Lesson video

Hi there everybody.

Welcome to this lesson on "Storytelling through Song." This is from our singing together unit where we're looking at how stories are shared through song.

My name is Mr. Croughan and I'm delighted to be guiding you through today's lesson where we'll be looking at how storytelling through song has developed over time.

By the end of this lesson you'll be able to say, I can hear and understand part of a story told through song.

Let's begin by looking at our keywords for today.

The first one, a new one, this is griot.

So, written griot, pronounced gree-oh, a West African storyteller and musician.

Narrative, how a song or piece of music conveys a story through lyrics and/or a melody, and then ballad.

A form of narrative verse often put to music.

There are three learning cycles in today's lesson.

The first one is warming up, then we have ways of storytelling through song, and then singing a ballad to tell a story towards the end.

Let's begin with warming up so that we're ready for music.

We know how important it is to warm up before we begin singing, playing, making music.

We warm up gently.

We warm our vocal folds in our throat gently so that we protect our voices from injury and we're also warming up to develop our musicality and our singing and our skills when we're playing and singing together.

We're going to begin with some whole body warm ups.

Some good stretches to really wake ourselves up.

Please follow along to the clip.

Here it comes.

<v ->Let's begin by warming up our bodies</v> because we know how important it is to warm up before we start making music and singing.

We'll begin with a stretch.

Arms high into the air, onto our tip toes, hold onto our 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, one, two, three, four, gosh you're all super tall.

Drop your fingers, and your wrists, and your elbows, and your shoulders, relax your knees, and go.

(teacher grumbling) (children grumbling) Very good.

Let's see that one more time.

Stretch up, onto your tip toes, hold onto the monkey bar, lowering our heels to a count of four, going one, two, three, four, gosh, you're so tall now.

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

Relax your knees and.

(teacher grumbling) (children grumbling) 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 teeny tiny shape.

Tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, like a little seed, and we are now going to grow back to a big shape, are you ready? One, two, three, go.

Grow, grow, grow, grow, grow.

And relax.

Feet slightly apart, arms by our sides.

<v ->Oh yes, a good stretch,</v> now I'm feeling much more awake and alert and my muscles are a bit warm and relaxed.

I hope yours are too.

Are you standing well or sitting well, ready for singing? Our shoulders aren't tensed, we're just kind of chilled out and relaxed but we've got a good posture.

We're now going to move on to warming up our face.

We need to do that because we use our face to speak and to sing, so let us follow this clip, here it comes.

<v ->We're gonna start by tapping all over our face</v> 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, moving up tap, tap, tap, onto your chin, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, past your cheeks, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, past your eyes to your forehead tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, to the very top of your head, 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.

(teacher mumbling) Right to 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 make our faces really small.

We're gonna close our eyes, close our mouths, scrunch up our nose, small, small, small, small, small.

And then I'm gonna say, three, two, one, and then on three, two, one, go, you're gonna make your face as big as you can.

So, big wide open eyes, open mouth, tongue out, blah.

Ready, here we go.

So small, small, small, small, small, small, three, two, one, blah.

Lovely, let's try that one more time.

Ready, small, small, small, small, small, small, and three, two, one, blah.

Very good.

<v ->Jolly gee, now then,</v> does your jaw and neck feel relaxed? Does your mouth feel loose? Are things a bit easier? Less tension there.

That's really helpful when we're singing and performing.

Now, we're gonna practice some breathing exercises.

If our breathing is controlled, we can sing longer phrases safely and musically without running out of air and we're also helping to protect those tiny muscles in our throat, too.

So, please join in with these breathing exercises.

Here they come.

<v ->We'll begin by breathing.

</v> We'll breathe in for four, hold for one, and out for five.

Watch first.

You'll notice we breathe in through our nose and out through our mouth.

Let's now join in all together.

Well done.

We're going to do that two more times.

Here we go.

Make sure we're feeling nice and relaxed, and.

That's great.

We should be feeling quite relaxed.

And the air should be flowing quite calmly.

This time, we're going to breathe in for four, hold for one, and we're going to breathe out for six, imagining we're blowing out through a straw.

Watch first.

Okay, let's all do that together.

Feeling relaxed, shoulders relaxed, off we go.

Let's do that two more times.

And one more.

Well done.

