Lesson video

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Hello, my name's Mr. Pate, and I'm looking forward to making some great music with you today.

This unit is called "Compose and Create: composing a major melody on a stave." And today's lesson is called "Reading and performing major melodies." By the end of this lesson, you'll be able to perform your major melody composition with increasing accuracy and a steady pulse.

Let's have a look at some of the keywords that are gonna be used in today's lesson.

Composition is a new piece of music that's been created.

Improvising means making up music in the moment, using voices, instruments, alone or with others.

Rondo form is a musical structure with a returning theme, like A, B, A, C, A.

A theme is a short, recognizable musical idea that's the main musical idea for a composition.

And finally, rehearsing means to practice, in order to improve, and prepare, for your performance.

And all of these words will be used, and explained in more detail, in today's lesson.

Now, before we start, every music lesson, it's important to warm up our bodies, voices and minds to get ready to make music.

Warming up our whole body helps us stand correctly, helps with our breathing, our posture, and keeps us at ease when we are singing.

We need to gently warm and stretch our vocal cords to protect them and sing safely.

Join in with these warmups.

<v ->We'll begin with a stretch, arms high into the air,</v> onto our tiptoes.

Hold onto a monkey bar.

And we are going to not let go of that monkey bar, but we are going to lower our heels to the ground, so we're going to get taller.

Lowering to the count of four.

Here we go, 1, 2, 3, 4.

Gosh, you're all super tall.

Drop your fingers, and your wrists, and your elbows, and your shoulders.

Relax your knees and go.

(teacher trilling) (students trilling) Very good, let's do that one more time.

Stretch up onto your tiptoes.

Hold onto the monkey bar, lowering our heels to a count of four.

Going, 1, 2, 3, 4.

Gosh, you're so tall now.

Drop your fingers, and your wrists, and your elbows, and your shoulders.

(hands slapping) Relax your knees and.

(teacher trilling) (students trilling) Very good.

Now let's take up as much space as we can.

Make a really, really big space.

Huge shapes.

And we are going to shrink down into a titchy, tiny shape.

(knees thudding) Tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, like a little seed.

And we are now going to grow back to a big shape.

Are you ready, 1, 2, 3, go.

Grow, grow, grow, grow, grow, grow.

And relax.

Feet slightly apart.

Arms by our side.

<v ->Now let's warm up our face.

</v> We're gonna start by tapping all over our face from our neck, all the way to the top of our head, to wake ourselves up.

Ready? We're starting on our neck.

And just lightly, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap.

Moving up.

Tap, tap, tap.

Onto your chin.

Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap.

Past your cheeks.

Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap.

Past your eyes to your forehead.

Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap.

To the very top of your head.

Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap.

Bing.

Lovely, very good.

Now we're gonna pretend to brush our teeth, but with our tongue.

So our tongue is gonna move all the way across our top and bottom teeth all the way into the corners of your mouth.

Like this.

Mm.

There we go.

Right through the back.

Coming down.

To the other side.

All the way to the back.

Back round.

And there we go.

Hopefully that tongue's feeling nice and exercised.

Now we're gonna do some breathing exercises.

We are gonna breathe in over a count of four.

Then we're gonna hold it for a count of five.

And then exhale, breathe out, over a count of six.

It's gonna be a bit like this.

So, in.

(Mr. Pate inhaling) (Mr. Pate exhaling) Now you try.

Ready, so in for four.

Ready? And in, 2, 3, 4.

And hold, 2, 3, 4, 5.

And out, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.

Lovely and again.

In 2, 3, 4.

And hold, 2, 3, 4, 5.

And out, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.

Well done.

Here's a tongue twister to get your mouths and voices working.

Repeat after me.

All I want is a proper cup of coffee.

Let's try that again.

All I want is a proper cup of coffee.

The next line will go, made in a proper copper coffee pot.

Try repeating after me.

Made in a proper copper coffee pot.

And again, made in a proper copper coffee pot.

Let's put them both together.

So we'll go.

All I want is a proper cup of coffee made in a proper coffee pot.

Now your turn.

Ready? And all I want is a proper cup of coffee made in a proper copper coffee pot.

This is a call and response warmup.

So when I say.

