Lesson video

Hi there, everybody, and welcome to today's lesson called Three Pitches - do, mi, so.

This is from our Singing Together unit, How Songs Unite Us.

My name's Mr. Croughan and as well as looking at how those songs bring us together, we're also gonna be exploring all the positive things that it does for our bodies and brains.

Are we ready?

Let's get cracking.

After this lesson, you'll be able to say, I can read and notate a three-note Do Mi So song.

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

We're gonna start with a non-musical word, and this is hormones.

Hormones are chemicals that carry messages around our body.

Unison: the same tune played or sung at the same time.

A phrase: a phrase is a musical thought, like a sentence in a story.

Then pitch: how high or low a note is.

And lastly, upbeat.

Now when music begins on any beat except for the first beat, this is an upbeat.

Another fancier word for it is anacrusis.

We know just how important it is to warm up our bodies and voices and our minds before we play and sing together.

And this is because if we're singing, we want to sing safely.

So warming up our voice helps develop our vocal strength and make sure that we're warm to sing safely without damaging our voice.

We also, when we warm up, start to feel a sense of pulse.

It helps us understand rhythm, prepare our minds for learning, and kind of unites us together as well.

So I'd like you to follow these warmups.

Here they come.

<v ->Before we sing,</v> we're gonna warm up our whole body, particularly our neck and our shoulders.

First of all, we're gonna move our neck gently, round and round like a figure of eight on its side.

Imagine you've got a pencil on the end of your nose and you're trying to draw a figure of eight on its side.

Now gently bend your neck to one side, maybe feel the stretch along here, and gently bend it the other way.

Now we're gonna do some shoulder rolls.

Roll your shoulders forward and up and back and round.

Let's do that a couple of times.

Can you do it the other way?

Go up and forward and down and back.

Let's do that a couple of times.

Now let's take one arm over our head to the side and stretch.

And let's do it the other way.

Finally, let's scrunch our shoulders up to our ears and let go.

And scrunch and let go.

And scrunch and let go.

Last time, scrunch and let go.

Now let's warm up our face.

Imagine you're chewing some bubble gum.

What flavor is your bubble gum?

Mine is cherry.

I'm going to unwrap my bubble gum, pop it in my mouth and have a good chew.

Why don't you join in?

Let's do some big chews.

And some little chews.

Oh, my bubble gum's got stuck behind my teeth.

I need to use my tongue to get it out.

That's enough chewing now.

I'm gonna take it out and put it behind my ear for another day.

Join in with this breathing warmup.

We're gonna draw a square in the air with our finger as we do it.

First we're gonna breathe in for four beats.

Hold our breath for four beats.

Breathe out for four beats.

And hold our breath for four beats.

Are you ready?

Well done.

Listen to this tongue twister.

If a dog chews shoes, whose shoes does he choose?

Now you join in.

If a dog chews shoes, whose shoes does he choose?

<v ->Very good, warm, focused, prepared.

</v> Super duper.

To finish our warmups, there is a chant.

I'm gonna chant it and then you can pause and chant it as a choral group yourselves.

Here it goes.

Many voices all aligned.

Feel the rhythm, keep the time.

High or low, soft or strong.

Singing helps us all belong.

And the second verse says, many voices sing one tune.

Feel the joy from me to you.

All together singers, one.

Unity in every song.

So pause here and chant that together where you're keeping a steady pulse.

Off you go.

Grand.

Now to finish off with, you are gonna sing My dog, he can do the Can-Can.

There's a backing track and there's a video there to support you if you need them.

And you're welcome to take this as far as you'd like.

You can swap the word "can" for a clap and you can change any of the animal names like dog, cat, goldfish for woof, meow, and entirely up to you.

Have an enjoy of that and I'll see you when you're done.

Very good.

Hope you had lots of fun.

Are we ready to make some music?

Sophia says, "Well, my mind's alert and ready.

My voice feels warmed up safely.

" Looks like we're ready to press on.

There are two learning cycles in today's lesson.

The first one, we're gonna explore the benefits of singing together and then secondly, we're gonna read and notate do, mi, so.

Let's start.

Let's find out those benefits of singing together.

Okay.

Singing is beneficial to our wellbeing.

Facts.