<v ->Nice, are your shoulders staying relaxed</v> as you breathe deeply? So, my shoulders don't move, when I breathe in deeply, because my shoulders aren't connected to my lungs.

My lungs are more towards my back.

So, when I'm breathing in what's actually happening is my rib cage is swinging out at the sides and I've got plenty of space for air.

Does your chest feel broad and open? Is your breathing controlled? If it is, you've followed those really well and you're ready to move on.

Vocal exercises, these are things that safely warm, gently stretch our vocal folds, helping us to prepare for singing and helping protecting us from injury.

Here are some vocal warm ups.

<v ->This warm up 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 clapping) ♪ Bubblegum ♪ Are you ready? ♪ Ready, steady, off we go ♪ ♪ Bubblegum, bubblegum, chew and blow ♪ ♪ Bubblegum, bubblegum, scrape your toe ♪ ♪ Bubblegum, bubblegum, tastes so sweet ♪ ♪ Get that bubblegum off my feet ♪ Let's try it a tiny bit faster.

Are you ready? ♪ Off we go ♪ ♪ Bubblegum, bubblegum, chew and blow ♪ ♪ Bubblegum, bubblegum, scrape your toe ♪ ♪ Bubblegum, bubblegum, tastes so sweet ♪ ♪ Get that bubblegum off my feet ♪ Last time, really fast.

♪ Ready, steady, off we go ♪ ♪ Bubblegum, bubblegum, chew and blow ♪ ♪ Bubblegum, bubblegum, scrape your toe ♪ ♪ Bubblegum, bubblegum, tastes so sweet ♪ ♪ Get that bubblegum off my feet ♪ <v ->Very good, now the lovely thing about that song</v> is it has some higher notes and some lower notes gently stretching our vocal range and warming up safely.

Good job.

Okay, tongue twisters help us to warm up our mouths and improve our articulation, the way we speak.

This one focuses on the sh and the ss sound and alternates between the two.

It sounds like this.

Shop at Burgess's fish sauce shop in the strand.

How is that? I'll try it one more time.

I'm gonna go a tiny bit slower.

Are you ready to join in with me? Here it comes.

Shop at Burgess's fish sauce shop in the strand.

One more time all together.

Shop at Burgess's fish sauce shop in the strand.

(teacher grumbling) Right, I'm going to pause and leave you to practice that where you are.

Practice that a couple of times and we'll be back in a moment.

Excellent stuff people, well done.

Do you feel alert and focused and awake and your mouths are warm and ready to sing? If so, this is the last warm up song of the warmup section.

This is Hey Ho, Nobody Home.

There are three lines.

It says.

♪ Hey, ho, nobody home ♪ ♪ Meat nor drink nor money have I none ♪ ♪ Yet, I will be merry, merry, merry ♪ And then it carries on each time.

This song is actually sung as a round, so when you hear the track, you will hear the voices begin in unison and then split into three parts.

One line each.

We are just going to follow the first line for today.

We're gonna sing in unison together.

Remember just continue to sing gently because we're warming up our voices.

We don't need to blast this one out.

Okay, are we ready? Here comes the track.

(slow music) ♪ Hey, ho, nobody home ♪ ♪ Meat nor drink nor money have I none ♪ ♪ Yet, I will be merry, merry, merry ♪ ♪ Hey, ho, nobody home ♪ ♪ Meat nor drink nor money have I none ♪ ♪ Yet, I will be merry, merry, merry ♪ ♪ Hey, ho, nobody home ♪ ♪ Meat nor drink nor money have I none ♪ ♪ Yet, I will be merry, merry, merry ♪ <v ->Very good, now we've taken you through</v> a thorough warmup.

Let's just have a check in with our bodies.

Are our feet between hip and shoulder width apart? Firmly rooted on the ground so that we can have good posture.

And are our hands relaxed by our side? Just chilling by our sides, no tense shoulders.

All nice and relaxed.

And does our face and neck feel warm? Because we've done some work now and we've woken them up.

And do you feel ready to sing? Well, I hope so because there are two learning cycles remaining.

The next one we're going to look at ways of telling a story through song and then in the third cycle, we'll all come together and sing a ballad.

Now, a griot is a master storyteller, poet, singer, and often a musician from Western Africa.

The one that you can see pictured also includes an instrument called the kora which we're going to look at more closely in a moment.