♪ Hey, oh, Captain Jack ♪ You'll repeat after me.

Let's get a bit of a march going.

(happy fast music playing) Get ready.

Here we go.

Ready and here we go.

♪ Hey, oh, Captain Jack ♪ ♪ Take me down that railroad track ♪ ♪ Got my boots, got my hat ♪ ♪ I'm gonna be in a marching band ♪ (happy music continuing) Great, let's do it again.

♪ Hey, oh, Captain Jack ♪ ♪ Take me down that railroad track ♪ ♪ Got my boots, got my hat ♪ ♪ I'm gonna be in a marching band ♪ Well done and again.

♪ Hey, oh, Captain Jack ♪ ♪ Take me down that railroad track ♪ ♪ Got my boots, got my hat ♪ ♪ I'm gonna be in a marching band ♪ One more time.

♪ Hey, oh, Captain Jack ♪ ♪ Take me down that railroad track ♪ ♪ Got my boots, got my hat ♪ ♪ I'm gonna be in a marching band ♪ Well done.

Here are some songs that help you warm up further.

They'll help you move your bodies in different ways and use your voices in different ways.

This first song is called "Ah Poor Bird." Join in with this song.

(gentle sad piano music playing) ♪ Ah poor bird ♪ ♪ Take your flight ♪ ♪ Up above the sorrow of this dark night ♪ ♪ Ah poor bird ♪ ♪ Take your flight ♪ ♪ Up above the sorrow of this dark night ♪ Now join in with this warmup called Elevator.

(happy piano music playing) ♪ Elevator won't you take me ♪ ♪ Elevator won't you take me ♪ ♪ 1, 3, 5 ♪ ♪ 1, 3, 5 ♪ ♪ Elevator won't you take me ♪ ♪ Elevator won't you take me ♪ ♪ 5, 3, 1 ♪ ♪ 5, 3, 1 ♪ ♪ Elevator won't you take me ♪ ♪ Elevator won't you take me ♪ ♪ 1, 3, 5 ♪ ♪ 1, 3, 5 ♪ ♪ Elevator won't you take me ♪ ♪ Elevator won't you take me ♪ ♪ 5, 3, 1 ♪ ♪ 5, 3, 1 ♪ ♪ Elevator won't you take me ♪ ♪ Elevator won't you take me ♪ ♪ 1, 3, 5 ♪ ♪ 1, 3, 5 ♪ ♪ Elevator won't you take me ♪ ♪ Elevator won't you take me ♪ ♪ 5, 3, 1 ♪ ♪ 5, 3, 1 ♪ ♪ Elevator won't you take me ♪ ♪ Elevator won't you take me ♪ ♪ 1, 3, 5 ♪ ♪ 1, 3, 5 ♪ ♪ Elevator won't you take me ♪ ♪ Elevator won't you take me ♪ ♪ 5, 3, 1 ♪ ♪ 5, 3, 1 ♪ (happy piano music playing) ♪ Elevator won't you take me ♪ ♪ Elevator won't you take me ♪ ♪ 1, 2, 4, 5 ♪ ♪ 1, 2, 4, 5 ♪ ♪ Elevator won't you take me ♪ ♪ Elevator won't you take me ♪ ♪ 5, 4, 2, 1 ♪ ♪ 5, 4, 2, 1 ♪ ♪ Elevator won't you take me ♪ ♪ Elevator won't you take me ♪ ♪ 1, 2, 4, 5 ♪ ♪ 1, 2, 4, 5 ♪ ♪ Elevator won't you take me ♪ ♪ Elevator won't you take me ♪ ♪ 5, 4, 2, 1 ♪ ♪ 5, 4, 2, 1 ♪ ♪ Elevator won't you take me ♪ ♪ Elevator won't you take me ♪ ♪ 1, 2, 4, 5 ♪ ♪ 1, 2, 4, 5 ♪ ♪ Elevator won't you take me ♪ ♪ Elevator won't you take me ♪ ♪ 5, 4, 2, 1 ♪ ♪ 5, 4, 2, 1 ♪ ♪ Elevator won't you take me ♪ ♪ Elevator won't you take me ♪ ♪ 1, 2, 4, 5 ♪ ♪ 1, 2, 4, 5 ♪ ♪ Elevator won't you take me ♪ ♪ Elevator won't you take me ♪ ♪ 5, 4, 2, 1 ♪ ♪ 5, 4, 2, 1 ♪ <v ->Finally join in with this warmup, bubblegum.