When we sing together, our body releases what we call happy hormones that make us feel good.

These are endorphins.

Endorphins also release when we exercise.

They help us feel good about ourselves.

Serotonin is another hormone that helps improve our mood.

It reduces our anxiety and our stress.

What a great thing that singing can do for us.

Dopamine can make us feel rewarded, joyful, motivated.

That also happens when we sing.

And then another hormone released in our bodies as we sing is oxytocin.

And this releases feelings of trust and bonding and connection.

So imagine those hormones soaring through our bodies.

Perhaps you're singing a favorite chorus in a big festival or you've been to see some live music or you're just singing with your friends in your bedroom, whatever it might be.

All of these wonderful things are happening in our body when we sing.

It's good for our health too.

It benefits our lungs.

So it encourages us to breathe deeply.

This can increase our lung capacity, which is great and it improves our memory and makes our brain work pretty hard, which is a good workout for our brains.

If you think about it, when we're singing, we're doing lots of things at the same time.

We're singing in the right tune, we're remembering the words, and we're listening to the people around us.

You might be following a conductor.

If you're reading the words, you're decoding what that means too.

You're breathing, you're supporting your voice, you're doing a lot.

You're also responding to, oh, this song makes me feel like this.

Or these lyrics are a bit joyful or sadness, whatever it might be.

There's so much going on in our brain, it's really good for our concentration and our memory.

Quick check-in with yourself.

This is curious, how did you feel before you started your music lesson today?

And how are you feeling now after those warmups, after singing?

Do you feel any different at all?

You might not, but you might.

And if so, do you feel better?

What, if you could put your finger on it, has changed, even if slightly.

Have a pause and a chat and see what you come up with.

Okay, so really good.

Let's just keep that in mind and we can reflect on that again after some more singing a bit later.

Crowds experience these same feelings when singing at a concert together.

Now, whilst we can't all immediately rush out, go and enjoy our favorite concert, rush back and tell everyone what it was like.

What we can do is pause the video and I'd like you to specifically watch Coldplay sing "Fix You" live in concert.

And the reason I'm asking for a live one is because you can hear or see the audience joining in.

And I'd like you to think, how is that crowd feeling as they sing and experience that together.

Okay?

How might that crowd be feeling and what are they experiencing?

Okay, pause here, find that, and I'll see you afterwards for a chat.

Great.

So all of those feelings, that experience that they've shared together, number one, wonderful and positive.

And those positive feelings created by singing together don't immediately end either.

They can last long after the song or the concert or rehearsal, whatever is over.

There's a lasting feeling which is great for our wellbeing.

We're gonna sing the song, "Let Us Sing Together" in unison, which is all together at the same time.

So here's some top tips before you start.

Take a deep breath with relaxed shoulders.

Remember, it's your ribs that are swinging out.

So you take a deep breath before singing each phrase.

That's gonna give you plenty of air and you're gonna work together to create that balanced, blended choral sound.

Not lots of individual voices but a blended sound together.

Work on that and I'll see you after you've sung.

Alright, super duper, that's great.

What I'd like you to do is pause and see if you feel any different after singing.

It might be a very slight, maybe it's a gentle, incremental change.

You might feel slightly different.

It could be anything at all.

But I'd just be interested to know from the different voices in your class who are willing to share how they feel now after singing together.

Pause and check in with each other.

Interesting.

So true or false, singing makes us feel better, and then once the song's over, that feeling goes away.

Give me a thumbs up.

Yep, that's true.

Thumbs down, I don't agree with that statement.

Singing makes us feel better, but once the song is over, the feeling goes away.

That is false.

Well done.

And why?

Singing makes us feel great, and because of the hormones released, those hormones can't just disappear.

They carry on sailing around our body, and that feeling can have lasting effects.

Singing makes our bodies feel great too.

Great for our lungs, great for our brain.

Brilliant.

So first practice task, we're gonna sing "Nanuma" in unison.

Again.

Deep breath with relaxed shoulders before each phrase to support you and to help you sing with a gentle tone.

Remember this isn't loud, we're balancing the sound.

And then after you've sung, you're gonna have a chat and think, how does singing this song make me feel?

Is it different?

Have I sung it in a different way?

Have a pause, sing and then check in with yourselves.

