Lesson video

Hi everyone.

Welcome to this lesson on ensemble storytelling through song.

This is from our Singing Together unit, where we're exploring how we share stories through song.

My name is Mr. Croughan, and I'm excited about today's lesson, because we put the rest of our song on its feet and look how we tell that story as an ensemble.

Are we ready? Here we go.

By the end of this lesson, you'll be able to say that you can demonstrate your understanding of opera by performing a song in character and conveying their emotional journey.

Let's begin by looking at today's keywords, and we'll start with structure.

This is the way the music is organized and structure's gonna help us today as we assemble our whole song.

Round.

A round is a song structure where multiple groups sing the same melody, but they start at different times, and we'll rehearse our round today too.

Unison is the same tune sung or played at the same time, and we know we go from a round section into a unison section.

And then rehearsal.

This is a practice session in which a performance is prepared, and we'll have plenty of time for it today.

We're going to warm up with you, me, you, and then vocal copycats.

This is gonna help us understand those characters of Hansel and Gretel, as well as warming up our bodies and our voices.

Here they both come, make sure you've got a space.

<v ->Let's look at a drama warmup called you, me, you.

</v> In this activity, we're going to develop our character skills by just using two words and discover how they change by putting them in different scenarios from Hansel and Gretel.

Firstly, let's get into a circle.

So we are going to play a game called you, me, you.

The first thing I want you to do is we're going to pass a you around the circle, so I'm gonna start it off.

I'm gonna pick someone I want to pass it to, make eye contact with them, point, and clearly say you.

When you've been pointed at, you then pass the you on.

Make sense? <v Class>Yes.

</v> <v ->Lovely, let's give it a go.

</v> You! <v ->You!</v> <v ->You!</v> <v ->You!</v> <v ->You!</v> <v ->You!</v> <v ->You.

</v> <v ->That was great.

</v> What we're gonna do now is you're gonna catch your you with a me before you pass it on.

So if I get pointed at, I'll go, "Me?" And then I'll pick someone else in the circle, make eye contact, point clearly, and say, "You." Let's give it a go.

You! <v ->Me?</v> You! <v ->Me?</v> You! <v ->Me?</v> You! <v ->Me?</v> You! <v ->Me?</v> You! <v ->Brilliant.

</v> I am going to give you some scenarios now from "Hansel and Gretel" from our story, and we're gonna play the exact same game, but think about how that changes the way we say these you, me, yous, got it? let's give it a go.

The first scenario is that you are "Hansel and Gretel." You're at home, you're tired, you're hungry, and you start messing around.

But mother comes home and catches you.

You want to blame your sibling instead.

Should we give that a go? I'm gonna start it off.

You! <v ->Me?</v> No way, you.

<v ->Me?</v> You're the one to blame, you! <v ->Me?</v> I thought I was your favorite.

You! <v ->That was brilliant.

</v> Do you see how much that changed those two simple words, just by placing it in a different scenario? <v ->Hansel and Gretel are the main characters in our opera.

</v> A brother and sister who go on an adventure.

We're going to warm up our voices using all sorts of fun sounds as we become vocal copycats.

That means I'm going to make a sound and I want you to copy me, and you can follow along in your class, too.

You can do this as a class, but today my vocal copycat is Emma.

Ready? My turn first.

(instructor yawns melodically) Your turn.

(Emma yawns melodically) Imagine you are Hansel and Gretel in the forest at night and you are super tired.

Can you make your sound and action even bigger, like this? (Instructor yawns exaggeratedly) (Emma yawns exaggeratedly) Brilliant.

The forest is so cold and it makes us shiver, like this.

(Instructor shivers) (Emma shivers) We're going to imagine that we have a giant shiver that travels all the way through our bodies and voices like this.

(instructor warbles) (Emma warbles) The shivering reminds us that we are really hungry, so we rub our tummies and think about our favorite food, like this.

(instructor whines) (Emma whines) We're even more hungry than that.

(instructor whines emphatically) (Emma whines emphatically) Hansel is really sad about being hungry.

He lets out a sob like this.

(instructor sobs) (Emma sobs) Even bigger than that.

(instructor sobs) (Emma sobs) Suddenly a magnificent house of gingerbread appears before us.

It looks so incredible and so delicious, and we say, wow! <v ->Wow!</v> <v ->We see even more incredible jewels made of sweets</v> on the house.