Now, a griot will follow the practice of sharing family history, sharing knowledge, and sharing stories via the oral tradition, that means rather than writing them down, they are passed from generation to generation.

And we think that this culture began around 800 years ago.

We're going to pause in a moment because we're going to listen to a song called, Gambia by Sona Jobarteh, and she is a British born Gambian griot and kora player.

Have a look more closely at that instrument now.

She is a professional virtuoso on the kora, the first female within the griot tradition to become a professional kora player and if you have a careful look at it, there's 21 strings.

It's sort of played like a harp but it looks more like a lute or almost a guitar in it's style.

It also plays with a guitar so you can hear the contrast there when you listen to the track.

There are also drums and rhythm patterns in between the singing.

And as well as a drum kit that you might more commonly recognize as a drum kit that might feature in a band.

You'll hear the mandinka drum, which is, it's a particular drum called a sewruba and this drum is played with a stick and a bare hand.

And this drum comes from that mandinka area of West Africa, so places like Guinea, Gambia, Marley, Senegal, this area.

So, have a careful listen.

You're listening out for the kora, listen out for that sewruba drum, and then listen to those rhythm patterns in between.

See what a feel you get for the piece and we'll come back and chat about it more in a moment.

Off you go.

So, Sona wrote the song Gambia in the Gambian language of Mandinka.

It's one of the most commonly spoken languages in Gambia, and the song's story is one of pride in where we are from.

Pride in Gambia, how it's important to remember your roots and where you come from.

The chorus can be translated of, People of Gambia, this is the beautiful land.

People of Gambia, this is the peaceful land.

People of Gambia, this is the land of our people.

And people of Gambia, there is nothing that compares to this land.

Now, we can be inspired by Gambia to tell our own story that conveys our pride of either our school or our local area.

So, what we're going to do as a class, we're going to decide on things that we believe make our school or our local area a special and unique place to be and that we can use that, to tell a story.

Here are some ideas from the Oak class.

Our school celebrates everyone's differences.

The playground is my favorite part.

The teachers really care about us.

And music's everywhere in our school.

You're going to pause here and decide whether you're focusing on your local area or whether you're focusing on your school and share and jot down some ideas, maybe on a flip chart, or white board, on some of those ideas that make you feel proud.

Those short sentences, using those suggestions on the right as a guide.

Off you go.

Nice work, so now that we've got some great ideas, we can put them in an order that we like.

That we're happy with, that kind of creates a chant about how proud we are about our school, our local area, where we're from.

So, the suggestion on the board says, our school celebrates everyone's differences.

The teachers really care about us.

Music is everywhere in our school.

The playground is my favorite part.

Sports day is the best day for me and our artwork is shared on every wall.

What we're gonna add to that though, is some repetition.

Repetition is a powerful device for getting the message across and for storytelling.

It provides a hook and that repetition means it'll stick in our listener's mind.

So, in this example, there is, the teachers really care about us.

Our school celebrates everyone's differences.

Music is everywhere in our school.

Our school celebrates everyone's differences.

Our art work is shared on every wall.

Our school celebrates everyone's differences.

So, you can try speaking that chant to a steady pulse but better still, pause here, order your suggestions and your ideas, refine them, make sure you're super happy with them, and perhaps choose one that you think, yeah, that's a banging line, I'm gonna keep that repeating throughout and use that power of repetition.

When you're happy with the order and the line that you're repeating, to a steady pulse, chant that as a class all together.

Pause here and practice that where you are.

Off you go.

This is great.

So, now we've got a basic structure to our chant, we're gonna now be influenced by the drum rhythms in Gambia by Sona Jobarteh and it might be an idea when you pause to revisit that track and to listen to those drum rhythms again just to get a feel for them.

What we're going to do is choose a line from our class chant and clap the rhythm of the syllables.

So, for example if it was.

♪ Our school celebrates everyone's differences ♪ (teacher clapping) And then, add it on to body percussion.

So, we've got, stomp, stomp, clap, clap, clap for our school, celebrates, and then thigh, thigh, thigh, click, click, click.

♪ Everyone's differences ♪ Put that together we get.

♪ Our school celebrates everyone's differences ♪ Or if you have chosen say, music is everywhere in our school and then you clap that.

♪ Music is everywhere in our school ♪ And then we put that onto body percussion.

Something like, stomp, stomp, thigh, thigh, chest, chest, click, click, clap.

