Lesson video

Hello, everyone.

It's me again, Mrs. Steele.

And I'm really delighted to be guiding you through this music lesson today, all about songs uniting a crowd.

But before we begin, there are two listening examples that you'll need today that don't feature in today's video.

So before we start, you'll need to take a moment to find those, if you haven't already done so.

There's a teacher guidance slide at the beginning of the slide deck to help you with this.

Press pause to find those listening examples now, if you haven't already.

Are you ready? Let's learn about songs uniting a crowd.

By the end of today's lesson, you'll be able to understand how songs bring people together with one common goal, creating a sense of unity and wellbeing.

And we're gonna have lots of fun together too.

Here are the keywords that you'll need in our learning today.

Unity, a shared awareness of feeling together as part of a group.

Endorphins, hormones produced in our brains that increase our feelings of wellbeing.

And improvise, to create music in the moment, using the voice or instruments, alone or with others.

Let's begin by learning about how music creates unity.

During the Live Aid concert of 1985, the rock group Queen, fronted by Freddie Mercury, who you can see on the screen here, got the whole crowd singing.

The concert was to raise money for those suffering from famine in Ethiopia and the crowd were united by that shared important purpose and also by the power of music.

In that Live Aid concert, Freddie leads the audience in a call and response, singing.

♪ Ay-oh ♪ Find a clip of the audience singing and clapping together.

You could even join in with the responses.

How do you think the crowd feel during this moment? What different emotions might they be experiencing? How might singing together impact on their mood? How would it impact on your mood if you were there? And why do you think this? Press pause to find this example and see what you think.

Here's another powerful example of singing uniting a crowd.

Jacob Collier is an English songwriter, singer and educator.

He's also famous for his improvised audience choirs, where he conducts from the stage and has his audience sing in harmony.

It really is quite amazing.

Listen to or watch a clip.

Press pause to find that now.

In both of these examples, the crowd will have experienced a sense of joy and unity.

This actually comes from something called endorphins, which are produced in our brain.

Endorphins can help reduce pain, improve our mood and increase our sense of wellbeing.

And endorphins can be released when we do enjoyable things, such as eating, laughing, exercising and singing.

It's time for a quick check-in with our learning so far.

True or false, crowds can feel a sense of shared wellbeing when they sing together? Show me a thumbs up if you think that's true, or a thumbs down if you think that's false.

Okay, I'm imagining I can see lots of thumbs up, because that's definitely true.

Well done.

Endorphins released in the brain can promote a sense of wellbeing, and that feeling can be magnified as part of a larger group.

Try the following challenges where you are, and reflect on how you feel after each one.

Running on the spot for 10 seconds.

Doing 10 star jumps.

Singing the chorus of a song that you all know, something upbeat with plenty of joy.

And then stand calmly and breathe in for four, hold for one, and out for five.

Press pause to try each of those challenges, and reflect on how you feel after each one.

Can you feel those endorphins being released in your brain? Good luck.

Hello, again.

How did each activity make you feel? Maybe you shared some ideas like those on the screen, or perhaps you had different thoughts.

You could press pause now to see how your answers compare to these ones.

Now let's move on to thinking about how singing together makes us feel good.

We're going to take inspiration from Jacob Collier's improvised audience choir, and have a go at making our own.

We're going to use the notes from something we probably all know, "Three Blind Mice." The conductor will be improvising using the rest of us as the instrument to make different note combinations, just like Jacob Collier does.

The first three notes to "Three Blind Mice" are.

♪ E ♪ ♪ D ♪ ♪ C ♪ ♪ Three ♪ ♪ Blind ♪ ♪ Mice ♪ Choose a conductor.

Your conductor is going to have an action for each note.

♪ Three ♪ ♪ Blind ♪ ♪ Mice ♪ Like that.

Try singing each note using the lyrics, "Three blind mice," then try singing each one to, "Ah," instead.

Which is easier? Follow your conductor and change notes whenever your conductor shows you.

Press pause to try that challenge following your conductor.

The next three notes in "Three Blind Mice" are.

♪ G ♪ ♪ F ♪ ♪ E ♪ Or.

♪ See ♪ ♪ How they ♪ ♪ Run ♪ Choose a conductor.

Try someone different this time.

This time, your conductor's actions are, hands in the air to sing.

♪ See ♪ This is the action to sing.

♪ How ♪ And we already know this one.

♪ Run ♪ 'Cause that's the same note as.

♪ Three ♪ ♪ See ♪ ♪ How ♪ ♪ Run ♪ Try singing each note using the lyrics, see, how and run, and then try singing them to, "Ah." Which do you find easier? Follow the conductor again, and change notes whenever the conductor shows you.

Watch them carefully.

Press pause to try that challenge now with these three notes.

Let's put all of that together now in a big musical challenge.

In two groups with two conductors, you're going to create a conductor-led improvised choir.

Here are your success criteria to do this.

Use an instrument, such as a glockenspiel or piano, to get each note right.

If you're a conductor, change notes when it feels right, not too quickly.

Everybody needs to watch the conductors very carefully, and take a breath whenever you need to, breathing deeply and calmly.

Because we're going to be singing in our improvised choir to, "Ah," what our mouth does during this note is really important.

Open it nice, wide and brightly, as if you're biting into a juicy apple when you sing, "Ah." It's a smiley sound, like this.

♪ Ah ♪ Let's try that challenge this way first.

The conductor will show each group when to begin.

Group one, you're going to hold an E, or what we sang for, "Three," to an open, "Ah," sound.

♪ Ah ♪ Just breathe whenever you need to.

And group two, your conductor is going to show you the three gestures, and you're going to sing one of these three notes to an open, "Ah," sound.

♪ Ah, ah, ah ♪ And the conductor will experiment with lots of different note combinations.

Press pause to try the challenge that way first.

Here's a different version of a conductor-led improvised choir.

This time, the same as before, your conductor will show each group where to begin.

But you could choose different conductors to have a go this time.

Group one, you're going to sing one of these three notes to an open smiley, "Ah," sound, changing note when your conductor changes their hand gesture.

Your notes will be.

♪ Ah, ah, ah ♪ And your conductor will experiment with lots of different combinations.

At the same time, group two will hold a G or our C note to an open, "Ah," sound.

♪ Ah ♪ Breathing whenever they need to.

Press pause to try this second version.

Hello, again, choir.

How did it go? Did everyone follow the conductor? Did it feel a bit easier to get the right note knowing that you were united as part of a bigger group? It's quite different than singing on your own, isn't it? Were there some notes that sounded better together than others did you notice? And did you remember to breathe whenever you needed to, and open your mouth widely and brightly to sing a nice smiley, "Ah?" Well done if you did.

You could press pause now to share your ideas about some of these questions or think about them in your own thinking voice.

We've come to the end of our lesson all about songs uniting a crowd.

But before we go, let's take a moment to think about everything we've been learning today.

We know that singing together makes us feel good.

And we know that our body releases endorphins, feel-good chemicals in our brain, which reduce stress and improve our mood.

We know that improvising using our voice as part of a group can help us feel connected and united to each other.

I certainly have found that lesson very mood boosting.

Well done, everyone.

I'm already looking forward to seeing you again soon for another music lesson.

Bye.