Whoa! <v ->Whoa!</v> <v ->But our curiosity overwhelms us</v> and we run straight to the house.

We start to tear off pieces and chew really quickly like this.

Mm, mm, mm, mm! <v ->Mm, mm, mm, mm!</v> <v ->Perhaps we take a really big bit of toffee</v> and chew even bigger like this! Mm, mm, mm, mm, mm! <v ->Mm, mm, mm, mm, mm!</v> <v ->But, oh no!</v> We hear a noise.

Perhaps it's the owner of the house.

Gretel tells Hansel to be quiet.

Sh! <v ->Sh!</v> <v ->But it's okay.

</v> It's only a friendly cuckoo in the forest.

♪ Cuckoo ♪ ♪ Cuckoo ♪ ♪ Cuckoo, how are you ♪ ♪ Cuckoo, how are you ♪ <v ->You've been on a journey with Hansel and Gretel</v> and warmed up your voices along the way, from everyday sounds all the way to singing.

<v ->And after both of those,</v> we're more ready to explore our opera.

Aisha says, "My voice feels warmer." I hope yours does too, and that your body has moved in different ways.

Let's crack on because there are two learning cycles in the lesson.

The first one is using structure to memorize a song, and then we rehearse, and refine, and reflect.

Let's start by using that structure to memorize our song, because knowing the structure of a song can help us remember it.

Most music is made up of different parts, different sections, and the structure is, how do we organize those bits together? And it gives a shape to the music and it adds variety for the listener.

If we looked at "Hey Ho Nobody Home," the structure is a round, and it can be sung in three parts.

So we have our hey ho, nobody home is Line one.

Meat nor drink nor money have I none, line two, and yet I will be merry, merry, merry, line three.

I would like you when the track comes on, just to sing in unison with part one of the track, so come in at the start and keep singing.

Are you ready? Here comes the track.

(upbeat music begins) ♪ Hey ho, nobody home ♪ ♪ Meat nor drink ♪ ♪ Hey ho, nobody home ♪ ♪ nor money have I none ♪ ♪ Yet I will ♪ ♪ Meat nor drink ♪ ♪ be merry, merry, merry ♪ ♪ Nor money have I none ♪ ♪ Yet I will ♪ ♪ Hey ho, nobody home ♪ ♪ be merry, merry, merry ♪ ♪ Meat nor drink ♪ ♪ Hey ho, nobody home ♪ ♪ nor money have I none ♪ ♪ Meat nor drink ♪ ♪ Yet I will ♪ ♪ Nor money have I none ♪ ♪ Be merry, merry, merry ♪ ♪ Yet I will be ♪ ♪ Hey ho, nobody home ♪ ♪ Merry, merry, merry ♪ ♪ Meat nor drink nor money have I none ♪ ♪ Yet I will be merry, merry, merry ♪ <v ->Very good.

</v> This time we are going to do the same, but we are going to begin one line later.

So the track will come on.

You'll hear the introduction.

While it's playing, feel that steady pulse.

You'll hear ♪ Hey ho, nobody home ♪ then you join in.

♪ Hey ho, nobody home ♪ One line later.

All right, so hear the first line, start the song one line later.

It's beginning to create a round structure.

Here comes the track, are we ready? (upbeat music begins) ♪ Hey ho, nobody home ♪ ♪ Meat nor drink ♪ ♪ Hey ho, nobody home ♪ ♪ nor money have I none ♪ ♪ Yet I will ♪ ♪ Meat nor drink ♪ ♪ be merry, merry, merry ♪ ♪ Nor money have I none ♪ ♪ Yet I will ♪ ♪ Hey ho, nobody home ♪ ♪ be merry, merry, merry ♪ ♪ Meat nor drink ♪ ♪ Hey ho, nobody home ♪ ♪ nor money have I none ♪ ♪ Meat nor drink ♪ ♪ Yet I will ♪ ♪ Nor money have I none ♪ ♪ Be merry, merry, merry ♪ ♪ Yet I will be ♪ ♪ Hey ho, nobody home ♪ ♪ Merry, merry, merry ♪ ♪ Meat nor drink nor money have I none ♪ ♪ Yet I will be merry, merry, merry ♪ <v ->Fantastic, so we can hear the we can thicken that texture.