How do you feel after this song?

Does it change things depending on the song?

Off you go.

Nice.

Well done.

Good chat.

Now you're gonna listen to "Nanuma" sung as a two-part round.

Are you ready?

You're just listening.

Here it comes.

♪ Ready, steady, off we go ♪ ♪ Nanuma wyee ay, nanuma ♪ ♪ Nanuma wyee ay, nanuma ♪ ♪ Nanuma wyee ay, nanuma ♪ ♪ Nanuma wyee ay, nanuma ♪ ♪ Nanuma wyee ay, nanuma ♪ ♪ Nanuma wyee ay, nanuma ♪ ♪ Nanuma wyee ay, nanuma ♪ ♪ Nanuma wyee ay, nanuma ♪ ♪ Nanuma wyee ay, nanuma ♪ ♪ Nanuma wyee ay, nanuma ♪ ♪ Nanuma wyee ay, nanuma ♪ ♪ Nanuma wyee ay, nanuma ♪ ♪ Nanuma wyee ay, nanuma ♪ ♪ Nanuma wyee ay, nanuma ♪ ♪ Nanuma wyee ay, nanuma ♪ ♪ Nanuma wyee ay, nanuma ♪ ♪ Nanuma wyee ay, nanuma ♪ <v ->Great.

</v> That is "Nanuma" as a two-part round.

I'm gonna put the track on again.

And this time you're gonna join in with the second entry.

So you're coming in on that second line.

You can see on the screen it's where the two is.

So the second time it is sung, you begin the song from the beginning.

Then you're singing in a round and singing in harmony.

Let's explore how singing in harmony makes you feel.

Are you ready?

Here comes the track.

♪ Ready, steady, Off we go.

♪ ♪ Nanuma wyee ay, nanuma ♪ ♪ Nanuma wyee ay, nanuma ♪ ♪ Nanuma wyee ay, nanuma ♪ ♪ Nanuma wyee ay, nanuma ♪ ♪ Nanuma wyee ay, nanuma ♪ ♪ Nanuma wyee ay, nanuma ♪ ♪ Nanuma wyee ay, nanuma ♪ ♪ Nanuma wyee ay, nanuma ♪ ♪ Nanuma wyee ay, nanuma ♪ ♪ Nanuma wyee ay, nanuma ♪ ♪ Nanuma wyee ay, nanuma ♪ ♪ Nanuma wyee ay, nanuma ♪ ♪ Nanuma wyee ay, nanuma ♪ ♪ Nanuma wyee ay, nanuma ♪ ♪ Nanuma wyee ay, nanuma ♪ ♪ Nanuma wyee ay, nanuma ♪ ♪ Nanuma wyee ay, nanuma ♪ <v ->Lovely.

</v> And if you'd like to, you can pause and do that again.

Otherwise let's carry on.

I'm interested to know how singing makes you feel together that time, because you were doing something possibly a bit more ambitious.

You're singing in a round.

Did it make you feel more proud?

What might it be?

Have a pause and just a quick chat to see if there was anything different that time.

Nice.

I wonder if you were able to explain what it was that singing together that time made you feel something a bit different.

Jun suggests, "I loved was hearing the sound of the two parts layered together.

" There is something really pleasant about hearing harmony happen.

Sounds lovely, and when you're making it yourself, you feel quite proud of that.

And it sounds good.

Sam says, "I felt connected to my group.

" And then Sam explains, "We needed to listen to each other carefully to succeed.

" So that idea of really tuning in with each other kind of connects you as well.

Brilliant work everyone.

Very well done.

The second learning cycle in today's lesson is read and notate do, mi, so.

Here we go.

We're gonna sing and play "Sorida.

" and we know that singing and playing together can make us feel good.

There is the So for our high pitch, the Mi for our middle pitch on ri, and Do for da.

Okay.

I'll pop the video on so you can see.

And then I'd like you to pause and sing and play "Sorida" where you are.

Here it comes.

♪ Ready, steady, off we go.

♪ ♪ Sorida ♪ ♪ Sorida ♪ ♪ Rida, rida ♪ ♪ Sorida ♪ ♪ Sorida ♪ ♪ Rida, rida ♪ ♪ Da, da, da ♪ ♪ Da, da, da ♪ ♪ Rida, rida ♪ ♪ Da, da, da ♪ ♪ Da, da, da ♪ ♪ Rida, rida ♪ <v ->There we go.

