Lesson video

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

This unit is called "Compose and Create: composing a minor melody on a stave," and this lesson is called "Identifying major and minor tonalities." By the end of this lesson, you'll be able to sing and identify songs in a major or minor key.

Some of the keywords we'll be using in today's lesson are warm up.

This is a sequence of exercises used to prepare the mind, body, and voice for singing and playing music.

Tonality.

This is the organization of notes around a central note, which we call the tonic, which help shape the music sound and give it character.

We'll also be using the words major and minor.

Major is a scale that's organized around the note do and often has quite a bright feeling, whereas the minor scale is organized around the note la and often has a darker feeling.

And we'll be covering all of these keywords in today's lesson.

The learning cycles for today are, firstly, starting with a warm-up so we're ready for music.

Then we're gonna have a look at identifying a major or minor tonality.

And finally, we'll be singing some songs in a minor key.

Let's start with a warm-up.

It's important to warm up before every music lesson to get your bodies, minds, and voices ready for music.

Warm-ups gently stretch our vocal cords and get them ready for singing, and they also develop key musical skills like our sense of pulse, understanding of rhythm, and generally get our minds ready for learning.

Let's start by warming up our body.

As Aisha says, "Warming up our bodies helps us stand tall with a good posture for singing and makes us feel alert and awake." Join in with these body warm-ups and make sure you've got a bit of space around you so you can move.

Let's warm up our bodies.

We're gonna start with shrug, shrug, shrug, and shimmy, shimmy, shimmy.

Ready? Here we go.

Shrug, shrug, shrug, and shimmy, shimmy, shimmy.

And again, shrug, shrug, shrug, and shimmy, shimmy, shimmy.

Shrug, shrug, shrug, and shimmy, shimmy, shimmy, one more time, shrug, shrug, shrug, and shimmy, shimmy, shimmy.

Great, well done.

Now let's with our shoulders try and do a nice little working rolling them forwards like this, there we go, rolling those shoulders forwards, lovely, very good.

And then back the other way.

There we go, lovely, excellent.

Now with your head we're gonna go round in a circle like this, just a gentle circle, round and round and round.

There we go.

And then back the other way.

Good stuff.

Great, give everything a bit of a shake.

Shake it out, shake it out.

Lovely, and then finally, let's have a big cartoony yawn.

(teacher yawns) Here we go, ready? (teacher yawns) Next, let's warm up our face.

As Lucas tells us, "When we gently warm up and stretch our face muscles, we release tension and feel relaxed and at ease." Join in with these face warm-ups.

Let's start by warming up our face.

We're gonna start by imagining we're chewing a big tasty toffee.

So in goes the toffee, and then we're gonna chew it, really exaggerated, big chews, and it's delicious, so we're gonna go, mm.

Here we go, mm.

Good, really feel that jaw working.

Mm.

Lovely.

Now I want you to imagine you've just seen something amazing and you're gonna go, wow! With a big wide open mouth.

So ready, here we go.

Wow! And again, it's really amazing, here we go.

Wow! Finally, I want us to imagine that you're a horse, and we're gonna go with our mouth, we're gonna go (mimics horse) Give it a try, ready? (mimics horse) Feel those lips moving, and again.

(mimics horse) Now we're gonna try and add a bit of sound to that.

Let's take the letters NG and try going (teacher vocalizes) Ready, here we go.

(teacher vocalizes) One more time.

(teacher vocalizes) And now let's bring in that horse sound and we're gonna try and add that sound in the background like this.

(teacher vocalizes and mimics horse) Ready? Here we go.

(teacher vocalizes and mimics horse) Lovely, one more time.

(teacher vocalizes and mimics horse) Well done.

Now let's do some exercises to control our breathing.

When we do breathing exercises, it helps us to control how we use our breath, which is a really important skill for singing.

Join in with these breathing exercises.

Now we're gonna do some breathing exercises.

First, let's practice breathing in really deeply.

And when you breathe in deeply, I want your shoulders to stay where they are but it wants to feel like your tummy is inflating.

So shoulders stay level, tummy inflating.

Ready, nice deep breath, and.

And then breathing out.

Lovely, and again.

And in and out.

Lovely.

Now this time when we breathe out, we're gonna try saying the letters S F, and then we're gonna blow like we're blowing out the candles on a birthday cake.