</v> And now I would like you to sing in three groups.

So we're going to pause the video.

You're going to divide the class into three.

The first group will begin.

♪ Hey ho, nobody home ♪ Then hey ho for group two, then three.

♪ Hey ho ♪ So we all keep singing and we've created three layers of texture and made a three part round.

Pause the video here and practice that where you are.

Remember, feeling the steady pulse will be your friend.

Off you go.

Great effort, great.

So we can see the way that structure works.

In the structure of "Little Brother Dance With Me," we are dividing it into three sections.

The first one, the one we staged last week, is Gretel sings the verse, the offer to dance.

"Come on little brother, dance with me." And Hansel's response, "I'm a sorry sight, I dunno my left or my right, really." Gretel shows him the dance, "Well, you just tap and you clap and it's that easy," and Hansel has a go at it.

That's the first section.

Section two is the round section, ♪ Tra la la la la la la la ♪ And enjoying a bit more that dancing together.

Hansel's thinking, oh, maybe it's not so bad at this point.

Final section, we come back to the original tune.

♪ Now we're standing side by side ♪ That's a repeat of the original tune.

We sing it in unison, and it's a sign that they are both feeling confident together and united, and that the dancing was actually quite fun.

So section one, do you wanna dance, it goes like this.

Section two, the round, and section three, them in unison having enjoyed themselves together.

All right, the structure of that second part is a round, and these are the instructions I would like you to follow to practice that two part structure.

On the next slide will be the track.

This is what's gonna happen, Gretels, just the Gretels, sing your part all the way through while Hansel taps the steady beat.

Then Hansels sing your part while Gretels tap the steady beat.

Remember, you come in eight beats later.

So you've got da-da one, and a two, and three, and four, and five, and six, and seven, eight.

♪ Tra la la la la la la la ♪ So you are coming in those eight beats later, okay? Then when you've felt that steady pulse, singing those parts individually, pop them both together with the track, feeling the steady pulse to keep you in time.

Okay, there is the track, there are the lyrics.

Pause here and work through those three key points, one at a time, them both together where you are.

Off you go.

This is great.

It's getting neater every time.

Now, we going to rehearse the full song, but we're not going to give it its full staging at this moment.

What we're going to do is use the structure to see how much we can remember.

That's gonna help solidify our character's journey through the song.

So section one, Gretel says, "Would you like to dance?" Hansel, "I'm not sure about that." Gretel, "Here's the dance, I'll show you." Hansel, "Well, I'll give it a go." That's part one.

Do we want to dance.

Section two, tra la la, tra la la, the round section.

We're having some more fun at this point.

Ah, it's not so bad, I like being silly with my sister.

This is enjoyable.

It's the round section.

And then the third part, that short bit at the end where they come back together, they sing in unison again, and they take a bow at the end, feeling good about themselves.

When we rehearse through this, as I say, not with the full staging, we are just gonna focus on knowing that structure and our character's journey.

So sing the song in character.

Think about your posture, how are you, what's your expression like? And focus on knowing those lyrics and your journey through.

That structure will help you.

I'd like to use the backing track.

If you need the lyrics, they are here on the next three slides, but ideally I'd like you to focus on how much you can remember.

So there's the backing track.

Best of luck, and off you go.

Yes, very good.

Now, how was it in your class? Aisha says, "Knowing how my character was feeling and what they wanted at different parts of the song, that helped me remember it." So that says to me, knowing your character's journey, you actually know why you are singing what you are singing, and that helps you remember it, because there's more of a storyline, and the audience are gonna get that.

Jun says, "Learning the structure meant that I knew which bit was coming next." Really good to have that hook in our brain so we can relax and go, yeah, I know what's coming next.

Sophia says, "As Hansel, I knew when to sing more enthusiastically and when my posture changed as I became more confident." So thinking again about that character journey, Hansel starts to come out of his shell, and the posture is changing.

She's starting to use her body a bit differently in the way she's showing that and in her voice, she's sounding more confident too.

Really well done.

A great way of remembering the lyrics.

We're now going to move on to the second part of our lesson where we rehearse, we refine, and we reflect, reminding ourselves of those character building blocks.

If we took Hansel this time and worked our way through.

Hansel, what are you doing? Oh, I'm just sort of a bit bored and my sister wants me to dance, but do I really want to? What's your motivation? Why are you doing that? Well, I'd rather just, I'm hungry, I'm agitated.

