Lesson video

Hi everybody, welcome to the final week.

This is Syncopation Performance and Reflection.

My name's Mr. Croughan and I'm very excited to bring all of your hard work and celebrate all of those skills that you've been learning in this Syncopation in Songs unit.

Let's press on.

By the end of this lesson, you'll be able to proudly say that you can play and sing syncopated rhythms and use your ensemble skills to present a successful performance.

Looking at today's list of keywords.

We'll start with warmup, which we will in a moment, a sequence of exercises used to prepare the mind, the body, and the voice for when we're singing and playing instruments.

Syncopation, the rhythms that emphasize the beats that are usually the weaker beats.

A performance, a work that is presented to an audience.

Evaluation, an assessment of the quality and the enjoyment of a musical performance, considering accuracy of our playing and our musicality.

And lastly and very importantly, pulse, the regular steady heartbeat of the music.

There are two learning cycles.

The first one is where we will be warming up to perform our syncopation performance.

And secondly, the performance itself and our evaluation.

So we'll begin with a thorough warmup.

When we are performing as an ensemble, we're working together, we're listening to each other, and that is both when we play and when we sing.

It's important therefore that our voices are warm and clear, that our bodies are warm, and our brain is ready to focus.

The warmups that we've put in this sequence now are gonna help us focus on the pulse, on the backbeat, and layering sounds in time together.

All of these skills, we'll be using in our performance.

In this first part of the warmup, we are gonna switch between clapping on the beat, like one and two and three and four and, to the off beats, five and six and seven and eight and.

This is how it's going to work, we'll do it together first, then you'll pause and practice it four times on your own.

I will give you a steady five and six and seven and eight and, and we'll begin.

And we're going to do that twice through.

Watch out for when you get and eight and one and two 'cause it goes back to the beginning.

So that very final clap on the and is right next to the clap on the one.

Here we go, hands at the ready.

Great focus.

Read that notation as we chant and clap.

Are we ready? Five and six and seven and eight and one and two and three and four and five and six and seven and eight and one and two and three and four and five and six and seven and eight and one.

Very good.

It's gonna take a little bit of practice to get that sharp.

We're warming up our brains, remember.

And we are keeping in time as an ensemble.

Pause here.

Choose someone to give you a very steady five and six and seven and eight and and be as tight as you can.

Alright, four times through, please.

Off you go.

Very well done.

The more you do it, the better you get, the tighter you are as an ensemble.

Super! Next, who stole the cookie from the cookie jar.

When we play this to a steady pulse, it's gonna help you feel that you are all feeling that same steady pulse from working together.

I would like you to choose somebody in your class to keep that steady pulse on drum or claves.

So we will then have, who stole the cookie from the cookie jar? Alex stole the cookie from the cookie jar.

Who me? Yes you.

Couldn't have been.

Then who? Jonah stole the.

and whoever else it is.

So I would like you to make sure you've got someone keeping that steady pulse.

And I would like you to play to that strict rhythm.

If you need to be reminded of who stole the cookie jar, the clip is there for you to watch.

Otherwise, pause and enjoy.

Top tip, if you've got someone's name in mind ready, you don't have to think of one in the moment, you don't have that panic and it'll help you continue playing to the steady pulse.

Off you go.

Brilliant.

So you'll notice with our warmups this week that we are adding extra layers to them.

This time when you are singing the Fruit Canon in your three groups, I would like you to play on claves or clapping if you don't have them on the backbeat.

So for example we get, ♪ Mango, mango, mango, mango, mango, mango, mango ♪ So that's on the go of mango.

If you're the kiwi line, ♪ Kiwi, kiwi, kiwi, kiwi, kiwi, kiwi, kiwi, kiwi, kiwi, ♪ kiwi, kiwi, kiwi.

Okay that is again on the offbeat.

And when you're singing it, it's on the middle kiwi, ♪ Kiwi, kiwi, kiwi, kiwi, kiwi, kiwi, kiwi, kiwi ♪ And so on.

And then with banana, not many of these fall on the backbeat.

It's quite syncopated.