So we're gonna go (teacher vocalizes) Ready? Here we go.

So breathing in and (teacher vocalizes) Lovely and again, and breathing in, and (teacher vocalizes) Now let's get our voices working.

We're going to say a tongue twister and these are great exercises to help us control our voice.

Join in with this tongue twister, "She threw three free throws." Now let's try a tongue twister.

We're gonna say, nice and slowly, she threw three free throws.

Try it with me.

She threw three free throws.

And again, she threw three free throws.

And one more time, she threw three free throws.

Hopefully we're starting to feel a bit warmed up already.

What does it mean when you're feeling warmed up? Do you think that you feel warmed up when, A, you have good posture; B, your breathing feels controlled; C, you feel awake and alert; or is it D, all of the above? The answer is D.

All of these are things that we want to be feeling once we've warmed up.

We want to be standing or sitting with good posture, we want our breathing to feel nice and controlled, and we want to feel awake and alert and ready.

Let's continue with our warm-up.

Join in with this warm-up song, "My Dog Can Do the Cancan." This is a warm-up song about pets, and it goes like this.

♪ My dog, he can do the cancan ♪ ♪ Better than my cat can ♪ ♪ But my goldfish finds it very difficult ♪ ♪ And my dog, he can do the cancan ♪ ♪ Better than my cat can ♪ ♪ But my goldfish finds it very hard ♪ So the first part of the song goes, ♪ My dog, he can do the cancan ♪ Try that with me, here we go.

♪ My dog, he can do the cancan ♪ The next line.

♪ Better than my cat can ♪ Give it a try.

♪ Better than my cat can ♪ And now the goldfish line goes, ♪ But my goldfish finds it very difficult ♪ Give it a try.

♪ But my goldfish finds it very difficult ♪ Let's put that all together, from my dog.

Ready? One, two, three.

♪ My dog, he can do the cancan ♪ ♪ Better than my cat can ♪ ♪ But my goldfish finds it very difficult ♪ Very good, now the second part of the song is the same but it finishes instead of finding it very difficult, the goldfish finds it very hard, so it's gonna finish, ♪ But my goldfish finds it very hard ♪ Let's try the second part, starting with my dog and finishing with finds it very hard.

Here we go.

Ready? And.

♪ My dog, he can do the cancan ♪ ♪ Better than my cat can ♪ ♪ But my goldfish finds it very hard ♪ Very good, well done, let's put it all together.

So the first time it's difficult, the second time it's hard.

Here we go.

Ready? And.

♪ My dog, he can do the cancan ♪ ♪ Better than my cat can ♪ ♪ But my goldfish finds it very difficult ♪ ♪ And my dog, he can do the cancan ♪ ♪ Better than my cat can ♪ ♪ But my goldfish finds it very hard ♪ Well done.

Now, the next thing we're gonna do is try and replace all the word cans with a clap.

So it's gonna go, ♪ My dog, he (claps) do the (claps) ♪ Should we give it a try? Here we go.

Ready? And.

♪ My dog, he (claps) do the (claps) ♪ ♪ Better than my cat (claps) ♪ ♪ But my goldfish finds it very difficult ♪ ♪ And my dog, he (claps) do the (claps) ♪ ♪ Better than my cat (claps) ♪ ♪ But my goldfish finds it very hard ♪ How did you do? Let's try one more time, shall we? But this time leave the claps, we're gonna go back to the normal song, but this time I want you to replace every animal's name with the sound that animal makes.

So it's gonna go ♪ My woof, he can do the cancan ♪ ♪ Better than my meow can ♪ ♪ But my brr finds it very difficult ♪ Ready? Let's give it a try.

Here we go, ready? And.

♪ My woof, he can do the cancan ♪ ♪ Better than my meow can ♪ ♪ But my brr finds it very difficult ♪ ♪ And my woof, he can do the cancan ♪ ♪ Better than my meow can ♪ ♪ But my brr finds it very hard ♪ Well done.

Now we're finished warming up, let's check on our voices, bodies, and minds to see if we're ready.

Are you in a comfortable, relaxed singing posture? Does your breathing feel steady and controlled? Does your voice feel warm and ready to reach higher and lower notes than before? And are you focused and ready for music? If the answer's yes to all of those things, then fantastic, we're nice and warmed up and ready to continue with our lesson.

