Lesson video

Hello there, everybody, and welcome to this lesson on playing a melodic ostinato and singing simultaneously.

This is from our unit, "Playing Together," where we are building texture with melody, drone, and ostinato.

My name's Mr. Croughan, and I'll be guiding you through as we sing and play together today.

Let's go.

By the end of this lesson, you will have played a melodic ostinato and sung at the same time.

So that first word of our keywords today is "simultaneously." It means "at the same time." The pulse: the regular, steady heartbeat of the music.

And ostinato: a repeated musical pattern that can be rhythmic or melodic.

The tempo: the speed of the music; how fast or how slow the music is played.

And finally, the conductor.

A conductor is a person who directs the performance of an ensemble.

Now, before each music lesson, we know how important it is to warm up.

We're warming up our voices, but we're also warming up our minds and our ears and our bodies so we're focused and ready to play as an ensemble.

Just as we stretch our muscles before PE, we're going to be stretching our vocal folds gently so that we're singing safely.

And by warming up our minds and ears, we're going to play successfully together as that ensemble with a steady pulse.

Please follow these warmups so that you are ready for singing.

And of course, with the don't clap this one back, feel free now to choose a leader from your class to clap those rhythms yourselves.

Off you go.

This is a game called don't clap this one back.

You'll hear me clapping different rhythms, like this one.

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." So if you hear it, you do nothing.

Any other rhythm you hear, we all clap together.

Let's try a couple.

Very, very good.

Now you're going to listen super carefully, because if you hear, we don't clap that rhythm back.

Okay? Let's play.

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

Here we go.

Very well done.

Now you can practice that where you are.

(bright piano music) ♪ One, one two one ♪ ♪ One two three two one ♪ ♪ One two three four three two one ♪ ♪ One two three four five four three two one ♪ ♪ One two three four five six five four three two one ♪ ♪ One two three four five six seven ♪ ♪ Six five four three two one ♪ ♪ One two three four five six seven eight ♪ ♪ Seven six five four three two one ♪ ♪ Eight, eight seven eight ♪ ♪ Eight seven six seven eight ♪ ♪ Eight seven six five six seven eight ♪ ♪ Eight seven six five four five six seven eight ♪ ♪ Eight seven six five four three four five six seven eight ♪ ♪ Eight seven six five four three two ♪ ♪ Three four five six seven eight ♪ ♪ Eight seven six five four three two one ♪ ♪ Two three four five six seven eight ♪ ♪ Ready, steady ♪ ♪ Off we go ♪ (singer singing in foreign language) <v ->We have two learning cycles today.

</v> The first one, beginning to play and sing simultaneously, and the second one, playing a three-note ostinato whilst singing.

So we'll begin by beginning to play and sing simultaneously.

Bands, singers, other musicians, performers, you often hear them singing and playing an instrument and sometimes dancing all at the same time.

It's a lot for their brains to be thinking about and their bodies to be doing.

That musician might be playing the same tune that they're singing, or they might be playing an accompaniment with a different tune to the one they're singing.

This is a skill that we are going to be developing today.

In this part of the lesson, we will sing "Senwa Dedende, and we're making sure we feel the steady pulse.

We'll play our accompaniment, our ostinati and our drones, separately and then we'll put them both together, and we'll practice until they sound neat.

First, we will sing "Senwa Dedende," and we'll make sure we are feeling that steady pulse.

Make sure you are ready to sing.

Here comes the track.

♪ Ready, steady ♪ ♪ Off we go ♪ (singer singing in foreign language) <v ->Great stuff.

Next we'll add the drone.

</v> We are going to use an instrument that can play a C.

Now, whatever that instrument is, choose the lowest C it can play, whether that's a xylophone, a glockenspiel, a keyboard, perhaps even a recorder, ocarina, or ukulele.

Whichever instruments are available to you, play a low C.

We're going to pop the track on in a moment, and you are going to strike that C each time the word "senwa" is sung.

If your instrument doesn't make a constant sound, it will need to be rung again.

So the example would be like this.

(Mr. Croughan singing in foreign language) And so on.

Are you ready? If you need to pause, you can pause here to set your instruments up ready.

Otherwise, I'll wait a moment, and here comes the track.

♪ Ready, steady ♪ ♪ Off we go ♪ (singer singing in foreign language) <v ->Very good, now you've played along with the track,</v> we're going to have our first go at singing and playing together.

Some of you might already been thinking of those words, or singing along.

We are now making sure we clearly and neatly put both parts together.

So I'd like you to be singing "Senwa Dedende" and playing your drone.

You can see that the "senwa" is each time we are striking our tuned percussion, if that's what you're playing.

Are you ready? Here comes the track.

♪ Ready, steady ♪ ♪ Off we go ♪ (singer singing in foreign language) <v ->Nice.

Very good.

</v> We are doing things at the same time, simultaneously.

Next we're going to develop that further by adding a melodic ostinato to "Senwa Dedende." We're going to begin with two notes.