</v> <v ->This warmup is called bubblegum.

</v> How many times do you hear the word "bubblegum" in the song? ♪ Bubblegum, bubblegum, chew and blow ♪ ♪ Bubblegum, bubblegum, scrape your toe ♪ ♪ Bubblegum, bubblegum, tastes so sweet ♪ ♪ Get that bubblegum off my feet ♪ If you counted seven times, you're right.

This time, add these actions on the word bubblegum.

(hands slapping) Bubblegum.

(hands slapping) Are you ready? ♪ Ready, steady, off we go ♪ ♪ Bubblegum, bubblegum ♪ (hands slapping) ♪ Chew and blow ♪ ♪ Bubblegum, bubblegum ♪ (hands slapping) ♪ Scrape your toe ♪ ♪ Bubblegum, bubblegum ♪ (hands slapping) ♪ Tastes so sweet ♪ ♪ Get that bubblegum ♪ (hands slapping) ♪ Off my feet ♪ Let's try it a tiny bit faster.

Are you ready? ♪ Off we go ♪ ♪ Bubblegum, bubblegum ♪ (hands slapping) ♪ Chew and blow ♪ ♪ Bubblegum, bubblegum ♪ (hands slapping) ♪ Scrape your toe ♪ ♪ Bubblegum, bubblegum ♪ (hands slapping) ♪ Tastes so sweet ♪ ♪ Get that bubblegum ♪ (hands slapping) ♪ Off my feet ♪ Last time, really fast.

♪ Ready, steady, off we go ♪ ♪ Bubblegum, bubblegum ♪ (hands slapping) ♪ Chew and blow ♪ ♪ Bubblegum, bubblegum ♪ (hands slapping) ♪ Scrape your toe ♪ ♪ Bubblegum, bubblegum ♪ (hands slapping) ♪ Tastes so sweet ♪ ♪ Get that bubblegum ♪ (hands slapping) ♪ Off my feet ♪ <v ->Are you warmed up and ready to sing?</v> Hopefully your muscles are feeling relaxed, your throat feels warm, and you're concentrating, and ready to learn.

Let's have a look at the learning cycles for today's lesson.

First, we're gonna be composing and improvising melodies.

Then we'll be creating a rondo composition with a chanted theme.

Let's start by listening to the song from the Philippines.

"Sagidi sagidi sapopo." Ready and here we go.

♪ Sagidi sagidi sapopo ♪ ♪ Sagidi sagidi sapopo ♪ ♪ Sagidi sagidi sapopo ♪ ♪ Sagidi sagidi sapopo ♪ ♪ Sagidi sagidi sapopo ♪ ♪ Sagidi sagidi sapopo ♪ ♪ Sagidi sagidi sapopo ♪ ♪ Sagidi sagidi sapopo ♪ <v ->Now let's try chanting it together.

</v> Ready? And here we go.

</v> The leader will do an action first, and then you should repeat it a phrase later, all while keeping the chant going.

Try doing that along with this video.

<v ->Ready, steady, off we go.

</v> ♪ Sagidi sagidi sapopo ♪ (hands slapping) ♪ Sagidi sagidi sapopo ♪ (hands slapping) ♪ Sagidi sagidi sapopo ♪ (hands slapping) ♪ Sagidi sagidi sapopo ♪ (hands slapping) ♪ Sagidi sagidi sapopo ♪ (hands slapping) ♪ Sagidi sagidi sapopo ♪ (hands slapping) <v ->Now let's remind ourselves of our melody compositions.

</v> We used the "Sagidi sagidi sapopo" rhythm, and we came up with our own melody using the notes of the major pentachord.

Your composition might look a little bit like this example you can see on the screen.

Watch this example being played on a pitched percussion instrument.

And then answer the questions.

(glockenspiel dinging) (glockenspiel dinging) So, do you think that in this example the pitches move mostly by A, step, or B, leap? The answer is A.

The pitches move mostly by step, which is a great feature for a melody.