Next we're gonna be looking at identifying a major or minor tonality.

In this unit, we'll be composing music in a minor tonality, and composing means making up.

We're gonna be creating original music.

But what do we mean by a minor tonality? Well, tonality is how the notes in a song are arranged around a main note, called a tonic, and this arrangement helps to give music its mood or character.

The tonality of music can make it sound happy or sad, mysterious, exciting, or lots of other things as well.

Let's find out how.

Let's listen to a song.

This song's called "Have You Seen the Ghost of Tom?" While you're listening, I want you to think, what is the mood or character of this song? What does it feel like? (gentle piano music) ♪ Have you seen the ghost of Tom ♪ ♪ Long white bones with the skin all gone ♪ ♪ Ooo ♪ ♪ Oo oo oo oo oo ♪ ♪ Wouldn't it be chilly with no skin on ♪ ♪ Have you seen the ghost of Tom ♪ ♪ Long white bones with the skin all gone ♪ ♪ Ooo ♪ ♪ Oo oo oo oo oo ♪ ♪ Wouldn't it be chilly with no skin on ♪ <v ->That was the song "The Ghost of Tom."</v> Now, that song has a minor tonality.

This is something that can sometimes help a song to feel dark, mysterious, or sad.

And for that song, it helped to give it a spooky, dark feel.

A minor tonality means that the notes of the song are organized around the pitch la.

Have a look at the words to the song.

The words highlighted in green use the pitch la.

Notice that the song starts and ends with the pitch la, which makes it feel finished.

Now let's try singing the song.

The first time we sing it, I'd like you to try and show the hand symbol for la every time the melody reaches that note.

Again, have a look at the words.

That's gonna be at the start on the word have, and then on every other word that's highlighted in green all the way until the end.

Let's try singing that now.

(gentle piano music) ♪ Have you seen the ghost of Tom ♪ ♪ Long white bones with the skin all gone ♪ ♪ Ooo ♪ ♪ Oo oo oo oo oo ♪ ♪ Wouldn't it be chilly with no skin on ♪ ♪ Have you seen the ghost of Tom ♪ ♪ Long white bones with the skin all gone ♪ ♪ Ooo ♪ ♪ Oo oo oo oo oo ♪ ♪ Wouldn't it be chilly with no skin on ♪ <v ->Well done.

</v> Now we're gonna try singing that song one more time, but this time let's see how else we can affect the mood of the song.

Another element of music that helps to affect the mood is the tempo, which means the speed.

Try singing this song faster or slower and see if that gives the song a different mood or character.

Pause the video now and try singing the song faster and slower to see how it affects the mood.

So, songs with a minor tonality are organized around the pitch la.

Using a minor tonality, along with other elements of music like tempo, can make a song sound dark or sometimes calm or even apprehensive.

We could also use a major tonality.

Songs with a major tonality are organized around the pitch do.

A major tonality can help to make a song sound bright or joyous or cheerful.

Let's have a listen to a song with a major tonality.

This is a sea shanty called "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean." While you're listening, I'd like you to think, what is the mood or character of this song? (bright piano music) ♪ My bonnie lies over the ocean ♪ ♪ My bonnie lies over the sea ♪ ♪ My bonnie lies over the ocean ♪ ♪ Oh bring back my bonnie to me ♪ So that was "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean." What do you think the mood or character of that song felt like? Well, the song has a major tonality, and this can sometimes help a song to feel bright or hopeful, and I think in that case it did.

The song had quite a bright, positive, hopeful feel.

A major tonality means that the notes of the song are organized around the pitch do.

Have a look at the words to the song.

The words highlighted in green use the pitch do and notice that the song ends on the pitch do.

This is a good way to make it feel finished at the end.

Let's try singing "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean" and what I'd like you to do, just like we did with our previous song, every time that the melody comes to the note do, I'd like you to show me the solfege hand symbol for do.

Look at the lyrics and you'll see the words for do highlighted in green.

Let's try singing along, here we go.

(bright piano music) ♪ My bonnie lies over the ocean ♪ ♪ My bonnie lies over the sea ♪ ♪ My bonnie lies over the ocean ♪ ♪ Oh bring back my bonnie to me ♪ Well done.

Now we're gonna try singing that song one more time, but let's again explore how else we can affect the mood or the character of the song.