♪ Music is everywhere in our school ♪ You choose a line that you like, clap the rhythm and then create some body percussion to go with it.

Off you go.

All right, ace.

So, now we've got our body percussion bit.

We're gonna slot that in where we want to.

Let's work through these five points.

Number one, you might have come up with these ideas all together or there might have been different tables that came up with different ideas, or groups.

What you're going to do now is put each of those lines in the order you're happy with and decide, is everyone chanting them or are we giving bits out to each group? Okay? Second, decide which is the line that gets repeated and slot that in and if that's your body percussion line, are you playing that body percussion at the same time each time you repeat that line? Or is there a section where you just all pause on the chanting and go into the body percussion? Do you do it once, twice, four times? What's gonna be impactful and fun? And then get back into that chanting, okay? So, you've got some choices, some creative choices to make.

Whatever you do, keep the steady pulse that keeps you in time so your piece flows, okay? You want to make sure we're all feeling that steady pulse so that we're chanting together and our body percussion is neat.

And when you're done, reflect on how effective that is as a piece.

Is that something you genuinely feel proud of? Is it getting across that pride of your school or your local area? Do you want to march down the corridor and chant it outside the head teacher's office, saying, look how proud we are? It's entirely in your court to make that piece impactful and get that message clearly across.

Pause here, work through those five points.

Off you go.

Very nice, I hope you followed each of those five steps and were able to create your chant with an effective bit of body percussion inspired by those rhythms that we heard earlier to create a piece of pride.

Something that we feel proud of that we could deliver as a collective.

Some suggestions here, one line was, we love our school because our friends are here and that was chanted as part of the whole class piece.

And then, another one was, we're proud of our school, we're proud of ourselves, and they began by clapping it.

(teacher clapping) And they turn that rhythm into body percussion with taps, claps, and stomps.

Well done on creating your piece.

I hope you had fun, well done.

It's now time for the final part of our lesson, where we're singing a ballad to tell a story.

Now ballads are usually narrative songs.

So, a narrator, someone who tells a story, a narrative song, a song that has a clear message running through it.

It could be comic, it could be tragic, it could be historic, and they've been used in Britain and Europe since the late middle ages.

So, for more than 600 years.

When you look at that picture you're thinking, oh, I might sort of recognize that costume.

It's brightly colored, that person's playing that instrument that I remember from when I saw that film, "Robin Hood", the cartoon, years ago.

It's a lute, is that instrument and ballads were often sung by these, these people called traveling minstrels, or wandering minstrels.

And they're performers who shared stories through songs.

Now, these songs were passed on through the oral tradition.

They weren't written down.

Remember, this was way before the printing press is invented so you couldn't go and pick up a collection of songs and learn how to play them through a book.

This is songs that were sung to one person, they learned it, and it was passed on to the next.

We're going to listen to a piece from, this is from 1649.

So, just under 400 years ago and it's the Digger's Song.

It's a protest song about the way land was used and the expensive extortion at rents that rich land owners wanted to charge people to live there or to grow crops there.

The lyrics include a repeated phrase about, stand up now, stand up now.

So, this song was written by the leader of the Diggers and this big protest movement.

So, there's a lot of clear messaging to encourage others to stand up and resist.

To protest, to revolt.

A clear message shared is, your houses, they pull down.

And then a little bit later on we'll hear, but the poor shall wear the crown.

So, while you're listening, I'd like you to think what that means.

Are we ready? Here comes the music.