Now what about this next statement? There is use of repetition.

Do you think that's A, true, or B, false? The answer is A, it's true.

The first six notes are repeated exactly in both halves of this composition, and repetition is a great feature of a melody 'cause it makes it catchy and memorable.

Finally, what note does the melody start and end on? Is it A, mi, or B, do? The answer is B.

When we use the major pentachord, starting and ending on the note do is a great way to make your piece feel finished.

Now, we've been reminded of our compositions, let's try playing them on our pitched percussion instrument.

But we're gonna try playing them in between the "Sagidi sagidi sapopo" chant.

A bit like the table you can see below.

Let's listen to an example of what this might sound like.

Ready and here we go.

♪ Sagidi sagidi sapopo ♪ ♪ Sagidi sagidi sapopo ♪ ♪ Sagidi sagidi sapopo ♪ ♪ Sagidi sagidi sapopo ♪ (percussion instrument dinging) (percussion instrument dinging) ♪ Sagidi sagidi sapopo ♪ ♪ Sagidi sagidi sapopo ♪ ♪ Sagidi sagidi sapopo ♪ ♪ Sagidi sagidi sapopo ♪ <v ->When you're trying this yourself,</v> can you chant, and then go straight into your melody, like in the example? Can you keep a steady pulse? Pause this video now and spend a little bit of time chanting and playing your melody.

Now let's remind ourselves of our rhythm compositions.

We used the rhythms from the rhythm bank, you can see on the screen, and came up with our own rhythmic composition.

Yours might look a little bit like the example at the bottom of the screen.

This example rhythm sounds like this.

♪ Tadi takadi tadita ♪ (hands slapping) ♪ Tadi takadi takadimita ♪ (hands slapping) What does yours sound like? Now, Lucas has realized that we could use our rhythm composition to improvise a new melody.

But what is improvising? Well, as Aisha tells us, improvising means making up a new melody on the spot.

So let's try improvising a melody for our composed rhythm.

We're just going to be using the notes of the major pentachord.

In this case, we're using C, D, E, F, and G, and we're gonna try making up a melody on the spot using the rhythm that we've composed.

Pause the video now and spend a bit of time improvising a new melody.

Now, how did you find improvising a melody using your rhythm composition? Jacob says, "Using my rhythm composition made it easier to improvise a melody." Izzy said, "I tried to remember what I've learned about successful melodies.

I improvised using mainly steps, and I tried to repeat some bits." That's a really good idea, Izzy.

Repetition is always a good feature of a melody 'cause it makes it catchy and memorable.

And using mostly steps is a way that will make it sound really melodic.

Let's try putting that together with our chant.

What you're gonna do for this task is improvise a melody, using your rhythm composition, in between the "Sagidi sagadi sapopo" chant.

Go straight into your improvisation after the chant, keeping a steady pulse.

Look at the example you can see and then pause the video, and spend a little bit of time practicing your chant, your improvised melody, and then back to the chant again.

Now you've spent a little bit of time practicing your improvised melody in between the chants.

How did it go? Andeep says, "I improvised an effective melody.

I used mainly steps and I started on do." That sounds like a really good idea, Andeep.

Laura said, "I can chant, and go straight into my improvisation." That's really good because it means the pulse is steady.

Aisha says, "I could play my rhythm well, so it was easy to improvise a melody." It's always a good idea to practice the rhythm first, 'cause that'll help you with your improvisations.

Finally, Alex said, "I can keep a steady pulse when playing and chanting." Keeping a steady pulse is a really good musical skill.

Now, for our final learning cycle, we're gonna be creating something called a rondo composition with a chanted theme.

What does this mean? Well, the structure of a piece of music is the way that it's organized.

And one way to structure a piece of music is to use a returning theme.

This is that main recognizable musical idea, which comes back again and again.

This structure is called a rondo form.

It could be written as: A, B, A, C, A, where that letter A represents the returning theme, and B and C are new ideas.

Rondo form can be thought of a bit like a big delicious burger with layers of bread in between each of the fillings.

And we can see in this diagram we've got our A, melody, the B, a new idea, back to A, C, another new idea, and then A again at the bottom.

Let's listen to a piece of music with a rondo structure.