Another element of music that we can use that affects the mood or character is the dynamics, and this means the volume, how loud or quietly you sing.

Try singing this song one more time.

This time, trying with a loud dynamic and then with a soft, quiet dynamic, and see how it changes the mood or feel of the song.

Pause the video now and try singing the song with different dynamics.

So, as we know, the song "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean" has a major tonality, and this makes it sound bright and hopeful.

But what if it had a minor tonality? How would the mood change? Listen to this version of "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean" but this time with a minor tonality.

Everything else about the song will be the same, but what does it sound like with a minor tonality? How does the mood or character change? Let's have a listen.

(bright piano music) ♪ My bonnie lies over the ocean ♪ ♪ My bonnie lies over the sea ♪ ♪ My bonnie lies over the ocean ♪ ♪ Oh bring back my bonnie to me ♪ How do you think the mood changed when we heard it in a minor tonality? Aisha says, "The minor tonality makes this song sound darker and sadder." Andeep says, "Singing it with a slow tempo also makes it sound sadder." And you can imagine if we sung that really slow in that minor tonality, it would sound like a very different song with a very different character.

So, now we found out all about major and minor and what makes them sound different, we're going to try a major or minor quiz.

You will hear a few different songs.

I'd like you to try and identify which ones you think have a major tonality and which ones you think have a minor tonality.

Remember, songs with a major tonality often sound bright, joyous, or cheerful, and they're organized around the pitch do.

Songs with a minor tonality, though, can sound dark or calm or apprehensive, and they're organized around the pitch la.

Let's have a listen to some songs.

For question A, we're going to hear the song "Round and Round." Do you think this has a major or minor tonality? (gentle piano music) ♪ Round and round the Earth is turning ♪ ♪ Turning always into morning ♪ ♪ And from morning into night ♪ ♪ Round and round the Earth is turning ♪ (singers singing over each other) ♪ And from morning into night ♪ <v ->So do you think</v> "Round and Round" had a major or minor tonality? The answer is minor.

The minor tonality makes it sound darker or perhaps calmer.

Now let's hear question B.

Listen to the song "Bella Mama." Does it have a major or minor tonality? (bright piano music) ♪ Bella mama, bella mama, ay ♪ ♪ Bella mama, bella mama, ay ♪ ♪ Bella mama, bella mama, bella mama, bella mama ♪ ♪ Bella mama, bella mama, ay ♪ <v ->So what do you think?</v> "Bella Mama," does it have a major or minor tonality? The answer is major.

The major tonality makes it sound bright and positive.

Now question C.

Let's listen to "Old Abram Brown." Does it have a major or minor tonality? (gentle piano music) ♪ Old Abram Brown is dead and gone ♪ ♪ You'll never see him more ♪ ♪ He used to wear a long brown coat ♪ ♪ That button'd up before ♪ <v ->So what do you think?</v> "Old Abram Brown," does it have a major or minor tonality? The answer is minor.

This song has a minor tonality, which makes it sound darker or calmer.

Finally, let's listen to a clip of the melody "Ode to Joy." Does this have a major or minor tonality? (bright orchestral music) There we go, "Ode to Joy." Do you think it has a major or minor tonality? The answer is major.

The major tonality makes it sound bright and positive.

So now we found out all about major and minor tonalities, let's sing some songs in a minor tonality, also known as a minor key.

We've learned that songs with a minor tonality are organized around the pitch la and can often sound quite dark.

The other musical elements, like pitch, tempo, and dynamics and texture, also help to give a song its mood or character.

We're gonna try learning some songs now in a minor tonality and we're gonna think about how the use of musical elements affects its mood or character.

Let's listen to the American folk song "Nine Hundred Miles." It's about someone traveling and missing their home.

While you're listening, think, what is the mood or character of this song? (gentle guitar music) ♪ I am walking down the track ♪ ♪ I've got tears in my eyes ♪ ♪ Trying to read a letter from my home ♪ ♪ If that train runs me right ♪ ♪ I'll be home tomorrow night ♪ ♪ 'Cause it's 900 miles where I'm going ♪ ♪ I am walking down the track ♪ ♪ I've got tears in my eyes ♪ ♪ Trying to read a letter from my home ♪ ♪ If that train runs me right ♪ ♪ I'll be home tomorrow night ♪ ♪ 'Cause it's 900 miles where I'm going ♪ That was the song "Nine Hundred Miles" and the mood of the song is quite sad and longing.

