally, here's rhythm D.

(metronome ticking) Let's hear that one more time.

Here's rhythm D.

(metronome ticking) Now you've heard the rhythms, feel free to rewind the video and have another listen or pause here to finalize your answers, then we'll see how we did.

Here are the answers.

Rhythm A was the bottom row on the grid.

It sounds like this.

Ta, takadimi, takadimi, ta-di.

(clapping) Rhythm B was the first column on the grid.

It sounds like this.

Ta-di, takadimi, ta, ta.

(clapping) Rhythm C was the third row down.

It sounds like this.

Ta, tadimi, shh, ta.

(clapping) Finally, rhythm D is the third column.

It sounds like this.

Ta-di, takadi, shh, takadimi.

(clapping) In today's lesson we've learned that music is organized into the feeling of beats, giving it, for example, a strong-weak-weak feel if it's in 3-time.

Stick notation can be used on rhythm grids to notate rhythms. Notes of different durations are combined to create rhythms, and we've learned that takadi and tadimi both have three sounds, but in different duration orders.

Well done for your great rhythmic performing this lesson.

I'll see you again in the next one.