Lesson video

(no audio) <v ->Hi there everybody.

</v> Welcome to the final lesson in this unit where we are rehearsing songs with layers of instrumental accompaniment.

This is our playing together unit building texture, using melody, drone, and ostinato.

And today we are putting all of those things together.

My name's Mr. Croughan, and I'm looking forward to guiding you through your rehearsal, to playing your fully accompanied songs.

In this lesson, you'll be rehearsing, singing, and playing as part of an ensemble performance.

Let's begin with our key words.

First of all, to rehearse.

Rehearsing is to practice in order to improve and to prepare for a performance.

Ensemble, a group of people who perform together.

Texture, the combination of different layers of sound.

Conductor, a person who directs the musicians or singers.

And tempo, how fast or slow the music is played.

We know how important it is to warm up because we are warming up our voices to keep them safe, but we're also warming up our minds, our ears, and our bodies so that we feel ready to play as an ensemble and we're all feeling a steady pulse and making our performance neat.

So I would like you to join in with these warmups.

Remember with "Don't Clap This One Back", you can take the lead by choosing a leader from your class.

Off you go.

This is a game called "Don't Clap This One Back".

You will hear me clapping different rhythms like this one.

(Richard claps) 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.

(Richard claps) (no audio) (Richard claps) (no audio) (Richard claps) Very, very good.

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

Okay? Let's play.

(Richard claps) (no audio) (Richard claps) (no audio) (Richard claps) (no audio) (Richard claps) Did I catch any of you out? Let's try one more time.

Here we go.

(Richard claps) (no audio) (Richard claps) (no audio) (Richard claps) (no audio) (Richard claps) (no audio) (Richard claps) Very well done.

Now you can practice that where you are.

♪ 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 ♪ ♪ Senwa dedende, senwa ♪ ♪ Senwa dedende, senwa ♪ ♪ Senwa dedende ♪ ♪ Senwa dedende ♪ ♪ Senwa dedende, senwa ♪ ♪ Senwa dedende, senwa ♪ ♪ Senwa dedende, senwa ♪ ♪ Senwa dedende ♪ ♪ Senwa dedende ♪ ♪ Senwa dedende, senwa ♪ ♪ Senwa dedende, senwa ♪ ♪ Senwa dedende, senwa ♪ ♪ Senwa dedende ♪ ♪ Senwa dedende ♪ ♪ Senwa dedende, senwa ♪ <v ->Our two learning cycles today start with adding layers</v> to create a thicker texture and then ensemble rehearsal with melody, ostinato, and drone.

Let's begin by adding those layers all together to create a thicker texture.

If we had to successfully add rhythmic and melodic ostinati to our songs, we want to play as an ensemble at the same tempo.

We're gonna warm up a little bit more by singing "Rocky Mountain" and marching a Ta-di rhythm.

So we get our Rocky Mountain, Rocky Mountain, Rocky Mountain high.

We're gonna all make sure we are marching in time, so we are feeling the rhythm together.

You can use the track to help you.

Pause here and practice that where you are.

Off you go.

(no audio) Next we're going to remind ourselves of our melodic ostinato.

This is our.

♪ Do mi so la ♪ Our ♪ C E G A ♪ and we're going to make sure that we play that on each syllable of Rocky Mountain.

So we're feeling Rocky Mountain.

♪ Do mi so la ♪ Is our melodic ostinato.

We're gonna rehearse this with the track.

If you are working in pairs, so one of you has an instrument and the other one is waiting 'cause you are sharing, the other person should be beating the steady pulse.

Everybody is singing.

Are we ready to rehearse with the track? Here it comes, <v Leader>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 ->Now did you notice you're playing two notes to each beat?</v> So you're checking now that you can sing "Rocky Mountain" and play that melodic ostinato simultaneously keeping a steady pulse.

So our pulse is rocky mountain, rocky mountain (clapping).

and we are playing ♪ Do mi so la ♪ ♪ Do mi so la ♪ You can practice and you can do it twice so that everyone has a turn of playing as well as singing.

If you need to rehearse that more, pause the video now and practice that with each person having a turn.

Off you go.

(no audio) Magic.

Now onto the next layer, we are adding a simple rhythmic ostinato.

One of the groups will be playing this simple rhythmic ostinato and the rhythm is the same as the syllables in mountain.

So it'll sound like this.

♪ Rocky mountain, rocky mountain ♪ ♪ Rocky mountain high ♪ ♪ When you're on that rocky mountain ♪ ♪ Hang your head and cry ♪ And it carries on.

I would like you to pause the video here and have a go at playing that.

If you don't have claves, you can tap the rhythm using two fingers and your hand.

And if you do play them neatly and correctly, holding your claves like a cradle and tapping (claves echo) lightly on them to the syllables of mountain.

Keep that ostinato going.

Practice that where you are now.

(no audio) Very good.

So a quick check-in for you.

Just as we are adding more layers of sound, there's three examples of things happening on the left and then we're discussing the texture of them on the right.