We get ♪ Banana, banana, banana, peel ♪ ♪ Banana, banana, banana, peel ♪ If you are all doing that together, we'll hear that solid backbeat.

It's not only gonna emphasize keeping you in time, but we feel that that backbeat, that one form of syncopation with all those syncopated lines sung together.

You can begin in unison if you'd like to, 'cause you are practicing the backbeat first and then split into those three groups.

There was a top tip.

If you tap your foot quietly on the beat, (wood tapping) it might help you play the backbeat whether you are tapping or clapping.

Pause here and go for that where you are.

Off you go.

Very good, very good, very good.

Next comes a physical warmup that also helps us to listen carefully and to focus.

It's called up, down, go, stop.

I'll pop the video on, watch how to play it, and then you can join along and pause so that you get a chance to play that where you are.

Here it comes.

<v Narrator>This warmup is called up, down, go, stop.

</v> When you hear up, stretch both arms into the air.

When you hear down, put both hands on your knees When you hear go, run on the spot.

And when you hear stop, strike a pose.

It looks like this.

<v Instructor>Go.

</v> Stop.

Go.

Stop.

Up.

Go.

Down.

Up.

Down.

Go.

Stop.

<v Narrator>Once you've got the hang of it,</v> try doing the opposite of what the instructions tell you.

It looks like this.

<v Instructor>Down.

</v> Go.

Stop.

Stop.

(laughs) Go.

Up.

Down.

Up.

Up, up, up.

Stop, stop, stop.

Go.

<v ->Astounding.

Very good indeed.

</v> Now warming up our bodies, our brains, and our voices should lead to a neater, safer, more focused performance.

Gimme a thumbs up if you think that's true.

Gimme a thumbs down if you can't agree with that statement.

Warming our bodies, our brains, and our voices should lead to a neater, safer, more focused performance.

Show me now.

Very good stuff.

Good positive attitude, people.

And it's why we warm up in the first place.

It's true 'cause it also as well as warming up our voice and our mind and our body, it helps unite us as a strong ensemble and that helps us work really well together and enjoy ourselves.

And talking of enjoyment, this last part of the warmup has an element of free play in it too.

It begins by a small group being selected to play the Kuku drum break, which is the.

(wood tapping) and you can play on any drums available to you or body percussion if you don't have them.

So we'll hear that and when we've heard that, we'll all sing once through Dawda Sanneh.

So you'll hear something like this.

(wood tapping) (singing foreign language) (wood tapping) So when you hear, if you are the small group playing that Kuku drum break or whatever drums you have available to you, then make sure when you hear that (singing foreign language) at the end of the song, (wood tapping) that drum break happens again.

Then when everyone's heard that drum break, you go straight into your own improvised syncopated rhythm.

Say for example you hear (drum break and clapping) it could be that.

Or you hear (drum break and clapping) however you want to do it, it's entirely up to you.

But we are gonna hear a class of syncopated rhythms all layered over the top of each other.

Each time we hear that, the clap happens, we go back to the drum break (drum break and clapping) and so on.

Decide how many times you want to do it.

The drum break people can then give a (drum break) and you can repeat the cycle back to the Dawda Sanneh.

Do that a couple of times and enjoy singing in time together as well as creating your own syncopated improvised rhythms. Have fun.

See you in a bit.

Brilliant.

I hope you really enjoyed exploring those syncopated rhythms all layered up of your own and were working as that fantastic ensemble that you are.

Have a quick check in with yourself, see if you now agree with each of these statements.

Aisha says, I can now play both on and off the beat.

Reckon you can too.

Laura says, I can feel a steady pulse when I listen to a ensemble playing together.

Great.

I hope you are also that same tight ensemble.

Alex says, my body's now awake, I feel alert and I'm ready to play and sing.

Good.

And Andeep says, I feel focused and I'm ready to perform.

Well that's good, Andeep because that's what's happening next.

This second learning cycle is our performance, and also, our evaluation.

The performance time is upon us.

You may have decided that you are going to perform this in an assembly to another class, maybe to invited guests.