How does the composer of that song create that sad mood? Izzy says, "The minor tonality gives this song a sad, darker feel," which it does.

Sofia says, "Singing it at a slow tempo and with quieter dynamics also makes it sound sad." Alex points out that "the melody also descends, which means going down, at the end." ♪ 900 miles from my home ♪ That descending melody also contributes to the sad mood.

So all of these things together create the sad mood of the song.

Let's sing the song "Nine Hundred Miles." How will you use your voice when you're singing to emphasize the sad and mournful mood? Join in with me.

(gentle guitar music) ♪ I am walking down the track ♪ ♪ I've got tears in my eyes ♪ ♪ Trying to read a letter from my home ♪ ♪ If that train runs me right ♪ ♪ I'll be home tomorrow night ♪ ♪ 'Cause it's 900 miles where I'm going ♪ ♪ I am walking down the track ♪ ♪ I've got tears in my eyes ♪ ♪ Trying to read a letter from my home ♪ ♪ If that train runs me right ♪ ♪ I'll be home tomorrow night ♪ ♪ 'Cause it's 900 miles where I'm going ♪ Great singing.

Now let's listen to the sea shanty "What Shall We Do with the Drunken Sailor?" which would've been sung by sailors at sea.

As you listen, think, what is the mood or character of this song? (bright piano music) ♪ What shall we do with the drunken sailor ♪ ♪ What shall we do with the drunken sailor ♪ ♪ What shall we do with the drunken sailor ♪ ♪ Early in the morning ♪ ♪ Hooray and up she rises ♪ ♪ Hooray and up she rises ♪ ♪ Hooray and up she rises ♪ ♪ Early in the morning ♪ ♪ What shall we do with the drunken sailor ♪ ♪ What shall we do with the drunken sailor ♪ ♪ What shall we do with the drunken sailor ♪ ♪ Early in the morning ♪ ♪ Hooray and up she rises ♪ ♪ Hooray and up she rises ♪ ♪ Hooray and up she rises ♪ ♪ Early in the morning ♪ <v ->Unlike the song "Nine Hundred Miles,"</v> the mood of "What Should We Do with the Drunken Sailor?" is more energetic and playful sounding.

How is this mood created? What musical features are there in the song that make it sound more energetic and playful? Laura says, "The minor tonality doesn't sound sad in this song.

It sounds more apprehensive or dangerous, perhaps showing the danger of a life at sea." Jacob says, "The lyrics are quite playful though, which contrasts with the darker minor mood." Now let's sing the song "What Should We Do with the Drunken Sailor?" Have a think, how will you use your voice to emphasize the serious minor tone combined with the more silly, playful lyrics? Join in with this song.

(bright piano music) ♪ What shall we do with the drunken sailor ♪ ♪ What shall we do with the drunken sailor ♪ ♪ What shall we do with the drunken sailor ♪ ♪ Early in the morning ♪ ♪ Hooray and up she rises ♪ ♪ Hooray and up she rises ♪ ♪ Hooray and up she rises ♪ ♪ Early in the morning ♪ ♪ What shall we do with the drunken sailor ♪ ♪ What shall we do with the drunken sailor ♪ ♪ What shall we do with the drunken sailor ♪ ♪ Early in the morning ♪ ♪ Hooray and up she rises ♪ ♪ Hooray and up she rises ♪ ♪ Hooray and up she rises ♪ ♪ Early in the morning ♪ <v ->So we've sung a few different songs there</v> with a minor tonality.

As Lucas says, "Sometimes songs with a minor tonality can sound sad and calm, but sometimes they can sound energetic, serious, or dark." The mood depends on how the other elements of music are used too, like the tempo and the pitch, as well as the lyrics to the song themselves.

So, in today's lesson we've learned that it's essential to warm up the voice before singing.

This helps keep it strong and healthy and prevents injury.

We've learned that many songs have a tonal center, or tonality, and often this can be described as major or minor.

We've learned that minor tonalities are organized around the note la and they can sound dark, sad, serious, calm, or apprehensive.

Well done for your singing in today's lesson, and I look forward to seeing you in the next one.