We're going to listen to a piece called "Fur Elise" by a composer, Ludwig van Beethoven.

While you are listening, I would like you to put your hands in the air whenever you hear that returning A theme, the main musical theme in the piece.

Pause the video now and have a listen to "Fur Elise." Now that we've heard an example of the piece of music in rondo form, we're going to come up with our own.

We're going to use the chant, "Sagadi sagadi sapopo," as part of our own rondo form composition.

And this chant is gonna be our main theme.

We're gonna label it A, a bit like the bread in that big burger.

The section B will be the melody that you composed for the "Sagadi sagadi sapopo" rhythm.

And finally, the section C will be an improvisation, using your own rhythm that you composed previously.

Before you start practicing your own composition, let's have a listen to an example.

You can see the table here, which will show you what the example will sound like.

First, you'll hear the chant, then you'll hear the melody composition.

You'll hear the chant again.

Then an improvisation using a composed rhythm.

And finally, the chant again.

Have a listen and see if you can hear the different sections of the rondo structure.

Ready and here we go.

♪ Sagadi sagadi sapopo ♪ ♪ Sagadi sagadi sapopo ♪ ♪ Sagadi sagadi sapopo ♪ ♪ Sagadi sagadi sapopo ♪ (percussion instrument dinging) (percussion instrument dinging) ♪ Sagadi sagadi sapopo ♪ ♪ Sagadi sagadi sapopo ♪ ♪ Sagadi sagadi sapopo ♪ ♪ Sagadi sagadi sapopo ♪ (percussion instrument dinging) (percussion instrument dinging) ♪ Sagadi sagadi sapopo ♪ ♪ Sagadi sagadi sapopo ♪ ♪ Sagadi sagadi sapopo ♪ ♪ Sagadi sagadi sapopo ♪ <v ->Now you've heard an example of what it might sound like.

</v> Now it's over to you.

Now's the time to rehearse your own composition and get ready to perform.

Rehearsing means practicing playing your song over and over.

This will help make sure you know it really well and you'll be able to give a really confident performance.

When you're rehearsing, it is best to start slow.

Pick a slow steady tempo to give you plenty of time to find the notes you need on your pitched percussion instrument.

Pause the video now, and spend a bit of time practicing your composition.

Now you've spent some time rehearsing, it's finally time to perform your composition.

When you're playing your rondo composition to an audience, it's a really good idea to start with a count in.

Something like, ready, steady, off we go.

That can help set a slow, steady tempo for your performance.

Now, if you make a mistake when you're performing, don't worry.

Try to find your place and carry on playing.

Mistakes happen all the time in musical performance, but if you can find your place, and carry on anyway, your audience might not even notice that you've gone wrong.

Pause the video now and perform your rondo composition to your audience.

Well done for performing your rondo composition.

It's a fantastic achievement, to not only compose your own piece of music, but also to perform it to an audience.

Let's spend a minute reflecting on how it went.

Think about this question.

How was your performance? How did it go? What did you do really well? And is there anything you'd do differently again, in future? Andeep says, "I chanted and played my melodies in time, keeping a slow, steady tempo." That's great, Andeep.

It's always a good idea to pick a slow, steady tempo, so that you can find your notes easily, and not worry about rushing.

Aisha says, "I made a mistake, but I tried to find my place, and carry on, instead of stopping." That's a really good idea, and I bet Aisha's audience didn't even notice 'cause she was able to find her place and carry on.

Finally, Alex said, "I'd rehearsed, so I knew my composition well, which helped my performance." It's always nice performing a piece of music that you know really well.

So effective rehearsal, and spending time getting to know your piece, is always a good idea before you perform.

So in today's lesson, we have learned to compose, and improvise, using the pitches of the major pentachord.

We've learned that effective melodies you move mostly by steps with some leaps.

We've learned that rondo form is a type of composition with a returning theme.

We've learned that rehearsing helps us get ready to perform.

And finally, we've learned that when we perform, we should pick a steady tempo.

And if we make a mistake, we should try and find our place, and continue.

Well done for your hard work composing, and performing, your own piece of music.

You should be really proud of the work that you've done in this unit.

I'll see you again next time.

Thanks, bye.

I've finished the video