I do like my sister, so I will go along with it.

And which parts of the body are used? Well, I definitely use my feet, but I sort of use my arms and cross them a bit too.

Your quality of movement, how will you move? Well, I might move a bit reluctantly at first, because I'm not really up for dancing all the time.

But gradually, as I realize it's fun and I start moving, my quality of movement changes, and I move a bit more confidently.

Maybe not as elegant as my sister, but I'm having a great time.

Where do you move? Well, to begin with, I don't use up very much space at all.

I'm a bit self-conscious, but gradually I start to take up an equal space to my sister, and we use that space for our little performance and our dance.

And the relationship, who do you do this with and how? Well I do it with my sister, and how, well, a bit reluctantly at first, but gradually having more fun, and remembering that having fun is better, actually, than just sitting down feeling glum.

Rehearsal, which is the focus of what we're doing now, brings together all the elements we've worked on.

Now in opera, that includes using those building blocks.

So we're showing the character's motivation, both with our voice, how enthusiastic is that, and our body, how we move and how we use the space.

How much space are we taking up? And is that clear for the audience to read that story? In our rehearsal, we're gonna show the playful relationship between Hansel and Gretel.

It gets more playful from the round section onwards, too.

We're gonna show using our bodies and our voices how each character's feeling.

What is it they want? How enthusiastic is Gretel? How reluctant is Hansel? Is he still hungry? Does he want to be a bit cheeky? Does she manage to change his mind? How do they feel at the end? And using that space so it's clear to the audience who's Hansel, who's Gretel, and how they're feeling about each other and themselves.

We can look back on this clip of these children performing the round section.

And when you watch, I want you to think about these two questions.

Think about how are they showing Hansel and Gretel's motivations and their relationship by using the space? Is it clear? Is that storytelling clear in the way they move? Secondly, what ideas can you borrow to make your characters' wants and feelings even clearer? Here comes the clip.

Be ready to come up with some suggestions.

Off you go, (upbeat music begins) ♪ Tra la la la la la la la la la la ♪ ♪ Tra la la la la la la la la la la ♪ ♪ Turn around again and do it faster ♪ ♪ Shake it to the left and to the right ♪ ♪ Turn around again and do it faster ♪ ♪ Shake it to the left and to the right ♪ ♪ Turn around again and do it faster ♪ ♪ Dance until the early morning light ♪ Fun.

Hopefully there's some ideas you might want to borrow there to explore how you'll use the space and make your character's feelings even more known.

You're going to create the staging for this second part, for the round section.

Each Hansel and Gretel pair could come up with their own movements, if that's you, if you're working in pairs in that way.

In any case, you'll choose a movement that Hansel can copy for the tra la la section.

So Gretels, what movement would you like for the ♪ Tra la la la la la la la la la ♪ and then when it's Hansel's turns a copy, when he sings the tra la la in his part of the round, he will do the same movement.

Then decide on a move for when you do the.

♪ Turn around again and do it faster ♪ ♪ Shake it to the left and to the right ♪ What movement would you like to add in for that? If you want to, in your class, share those ideas, decide on your own in your pairs, and then when you've both decided, you're gonna put those parts together in the round, meaning that the Hansels will be doing them after the Gretels when they do their bit of the round, or at least trying to.

The thing that might be really useful, a little tip, is to emphasize the beat when you move.

So we've got that.

♪ Tra la la la la la la la ♪ So if you put the emphasis on the la.

♪ Tra la la la la la la la ♪ Perhaps the movement that you do hits on those beats as well.

Do your moves help you feel the pulse? Laura says, "We walked in a circle in the way we decided to stage it and we stepped on the beat." ♪ Tra la la la la la la la ♪ And step and step, and the stepping kept them in time.

So pause, take which ideas you would like to use, and make sure that you've got one for the tra la la that Hansel can copy, one for the turn around again and do it faster and the shake it to the left and to the right.

Pause here and work on those where you are.

So much creativity, it's fabulous.

Now you've got your moves.

You're gonna put the singing and the movements together for that section, so you can pop the track on and you're gonna check, do you stay in time when you sing and move together? Hansel and Gretel, remember, are getting along better and having more fun.

So we're thinking about their relationship, their motivation, how they're gonna use this space.