So A, singing with a melodic ostinato, how many layers of sound, how thick is the texture? B, a rhythmic ostinato, how many layers, how thick is the texture and singing rhythmic and melodic ostinati, how thick is the texture there? So you're going to match A, B, and C to the points on the right.

One layer, thin texture, three layers, thick texture, and two layers, quite a thin texture.

Okay, have a pause and decide on your answers.

(no audio) Grand, let's see if you are right.

So A, singing and a melodic ostinato, that's two layers, still quite a thin texture.

There's not many things happening, but we do have a voice and a tune, a melody and a melodic ostinato.

The second one, the rhythmic ostinato, just that by itself, it could be as simple as.

(claves echo) That's one layer and just a thin texture.

And the third one, singing a rhythmic and a melodic ostinati that gives us three layers together, which produces a thicker texture.

We are now ready for our first task.

You're going to work in three groups as an ensemble to layer up the song and the two ostinati.

Remember we have our rhythmic ostinati group, (claves echo) our melodic ostinati group playing our ♪ Do mi so la ♪ ♪ Do mi so la ♪ And our singing group.

If you would like an extra challenge, which I'm sure you would, the singing group can add in a drone on C on our Do for the.

♪ Rocky mountain, rocky mountain ♪ ♪ Rocky mountain high ♪ So you can see there, the singing group will play a C for rocky mountain, rocky mountain, chime on C each time.

If you are in the melodic ostinato group, then with our tempo, with our ♪ Rocky mountain, rocky mountain ♪ You are playing.

♪ Do mi so la ♪ ♪ Do mi so la ♪ Two notes to each beat.

♪ C E G A ♪ ♪ C E G A ♪ You are the melodic ostinato group and then the rhythmic ostinato group with the ♪ Rocky Mountain, Rocky Mountain, Rocky Mountain High ♪ (claves echo) And you are popping those three together.

Use the backing track to help you.

That will give you the steady tempo.

Make sure you know which group you're in.

Are you in the singing group, the rhythmic ostinato, or the melodic ostinato group? And if you are the singing group, add in that drone on a C.

I look forward to hearing how it all went.

Good luck.

Off you go.

(no audio) Wow, how was that? That meant that you were adding all of those layers of sound to our song.

For Laura, she said, "Well, we added three layers "to the melody of our song.

"We sang, but there was the rhythmic ostinato, "a melodic ostinato, and the drone.

"So if we include our singing, that made the texture "of our piece four layers thick." And Andeep reminds us that "Feeling the steady pulse "was important, especially so that we can play neatly "in time together." He said, yeah, "We still sometimes got faster, "so we're going to need to feel that pulse more "while we carry on rehearsing." I imagine you experienced something similar, remember feeling that steady pulse.

If you've got someone that you can see that's keeping it, that might help you too and listening to each other all the while, feeling that steady pulse will guide you through.

It's time to look at our ensemble rehearsal where we bring together melody, ostinato, and drone.

Now a conductor is very useful when we're playing as an ensemble.

In your rehearsal, a conductor should tap a steady pulse.

That's like tapping a button in front of you.

If we watch that conductor and they're keeping at the same tempo, we can all play at the same tempo by keeping an eye on that conductor.

The conductor can also make sure that everyone starts together by counting in.

That kinda one, two, three, four, all ready, steady, off we go.

When we play and sing together, playing at the same tempo is important.

It helps us be successful as an ensemble, as a collective.

We need to think about other things too.

Lucas says, "When we're playing our own part, "we shouldn't just hammer out our own part loudly.

"It's important the audience can hear "all the different layers of texture." Now we call the drone, the rhythmic ostinato, and the melodic ostinato our accompaniment to our song.

So if we decide that the song is the main bit, our accompaniment parts support that melody, and as Sofia suggests, "We should play the accompaniment "a little bit quieter so that the melody "and the words of the song can be heard clearly." So we're also thinking about our dynamics when we're playing.

How loud or soft are we playing so that we are accompanying the song.

Let's practice this by singing our echo song, "Abiyo, Abeyo" because we know that when we sing ♪ Abiyo ♪ We hold the note.

♪ Abiyo ♪ So that there is both layers of sound happening.

What we want to check when we do that is can we hear both parts when the notes are held under the echo? Have we got the balance right? So pause here, pop the track on, and adjust your balances to make sure that the sound is even.

Off you go.

(no audio) Great, we're really considering our dynamics now to get the best balance of sound.

Carrying on with that, we're now going to make four groups and we'll choose a conductor.

I'd like you to rehearse the singing with the rhythmic ostinati.

Now remember there are two ostinatos in the rhythm section.

We have our Tadi-ta rhythm, which goes one and two and three and four and one and two and three and four and.

And then we have our claves rhythm playing on the beat, which is our one, two, three, four, ah one, two, three, four.

We pop those together.

The thing that's gonna help us keep in time is with our conductor, keeping that steady pulse and giving us our ready, steady, off we go.