♪ You noble digger's all stand up now ♪ ♪ Stand up now ♪ ♪ You noble digger's all stand up now ♪ ♪ The waste land to maintain ♪ ♪ Seeing cavaliers by name ♪ ♪ Your digging do defame ♪ ♪ Stand up now ♪ ♪ Your houses, they pull down ♪ ♪ Stand up now ♪ ♪ Stand up now ♪ ♪ Your houses, they pull down ♪ ♪ Stand up now ♪ ♪ Your houses, they pull down ♪ ♪ To fright your men in town ♪ ♪ But the poor shall wear the crown ♪ ♪ Stand up now ♪ ♪ The lawyers they conjoin ♪ ♪ Stand up now ♪ ♪ Stand up now ♪ ♪ The lawyers they conjoin ♪ ♪ Stand up now ♪ ♪ To arrest you, they advise ♪ ♪ Such fury they devise ♪ ♪ The devil in them lies ♪ ♪ Stand up now ♪ ♪ The clergy, they come in ♪ ♪ Stand up now ♪ ♪ Stand up now ♪ ♪ The clergy, they come in ♪ ♪ Stand up now ♪ ♪ The clergy, they come in ♪ ♪ And say it is a sin ♪ ♪ That we should our freedom win ♪ ♪ Stand up now ♪ ♪ 'Gainst lawyers and 'gainst priests ♪ ♪ Stand up now ♪ ♪ Stand up now ♪ ♪ 'Gainst lawyers and 'gainst priests ♪ ♪ Stand up now ♪ ♪ For tyrants they are both ♪ ♪ Even flat against their oath ♪ ♪ To aid us they are loathe ♪ ♪ Stand up now ♪ ♪ With spades and hoes and plows ♪ ♪ Stand up now ♪ ♪ Stand up now ♪ ♪ With spades and hoes and plows ♪ ♪ Stand up now ♪ ♪ Your freedom to uphold ♪ ♪ Seeing cavaliers are bold ♪ ♪ Your rights they do withhold ♪ ♪ Stand up now ♪ <v ->And there you are.

</v> That is a protest song, or part of a protest song from 1649.

You can pause and listen to the whole thing if you'd like to, but we're gonna focus on that message of, your houses, they pull down, stand up now, stand up now, but the poor shall wear the crown.

What does that mean? That the poor shall wear the crown? Well, listening it sounds like if we are sharing this song and getting more and more people to know it, more and more people to stand up and protest, then this idea, the poor shall wear the crown, says, look we are right.

These land owners charging exorbitant rents are in the wrong, so we will come out on top eventually.

And the idea, why might it be a powerful message to hear? Because, if there's loads of people all in the same boat struggling, you've got strength in numbers and the more widely this song, this ballad is shared, the more successful it will be in terms of hoping to make a change.

To get enough people to stand up and join the digger's movement of the time.

Sir Eglamore, the Valiant Knight, is a ballad and it was first printed in the 17th century.

And it's based on a poem that was written much earlier in 1350.

The story is a tale of a knight who tries to slay a dragon.

Classic tale.

Like most ballads, each verse is made up of four lines with a simple rhyming scheme.

We're going to listen to the track.

I just like, I'm gonna, there's just two verses, there's quite a lot of verses, we're going to listen to two of them and see if you can hear the story being told.

Does it deliver a clear narrative.

Here comes the track.

(slow music) ♪ Sir Eglamore was a valiant knight ♪ ♪ Fa la lanky down dilly ♪ ♪ He took up his sword and he went to fight ♪ ♪ Fa la lanky down dilly ♪ ♪ And as he rode o'er hill and dale ♪ ♪ All armored in a coat of mail ♪ ♪ Fa la la la ♪ ♪ Fa la lanky down dilly ♪ (slow music) ♪ Out came a dragon from her den ♪ ♪ Fa la lanky down dilly ♪ ♪ That killed god knows how many men ♪ ♪ Fa la lanky down dilly ♪ ♪ But, when she saw Sir Eglamore ♪ ♪ You should have heard that dragon roar ♪ ♪ Fa la la la ♪ ♪ Fa la lanky down dilly ♪ <v ->Good, and now I'd like you</v> to listen again and this time you're going to join in with that.

♪ Fa la lanky down dilly ♪ Refrain.

We'll talk about that refrain again in a moment.

For now, just to become familiar with the song, listen again, and join in with that.

♪ Fa la lanky down dilly ♪ And yes it is silly but we're gonna sing it with a smile on our face.

Are you ready? Here comes the track.

(slow music) ♪ Sir Eglamore was a valiant knight ♪ ♪ Fa la lanky down dilly ♪ ♪ He took up his sword and he went to fight ♪ ♪ Fa la lanky down dilly ♪ ♪ And as he rode o'er hill and dale ♪ ♪ All armored in a coat of mail ♪ ♪ Fa la la la ♪ ♪ Fa la lanky down dilly ♪ (slow music) ♪ Out came a dragon from her den ♪ ♪ Fa la lanky down dilly ♪ ♪ That killed god knows how many men ♪ ♪ Fa la lanky down dilly ♪ ♪ But when she saw Sir Eglamore ♪ ♪ You should have heard that dragon roar ♪ ♪ Fa la la la ♪ ♪ Fa la lanky down dilly ♪ <v ->Very good, well done.