Are they as isolated? Are they as disengaged? Or are they a bit more silly and fun and joyous together at this bit when they're trying to copy the moves? It's probably still that Gretel's more elegant and experienced at leading the way and being bossy, and Hansel's still going along with it.

Perhaps his movements aren't as elegant, but it's up to you to decide at this point.

Okay, rehearse, putting the singing and the movement together.

Off you go.

You are so creative, you've done very well.

Great focusing and rehearsing.

In the very last section the lyrics say, "Now we're dancing side by side, hear our voices, feel our pride." So you might choose to stand confidently at this point as Hansel and Gretel, and to show that unity, maybe some movements for the last line you could do at the same time together.

So that one foot in, one foot out, bow your head and take a bow.

Do you choose different movements or are you choosing movements that are the same at this point? Remember, you want to show that they are both feeling more joyful, that they are united, that they've both had a great time, and they're feeling proud.

Okay, so pause here.

Spend two or three minutes working on how neat you can get that last section.

Maybe making those movements happen in unison with your singing.

Off you go.

Fantastic.

You've reached the end and staged the whole thing.

In a moment, we'll run through that whole thing to see how it's looking so far.

Before we do, three questions that are pretty much the same for whether you are a Hansel or a Gretel.

I'll ask the Hansels first, what's your relationship with your sister at the start of the song? And what do you want to happen? Are you feeling motivated? And then think about how the song moves on.

How do you use the space? Do your movements change as your feelings change? So you think about it.

To answer this, Jacob says, "Well, my relationship with my sister is, well, I like her, but I'm not keen on dancing." For the second question, what do I want to happen? Am I motivated? "I wanna eat something.

Definitely don't want to do chores.

I'm not confident dancing, but I do want to do something fun." So maybe there's space for Gretel to kind of persuade him at this point.

And then question three, how do I use the space? He says, "Well, as I feel more confident, I use more of the space to perform." And if we put those same three questions to Gretel, Gretel, your relationship with your brother at the start, what you want to happen, and are you feeling motivated? And how do you use the space? And do your movements change as your feelings change? A suggestion from Izzy was, "I really like my brother.

I don't want him to be bored or hungry.

I might find him something fun to do." So what do I want to happen? She says, "Well, if we dance together, we won't be able to feel bored or hungry, and it'll be loads of fun." And how do I use the space and do your movements change? "I'm confident in the space," she says.

"I dance all over the place gracefully, of course." So she's confident throughout, and she's supportive of her brother.

It's now time for you to put the piece together.

It might be an idea to film this if you can, because then you can look back and see, from your staging ideas, what's really clear to an audience, what's coming across, and where would you like to neaten? To be successful, you're gonna show the relationship between those two characters throughout the piece, especially as that starts to change, right from that first freeze frame pose.

Think what it is that you want.

What's your motivation at the beginning? Does that change? And how are you going to use your voice and your body in the space to show the audience how your character is feeling? There are the lyrics here to help you, the first section, the second, and the third.

But I would like you to do as much as you can without using those lyrics.

Very best of luck.

Time to stage your first full rehearsal.

Off you go.

Well done.

How was that? You've staged your piece, you've put it on its feet, and you've run it through from beginning to end.

How did it go? Lucas says, "The Hansels weren't motivated to dance at first, and their voices sounded reluctant.

As their motivation changed to having more fun, their voices and dancing both became more energetic." So we're seeing that change on that character journey going from, "Ugh, not really into this," to, "This is great!" Jun says, "You could tell the Gretels were keen to make the Hansels dance.

The Gretels' singing voices were really enthusiastic, and they used the space to dance confidently." Now remember, this is your first full run through of this song, so there's gonna be plenty of time for neatening, and if you get an opportunity to, now might be an idea to watch that back if you were able to film it, to see which bits are really working, and where you would like to make changes next time.

That's all we have time for for today.

Covering what we've learned, we know that structure and understanding the structure can help us remember a song for a performance.

We can stage a song considering what do the characters want in that song? How do we make that clear to an audience? Rehearsing.

Rehearsing helps us make sure the story we're telling is clear and that we feel confident in those parts of the song and in our parts of that performance.

Reflecting on our performance afterwards, that helps us understand what we've learned and how we can improve for our next performance.

Very well done for today.

I look forward to seeing you next time.

All the best, bye for now.