We have ♪ Do ♪ ♪ And so ♪ ♪ So our C and our G ♪ In "Senwa Dedende," our do is a C, and these are the two notes we will use, so find them on your instruments.

The ostinato uses three notes, two of which are the same, and it fits together like this.

♪ Do so do ♪ ♪ Do so do ♪ So if we tap one, two, three, four, or (sings in foreign language), we get ♪ Do so do ♪ And on the fourth beat we're not playing anything.

So we're playing do on one, so on two, back to do on three, and a rest on four.

And as Lucas points out, yes, we're silent on that fourth beat each time.

We're gonna practice that ostinato with the backing track.

You can see the lyrics underneath.

(Mr. Croughan singing in foreign language) ♪ Do so do ♪ Rest.

♪ Do so do ♪ Rest.

Practice those on your instruments with the backing track.

Are you ready? Here comes the track.

♪ Ready, steady ♪ ♪ Off we go ♪ (singer singing in foreign language) <v ->Very good, were you able to feel the steady pulse</v> so that you are playing in time? Feeling that steady pulse helps us play as an ensemble.

We're now ready to perform our ostinato and sing simultaneously.

So you can use the backing track.

and if you're working in pairs, the other person could be your conductor and tap the steady pulse.

Everyone will be singing, half of you might be playing, and if you're not playing this time round, tap that steady pulse.

That's really gonna help our players keep in time.

We're going to pause the video here so you can rehearse that where you are.

Best of luck.

Very good.

Lovely stuff.

Well done.

Let's have a check.

Did you remember to feel that steady pulse? How was that for you? Were you feeling that (speaks in foreign language) all the way through? Did you remember to begin singing at the correct time? Did you have that "Ready, steady, off we go." (speaks in foreign language) Was it obvious to know when to come in, and did you begin singing together? And did you play those notes, ♪ Do so do ♪ in the correct order, with the rest on the fourth beat? If you did, that's fantastic.

We're playing the first three beats, ♪ Do so do ♪ and on the fourth one there's a rest.

If you were successful at all of that, then fantastic.

And if you are keeping that singing as well as playing the ostinato, simultaneously, at the same time, then very well done, you.

It's time for the second part of our lesson, which is playing a three-note ostinato that's using three different notes whilst singing.

And in this part of the lesson we're gonna sing our songs to make sure in each of them we feel the steady pulse.

We'll find the notes we're going to use for our ostinati on our instruments.

We'll read the notation that shows the pitch of our notes, and we'll sing the songs and clap the rhythms to make sure we understand how those ostinati fit with our songs.

We'll practice those ostinati, and then, when we're super confident, we'll do it simultaneously.

We'll put the playing and the singing together.

We'll begin by singing "Abiyo." Now, when we do, make sure we feel the steady pulse.

It's probably a good idea at this point to divide into two so we have the "abiyo" followed by the echo of "abiyo" each time.

Okay, so if you need to pause the track to split into two, you can.

It might just be dividing the classroom down the middle.

And I'll pop the track on, and I would like you to sing "Abiyo" with the echo "abiyo" each time, remembering to feel the steady pulse.

Are we prepared? Are we ready to sing? Here comes the track.

(drum banging) ♪ Ready, steady ♪ ♪ Off we go ♪ (singers singing in foreign language) <v ->Lovely singing.

Well done.

</v> Now, our melodic ostinato for "Abiyo" will use three different notes.

They will be ♪ Do ♪ ♪ So ♪ ♪ La ♪ In this piece, do is going to be D.

This song is sung in the key of D.

So our first note ♪ Do is a D ♪ ♪ You can find that on your instruments ♪ ♪ Then so is an A ♪ ♪ You can find that on your instruments ♪ ♪ And la is a B ♪ So when you find them on your tuned percussion, it will sound like this.

(xylophone tinkling) Okay, pause the video and check you've got those on your instruments.

Off you go.

Great.

So we've got those.

Now, on the screen is the steady pulse, which shows one two three four, one two three four.

When we're singing "Abiyo" to this steady pulse, it sounds like this.

(Mr. Croughan singing in foreign language) And so on.

With our ostinato, which we can clap when we listen to the track, which is coming on in a moment, it says one two three four, one two three four.

So we're clapping on one, three, one two three.

Okay, are we ready? Here comes the track.

Be ready to join in.

(drum banging) ♪ Ready, steady ♪ ♪ Off we go ♪ (singers singing in foreign language) <v ->Now, before we play and sing at the same time,</v> it's a good idea to work out when we're going to play by clapping the ostinato first while we sing along.

So we're just gonna sing and clap.

So this time, as you can see, the steady pulse, do, so, do la so, that's when we are clapping.

Two three four, one two three four, one two three four, one two three.

And we're going to add our lyrics.

So we have (sings in foreign language), and so on.

Are we ready? We're going to sing and clap along to the track.

Here it comes.

(drum banging) ♪ Ready, steady ♪ ♪ Off we go ♪ (singers singing in foreign language) <v ->Wonderful.

</v> Now we are ready to play the ostinato with the backing track.