Who knows? What's important, please, is that record it if you can, even if that's on a class iPad or a camera, whatever you have because it's gonna help you evaluate your performance afterwards.

The following slides that come, you can use to suit performance.

'cause I don't know your running order and what I'm hoping is that you'd no longer need to look at the words and the rhythms and everything else, but they're there if you need them.

Quick check for you.

Performances can be neat and efficient and focused.

And without having a stage manager there to help you, I would like you to take responsibility and make sure your performance runs as smoothly as possible.

So please prepare by putting all your instruments in the correct place, making sure you know where they are, so that bit in the performance where you go and get them, you can walk calmly straight to them.

Also, make sure you know the running order, which side of your performance space are you entering from and where are you going to stand.

If you know those three things, you're calm and prepared and ready to begin.

Alright, have a great time.

I'll run through these slides to show you what's here.

We've got Babethandaza, with that rhythmic ostinato of the ♪ Than-da-zo ngemi than-da-zo ngemi ♪ Both verses are, there's the backing track there.

There's your scat improvisation.

The backing track is there to be used for you to scat over the top of, please use that one.

Hopefully, your performance is set up and ready to make that whole class piece, which will be impressive and wonderful.

Dawda Sanneh is there.

The backing track is there, but remember we are singing this unaccompanied and our accompaniment is those two rhythms, that Ken Kenny rhythm and the sang band rhythm as well.

The Kuku four part rhythm there that we've got either on your instruments that you're going to use or your body percussion if you don't.

That's there for you too.

And then lastly, that drum break as required.

You might have put that in other places too.

It should begin and end your Kuku rhythm.

Best of luck, have a great time and I'll see you after the show.

Off you go.

(clapping) Wonderful.

Wonderful, well done, well done.

This isn't syncopated clapping.

This is just clapping at your hard work.

Really well done.

Now then, this is the bit that, I'm not gonna lie to you, as a kid I thought, oh, evaluation's a boring bit, but actually it's not.

It's a moment we can be super proud of ourselves.

Sofia says, she describes it in this way, we can see and hear all of those musical skills that we've developed in this unit and feel a real sense of pride in what we've achieved.

I totally agree with that.

And Jacob also says, we can see and hear which areas of our musical development we can work on more.

And that's really good to know 'cause it's gonna make us even better musicians.

So you're gonna pause now and just check in with yourself and each other to see how you feel.

And did you think you did a good job? That as an ensemble, as a whole collective, did the ensemble do a good job and you as an individual.

Pause and have a quick chat.

Off you go.

And your final task is simply to watch your performance back and get some feedback from your audience if you shared it with others.

What did people think? When you watch it back and you discuss it, these are the things I want you to be looking out for.

Number one, did it look like you were enjoying yourself? Number two, can you hear when you are singing on the beat and when you are singing those syncopated rhythms, is your ears now more tuned to hearing syncopation? Does your ensemble stay together? And are there some moments where it sounds a bit less tight? Is there a sense of improvisation in that scat performance? Does it feel a bit free? And there's some lovely little moments there.

What highlights did you like? And then did you produce a balanced and well blended sound? Meaning the accompany wasn't too loud for the singing, but you could hear everything.

Pause and really enjoy watching your performance and feeling proud of yourself.

Off you go.

Lucas says he felt proud of the new skills that he'd learned.

He's now more confident in playing different kinds of rhythms, including syncopated ones.

Great.

I hope you can feel a sense of that too with all of this exploration in this unit.

Aisha says, I'm much more aware of feeding the steady pulse and I just understand more how much it helps me when we're all playing music together.

Brilliant bit of learning right there.

Laura says, I'm gonna be listening out for syncopation in all the music I hear now.

I imagine you might do too.

Really, really well done all of you.

Great job.

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

Looking at the summary of our learning, we know that warming our voice, minds, and bodies helps us deliver that focused, safe, and engaging performance.

Feeling the pulse, that is key to neat ensemble performance.

And when we evaluate and reflect on our performance, we become more aware of those skills we've developed.

And you've developed loads, so really well done and I look forward to seeing you again soon.

Bye for now.