We have our call and our response.

So make sure you know which of the four groups you're in, singing call, singing the echo, the rhythmic ostinato group playing Tadi-Ta, and the claves group playing the ta rhythm.

Okay, pause here and rehearse that where you are.

Best of luck.

Off you go.

(no audio) And there you are.

You are wonderfully rehearsing in four parts.

This is great.

Just to check, did the conductor count in so everyone started at the same time? Is that steady tempo being set? Is the conductor showing the steady pulse? And are the players and the singers paying attention? Are they watching that conductor? That's really gonna help.

Can you hear both parts of the song? Is any element too loud? And are each group, the singing group remembering to hold those notes under the echo? ♪ Abeyo ♪ Throughout.

Another question, those people, the groups playing the rhythmic ostinati, are they playing in time with each other? They go ba ba ba, ba ba ba.

Is it working neatly together? And are they quiet enough so the singers can be heard? See, we're really thinking about a lot, aren't we? We're thinking about our dynamics now to make sure that balance of sound is just right.

And finally, you feel like you're working as a team and listening to each other.

These are all signs of a great young ensemble.

Next we're going to rehearse the melodic ostinato.

Remember in "Abiyo", do is a D.

This is in the key of D so we'll begin on a ♪ Do so do la so ♪ And you're going to play those on ♪ D A D B A ♪ On your instruments.

So we need to rehearse this with the steady pulse.

And to do that in three groups, check that the melodic ostinato and the singing parts fit together.

So in this case we'll divide into three.

We'll have our call Abiyo, our response Abiyo and the people playing the melodic ostinato and we'll pop that together.

I would like to pause now.

Still use a conductor to keep your ready, steady, off we go.

♪ Abiyo abiyo ♪ And so forth, holding those notes.

And then under that we have our ♪ Do so do la so ♪ And make sure all of that comes together neatly, okay? Remember to feel the steady pulse.

Rehearse that and I'll see you in a second.

(no audio) This is fantastic.

We are now going to make the most number of groups we've made in this unit yet to create the thickest texture so far.

You are going to work in five groups.

The first group will be singing Abiyo Abeyo, the call, adding the drone on D with ♪ Abiyo ♪ The second group, they'll be echoing, so they will be ♪ Abiyo ♪ Also adding the drone on helping us keep that constant pitch sound of the drone underneath.

The third group will be playing the rhythmic ostinato number one and the fourth group rhythmic ostinato number two.

You can decide which group is playing which.

Then group number five, just when you think you couldn't do anymore, you wonderful lot will be playing the melodic ostinato.

♪ Do so do la so ♪ Lastly, we need a conductor, someone with a good steady pulse to keep us all in time.

Here's how you're going to do this successfully.

The conductor will listen carefully to the track.

They will hear that tempo and tap the steady pulse.

Your job is to watch the conductor out of the corner of your eye.

You might be singing, you might be playing the rhythmic or melodic ostinati.

What's important is that you just notice their gestures because even if you're playing an instrument, watching the conductor will help keep you all in time at the correct tempo as an ensemble.

When you sing, sing confidently, hold those notes under the echo.

Play the rhythmic and melodic ostinato slightly quieter.

Remember we're accompanying the singing.

And you want to make sure that all those different layers of texture can be heard.

This means you rehearse a few times in order to get the balance just right.

Working as a team is so important.

We can watch and listen to each other and we can enjoy ourselves as a team as we perform.

Remember, you can swap groups each time so that each person has a go at singing or playing a different ostinato.

For each group there is a slide.

We have our singing and echoing where we're playing our drone two, the rhythmic ostinato, one and two, to see both of those rhythms and the melodic ostinato.

I wish you the best of luck as you bring your five layers of sounds together to create a thick texture.

All the best, and I'll see you after you've done.

(no audio) Wow, how did it go? How many times were you able to rehearse and did it get neater each time? What was important for you? Well, Aisha says, "We created a thick texture." It was actually six layers of sound if we add in the backing track.

And "We played sensitively," that's a great word, "So we could hear each part." And Alex said, "I played the rhythmic ostinato first "and what really helped me "was watching the conductors steady pulse.

"First time we did it, we sped up, "but with rehearsal we actually managed "to all play at the same tempo." And I hope with practice that you manage that too.

Playing six layers of sound together is impressive.

Really well done.

That's almost all we have time for for today and indeed, this unit.

So let's have a summary of what we've learned.

We know that we can layer a drone, rhythmic ostinati, melodic ostinati and vocal parts and work together as an ensemble.

When we follow a conductor, that can help keep us in time.

The more layers of sound we add, the thicker that texture becomes.

Rehearsal, that helps us to improve by focusing on our listening, feeling that pulse, following a conductor, as well as developing our playing technique.

And finally, accompaniments to songs support the main melody, and therefore are often played a bit quieter to allow the lyrics to be heard.

You have all done fantastically well, and I'll look forward to seeing you again soon.

All the best.

Bye for now.

(no audio).