</v> Pause here and sing and play that way you are.

Great stuff.

We can also sing "Sorida" with hand signs, so we can use those hand signs to keep us in tune as well.

So pause here and sing this time using the hand signs for each pitch you are singing of the ♪ Sorida ♪ Off you go.

Did you get it right?

Let's have a check.

So we have our ♪ Sorida ♪ or ♪ So mi do ♪ And then it carries on.

♪ Mi do, mi do ♪ for ♪ Rida, rida ♪ And then you get lots of the do that's repeated.

And then we get the mi do, mi do again for rida, rida.

If you manage to sign all of that, that is super, really well done.

So do, our root note, can be sung at any pitch.

And when we change do, mi and so change too.

I'd like you to listen to so and mi follow as do rises one step at a time.

Have a listen and you'll hear what I mean.

♪ Do mi so ♪ ♪ Do mi so ♪ ♪ Do mi so ♪ ♪ Do mi so ♪ ♪ Do mi so ♪ ♪ Do mi so ♪ <v ->Great.

</v> So now that we've heard it, you're gonna have a go.

Remember you're gonna take a nice calm breath with relaxed shoulders before each phrase and create a blended choral sound.

So not lots of individual voices, but blended in your class where you are.

You're going to sign as you sing.

So we have do mi and so.

Okay?

So wherever do is, mi and so will follow.

You hear the key it's played in and then you follow along with the singer each time.

Are you ready?

Here comes the track.

♪ Do mi so ♪ ♪ Do mi so ♪ ♪ Do mi so ♪ ♪ Do mi so ♪ ♪ Do mi so ♪ ♪ Do mi so ♪ <v ->Very good indeed.

</v> Now we're gonna sing, "As I Was Walking by the Lake.

" Now this is quite a silly song.

The lyrics don't make the most wonderful amount of sense.

"I met a little rattlesnake, I gave him so much jelly cake.

" I don't know what jelly cake is.

I would like some.

But we're gonna sing this lightly, full of joy.

But we're still balancing the sound.

Pause here, have a sing and then let's see how you feel.

Off you go.

Great.

And when you sang it, can you identify those high, middle, and low pitches?

The song starts on the middle pitch.

This time on the mi.

You're gonna choose an action.

And your action is gonna represent each pitch.

So there's three on the screen.

For the lowest one, for do, we touch our toes.

For the mi, touching our thighs, and for so, touching our shoulders.

Okay, quickly just check you've got an action.

Keep to that one or just quickly choose your own with a low, medium, and high.

So showing the pitch really clearly in our bodies and not just with our hands.

Have a pause.

Make sure you've got that.

Great.

So your actions might've looked like this if we start on the mi with our hands on our thighs.

♪ As I was walking by the lake ♪ ♪ I met a little rattlesnake.

♪ Alright, and then it carries on.

So we can see starting on the mi.

♪ I gave him so much jelly cake ♪ Delicious.

♪ It made his little bellyache ♪ I would like you to sing the song using your pitch actions.

Now off you go.

All right, well done.

We are gonna use a finger stave.

This means I've got five fingers on this hand, and each one is representing a line of a stave.

The wonderful thing about it in between each line is a space.

Why don't you follow along with me.

We're gonna find out where so is.

There's the first space, there's the second space.

Ah, the third one here.

So is gonna go here.

So, so is there, and mi and do are also in spaces on this stave too.

We've put do here for this one.

So we've got so, mi, do.

Rattlesnake, that bit of the song, all sung in one pitch in the second part.

♪ Mi, mi, mi ♪ And jelly cake.

♪ Jelly cake ♪ Is ♪ so, so, mi ♪ So you can see where the spaces are.

I can see it on the screen if I'm looking at that five-line stave where so, mi, and do have been placed, and I can use my fingers to help me too.

Okay, I'm gonna show you three different notations.

One of them is the correct way of notating the pitches in bellyache.

Okay, here's the first one, A.

That little symbol that you can see on the left shows us where do has been put on this five-line stave.

It doesn't have to be there, but for those five lines, it's there in that space.