You are going to pause here, and you're gonna practice a couple of times so that we're feeling that steady pulse and playing our ♪ Do so ♪ ♪ Do la so ♪ in time to the steady pulse of the backing track.

Okay, pause here and check you can all play the ostinato with the track.

Off you go.

Marvelous.

Very well done.

Now, our melodic ostinato for "Rocky Mountain" uses four notes.

It has ♪ Do mi so la ♪ and they are ♪ C E G A ♪ I would like you to pause and find those four notes on your tuned percussion and play them, going from a low pitch to a high pitch once through.

Off you go.

Have a pause for a second.

Very good, and this time we are going to, like before, listen to the ostinato and clap along to the rhythm.

So we have, "Rocky mountain, rocky mountain," is our steady deep pulse where we play ♪ Do mi so la, do mi so la ♪ And we will clap that one two three four.

Are we listening carefully? Here comes the track.

Remember, the tempo is quicker than "Abiyo Abeyo," so we are clapping a bit quicker.

(bright piano music) <v Singer>Ready, steady, off we go.

</v> ♪ Rocky mountain, rocky mountain ♪ ♪ Rocky mountain high ♪ ♪ When you're on that rocky mountain ♪ ♪ Hang your head and cry ♪ ♪ Do, do, do ♪ ♪ Do, do remember me ♪ ♪ Do, do, do ♪ ♪ Do, do remember me ♪ ♪ Rocky mountain, rocky mountain ♪ ♪ Rocky mountain high ♪ ♪ When you're on that rocky mountain ♪ ♪ Hang your head and cry ♪ ♪ Do, do, do ♪ ♪ Do, do remember me ♪ ♪ Do, do, do ♪ ♪ Do, do remember me ♪ <v ->And again, just like last time,</v> we can work out when to play by clapping that ostinato first.

So we are playing do mi so la, do mi so la, as we sing, "Rocky mountain." So sing along to the track and clap the ostinato rhythm.

Are you ready? Here comes the track.

(bright piano music) ♪ Rocky mountain, rocky mountain ♪ ♪ Rocky mountain high ♪ ♪ When you're on that rocky mountain ♪ ♪ Hang your head and cry ♪ ♪ Do, do, do ♪ ♪ Do, do remember me ♪ ♪ Do, do, do ♪ ♪ Do, do remember me ♪ ♪ Stormy ocean, stormy ocean ♪ ♪ Stormy ocean wide ♪ ♪ When you're on that stormy ocean ♪ ♪ There's no place to hide ♪ ♪ Do, do, do ♪ ♪ Do, do remember me ♪ ♪ Do, do, do ♪ ♪ Do, do remember me ♪ <v ->Very good.

</v> Now we're going to practice that ostinato with the backing track.

You are going to pause here.

You are going to play the backing track, and you are going to play the ♪ Do mi so la ♪ on your ♪ C E G A ♪ And practice a couple of times until you are confident that we're all playing the ostinato in time to the steady pulse.

Remember, it is quicker than "Abiyo Abeyo," so you are playing your instrument a bit quicker.

Pause here and practice that a couple of times.

Fantastic, you've worked methodically and carefully, building up as we go.

We have sung and tapped the steady pulse.

We've clapped the rhythm of our ostinati while we are singing.

We played along to the backing track, and now we are ready to put the playing and the singing together simultaneously.

Use the backing tracks, and if you're working in pairs, so one of you has an instrument, before you're taking it in turns, the other one should tap the steady pulse.

Everyone is singing.

Here's how to be super successful.

As soon as that track comes on, listen to the tempo, feel the steady pulse.

Make sure you're holding your beater correctly, and you're tapping the instrument in the middle of the bar, if you're using tuned percussion.

Practicing will help you improve.

You don't need to just do this once.

Do it a couple of times to make it neater each time.

Work on each song until you feel confident that you can sing and play at the same time.

The first piece you will perform is "Abiyo Abeyo," and the second one is "Rocky Mountain." Work on both of these in turn.

I wish you the best of luck singing and playing simultaneously And I'll catch up with you when you're done.

Wowzers.

How was that for you? I imagine you will have done fantastically.

It's a lot of concentrating, thinking, and playing.

Our bodies are multitasking.

Really well done.

Jun says, "We took it in turns to play an instrument or to tap the pulse." That must have really helped each other.

Sam says, "Feeling that steady pulse helped me to be able to sing and play at the same time." And Alex says, "Well, we practiced together as a class, and that helped us all hear how we were keeping in time." And each time he practiced, Alex said he felt more confident, "but it did take a few tries to make our songs sound neat." Really well done today.

You are an ensemble of players.

And just as we finish our lesson, let's look at what we've learnt.

An effective ostinato can be played on two or three notes.

Today we've used two, three, and four notes.

We are feeling the steady pulse to help us play and sing in time together.

And the more we do that, the neater our performances.

Knowing each part really well, that helps us to play and sing them simultaneously.

And with practice, we can sing a different tune to the one we're playing.

Really well done today, and I look forward to seeing you next time.

Bye for now.