</v> Now, there's a couple of lines I've pulled out because we want, when we're singing a story through a song, especially if it's dramatic about trying to slay a dragon, we might want to make it dramatic and interesting.

So, a couple of ideas, out came a dragon from her den, how might we sing that bit? And you should have heard that dragon roar, how might we might we sing that bit, okay? Pause here, have a quick chat in your class, when you're thinking about that, we're thinking about how dramatic we make it and musically, what are we doing with our voices to get that drama across, okay? Pause here and have a quick chat.

Great ideas, well done.

A suggestion from Izzy was that we could sing this bit quieter to build up the tension.

So, out came a dragon from her den, get some drama in that way, lovely.

And then, for you should have heard that dragon roar, Lucas says we might sing enthusiastically to add excitement to the story.

So, the whole point is, how do we get this story across in an engaging way? The lyrics themselves, they're narrative, they tell a clear story in a clear way and the point, the purpose of this song is to entertain people.

To entertain an audience with a fun, fictional story.

Poor Sir Eglamore, didn't really try and slay a dragon, it's just a fictional tale.

And, it's got a fa la lanky down dilly bit.

I mean, what's not to love about that? It's an utterly silly phrase to us.

It can sound odd but it actually has a purpose.

It works because it breaks the story up.

So, it gives us the person who's singing, time to think of the next line and the audience time to digest that story.

We're gonna pause now because I'd like you to think how you might present this song to an audience.

Take yourself back to the 17th or 18th century.

You're a traveling minstrel or a whole collection, a little troop of traveling minstrels, you're there with your lutes and whatever else.

Maybe there's some jugglers and a bit with a dog, I don't know.

But what I'd like you to do is think, how can we perform this together to make it engaging and fun, okay? What will you do to add your bit of sparkle to this song? So, pause here and just have a little check in.

Share some ideas.

Off you go.

Right then, you troop of traveling minstrels, this is your final task of the day.

You're going to use the track and you're gonna sing this song, these two verses, all together.

When you sing, sing the lyrics very clearly so the narrative, that story, comes through clearly too.

You can do that in part by making the rhymes obvious, so knight and fight, and dale and mail, that's the chain mail that they're wearing, the armor.

By singing them clearly and pointedly, that helps that rhyming scheme and the story to come through and then keep that story alive.

Think about what you're singing.

He's trying to slay a dragon.

He might not be very good at it.

It's an entertaining song after all.

How are you gonna send up those fa la lanky down dilly's, okay? There are, those two verses for you.

I've put in blue those lines we discussed, how we're going to sing, out came a dragon from her den? And then, you should have heard that dragon roar, you know, how are we building that suspense and that drama for the audience, okay? So, pause here, those two verses in your best, engaging traveling minstrel ways.

Enjoy, off you go.

So, how did it go? How did you get your story across in your singing? What tips did you pick up? Jacob says, well the song's a bit like a fairytale so we sang it with drama and excitement in our voices.

I'm thinking, yes, if I'm reading a story to my little girl at home or to a, you know a reception class or something, I want to use excitement and drama, so that they enjoy the story.

It's the same thing with an audience and a song.

Andeep says, singing the words really clearly like if we were telling a story, that helped the meaning come across well too.

So, our articulation is coming into play.

And Aisha says, the fa la lanky down dilly bit made me laugh but maybe it's very old and not something that we'd normally sing.

It's probably not but it's a bit fun too.

So, very well done, you lot.

It's all we have time for today.

So, let's summarize our learning.

First humans have told stories through song for thousands of years.

A griot from Western Africa shares family history, stories, and knowledge through song and poetry and is via the oral tradition.

That is, passed down from one person to the next.

The oral tradition, sharing songs and stories, and it's through generations and generations rather than songs being written down.

Traditional ballads tell stories and they've been passed through generations via the oral traditions too.

Those traditional ballads, whatever kind of story, we've heard a protest, we've heard a fictional tale to amuse.

They could be comedy, tragedy, and historic.

Often told by wandering minstrels.

And then, when we think about the meaning of the words when we're singing, this helps us communicate the story to our audience.

Really well done for today.

I look forward to seeing you in the next lesson.

Bye for now.