So is it A: so mi do?

Or is it B: mi mi do?

Or is it C: so so mi?

It might help you to think where in my body did I place those when I was singing?

And I'd like you to point to which one you think is the correct one.

Is it A, B, or C?

Which notation shows bellyache?

I wonder if you're all pointing at the same one because the answer is B.

Oh, I said C, it's B: mi mi do.

Well done if you got that right.

Absolutely fabulous.

Now the song is in two-time, which means the feel of the beat goes like this: One, two, one, two, one, two, one, two.

Bit like marching.

Okay?

It has an upbeat as well, which means the first strong beat isn't on the very first word "As", it falls "I.

" Listen.

One, two, one.

♪ As I was walking ♪ So the first word, "As," isn't on the strong beat, otherwise it would sound ♪ As I was walking ♪ And that doesn't work.

One, two, and ♪ As I was walking ♪ Do you hear the difference?

So I'd like you to tap a gentle beat as you sing, and I'll pop the track on.

And then you'll notice where the strong and weak beats fall and that anacrusis entrance, that bit where we're starting on an upbeat.

Are you ready?

Here comes the track.

♪ Ready, steady, off we go.

♪ ♪ As I was walking by the lake ♪ ♪ I met a little rattlesnake ♪ ♪ I gave him so much jelly cake ♪ ♪ It made his little belly ache ♪ <v ->Now the rhythm in this song</v> just uses the simple ta-di.

Okay?

The upbeat in this song separates ta-di into ta-di, "As I was".

It looks like this.

They're all even note lengths to say the duration is the same.

The "as" doesn't happen on the first beat of the bar as we know it comes before.

So it's got a little hook because it's separated off, and you can see again its other half is there on the last word, on "ache".

So the last bar is half a beat shorter because of the upbeat at the beginning.

Just have a look and digest that.

You can see the two beats in the bar.

It's got the two in the heart.

So, one, two, one, as I was walking.

And you can see if you follow that they're all even notes.

And the last one, "bellyache," finishes there.

On a stave, the first line reads like this.

This shows us the pitch of each note.

So if we imagined our five-line stave we're starting here, as I was walking by the lake, I met a little rattlesnake.

We can see with our bars: one and two and one and two and met a little, one, two.

So you can feel those two beats in each bar.

So quick check for you, which stave notation shows the correct second phrase?

I would like you to look at A, and then I would like you to look at B, and I'd like you to tell me which one of these is correct.

Have a careful look.

Read them to the end.

Maybe it helps you to think where you were putting your pitch actions earlier.

If you think it is A, point to A.

If you think B, point to B, because the answer is B.

Very well done.

Now the stave notation there, the "so much," "gave me so much" is wrong.

We can see where those mistakes are.

Jelly written on the same.

And then "ache" does not go down to the do at the end.

So they're the three mistakes that you may have spotted.

So your last task then, you're gonna notate the song, "As I Was Walking by the Lake".

Now we've started, some of it's there to help you.

The way you're gonna successfully do this is you remember that they're in the spaces, do, mi, and so in the spaces.

You might use your pitch actions to help you remember, and singing it in your mind before you write them down.

Remember they are all those ta-di rhythms.

Okay?

So pause here and complete that where you are.

Fantastic.

Let's see if you've notated your song accurately.

Are all your note heads, they're the bottom of each note, are they in the spaces and not in the lines?

Have you beamed them together where you've joined those two notes, ta-di, neatly together?

And are all your notes evenly spaced out and easy to read?

If they are, fantastic.

Really well done.

This is how your notation should look.

So you can check on the screen, you can pause it and compare to yours and see if you've been successful.

Pause here so you can check your own work.

Off you go.

Great work, everyone.

That's all we have time for for today.

A summary of our learning.

Singing helps release happy hormones in our body, and that makes us feel good.

Singing is good for our health, improves our lung capacity, and helps improve our memory too.

Hand signs and pitch actions can help us understand the shape of a melody and sing it in tune, as well as being able to write it down.

Do, mi, and so are what we could call copycats.

So they're all either on lines or they'll all be in a space when their written on stave notation.

Brilliant work today.

Fantastic singing.

Fantastic notating.

You've worked super hard.

I look forward to seeing you next time.

Bye for now.