Lesson video

Hello musicians.

It's me again, Mrs. Steele, and I'll be guiding you through another music lesson today.

Today we'll be learning more about playing the D minor pentatonic scale.

By the end of today's lesson, you'll be able to play the ascending and descending minor pentatonic scale and know that this scale is used as the framework for jazz improvisation.

Here are the keywords that will be important in our learning today.

Syncopation, rhythms that emphasize the offbeat.

Offbeat, weak beats or notes between the bars.

Swing rhythm, where the rhythm ta-di is divided into unequal parts, creating a long-short pattern.

Improvisation, creative in the moment, musical composition, and, finally, minor pentatonic scale.

The five notes, la, do, re, mi, and so arranged in an ascending or descending order.

But first, we know that it's important to warm up our bodies, voices and minds before every music lesson.

We need to warm and stretch our vocal chords safely and gently to prevent injury to our voice and develop our vocal strength.

And the added important bonus is that warmups give us a chance to develop many other musical skills too, including singing and playing as part of an ensemble.

Let's sequence your whole body breathing and voice warmups to prepare you for music.

We'll join in with these warmups to develop our sense of pulse and call and response singing.

Start off by joining in with this clapping exercise.

Here's the video.

♪ Ready, steady, off we go ♪ ♪ One, two, three, four ♪ (footsteps tapping) ♪ One, two, three, four ♪ (footsteps tapping) ♪ One, two, three, four ♪ (footsteps tapping) ♪ Clap on number one ♪ ♪ One, two, three, four ♪ (hands clapping) ♪ One, two, three, four ♪ (hands clapping) ♪ One, two, three, four ♪ (hands clapping) ♪ Clap on number two ♪ (hands clapping) ♪ One, two, three, four ♪ (hands clapping) ♪ One, two, three, four ♪ (hands clapping) ♪ One, two, three, four ♪ (hands clapping) ♪ Clap on number three ♪ (hands clapping) ♪ One, two, three, four ♪ (hands clapping) ♪ One, two, three, four ♪ (hands clapping) ♪ One, two, three, four ♪ (hands clapping) ♪ Clap on number four ♪ (hands clapping) ♪ One, two, three, four ♪ (hands clapping) ♪ One, two, three, four ♪ (hands clapping) ♪ One, two, three, four ♪ (hands clapping) ♪ One, two, three, four ♪ (hands clapping) <v ->And now join in with the telephone song.

</v> Watch this video to see how it works, and then press pause to try it where you are and you can use the video or audio button to help you with this.

First, here's the video.

♪ One, two, three ♪ ♪ Hey Sam ♪ ♪ I think I hear my name ♪ ♪ Hey, Sam ♪ ♪ I think I hear it again ♪ ♪ You're wanted on the telephone ♪ ♪ If it's not Jacob I'm not at home ♪ ♪ We're ric-tic-tickety-tic, oh yeah ♪ ♪ We're ric-tic-tickety-tic ♪ ♪ Hey Jacob ♪ ♪ I think I hear my name ♪ ♪ Hey Jacob ♪ ♪ I think I hear it again ♪ ♪ You're wanting on the telephone ♪ ♪ If it's not Laura, I'm not at home ♪ ♪ We're ric-tic-tickety-tic, oh yeah ♪ ♪ We're ric-tic-tickety-tic ♪ ♪ Hey Laura ♪ ♪ I think I hear my name ♪ ♪ Hey Laura ♪ ♪ I think I hear it again.

♪ ♪ You're wanted on the telephone ♪ ♪ If it's not Sophia, I'm not at home ♪ ♪ We're ric-tic-tickety-tic, oh yeah ♪ ♪ We're ric-tic-tickety-tic ♪ ♪ Hey, Sophia ♪ ♪ I think I hear my name ♪ ♪ Hey, Sophia ♪ ♪ I think I hear it again ♪ ♪ You're wanted on the telephone ♪ ♪ If it's not Izzy, I'm not at home ♪ ♪ We're ric-tic-tickety-tic, oh yeah ♪ ♪ We're ric-tic-tickety-tic ♪ ♪ Hey Izzy ♪ ♪ I think I hear my name ♪ ♪ Hey Izzy ♪ ♪ I think I hear it again ♪ ♪ You're wanted on the telephone ♪ <v ->Let's check that you're ready for music.

</v> Do you have a relaxed singing posture and does your voice feel warm and ready to sing? Great, let's start.

We're going to begin by learning about jazzy rhythms. Jazz often makes use of syncopated offbeat rhythms. Listen to the song Five Notes in a Pentatonic.

You might like to gently hum along too, as we've heard this song before.

As you listen, clap on the offbeats or weak beats, two and four.

Here comes the music.

(fun piano jazz music) ♪ Five notes in a pentatonic ♪ ♪ We go up and we go down ♪ ♪ Five notes in a pentatonic ♪ ♪ What a pattern we have found ♪ ♪ We can improvise, make our own tunes ♪ ♪ We can play what we want ♪ ♪ Starting at the bottom ♪ ♪ Then we move up to the top ♪ ♪ And hear the notes become the same as before ♪ ♪ Five notes in a pentatonic ♪ ♪ We go up and we go down ♪ ♪ Five notes in a pentatonic ♪ ♪ What a pattern we have found ♪ <v ->Five notes in a pentatonic is a jazzy number</v> that uses only the notes of the minor pentatonic scale.

Your next challenge is to try singing it using the backing track.

Here comes the music.

It's your turn to sing.

(fun piano jazz music) (fun piano jazz music continues) (fun piano jazz music continues) The song uses some syncopated rhythms and that contributes to its jazzy feel.

This syncopation adds extra emphasis to some of the lyrics.

Listen to the song again and gently tap the rhythm.

Can you spot some syncopated rhythms as you do this? This time, gently tap the rhythm.

Hello again.

Did you spot any of the syncopated rhythms? Perhaps you spotted ♪ Five notes in a pentatonic ♪ or maybe ♪ We go up and we go down.

♪ Well done If you spotted those.

Jazz musicians also often use a swing rhythm.

This is when ta-di is no longer played as two equal halves.

Instead, it becomes a longer note followed by a shorter note.

Let's compare some straight and swing rhythms. Listen to this example of a straight rhythm.

(drumsticks tapping) (drumsticks tapping) (drumsticks tapping) Now listen to the swing rhythms. Can you hear the difference? (drumsticks tapping) (drumsticks tapping) (drumsticks tapping) Listen carefully for the swing rhythm in the song Five Notes in a Pentatonic.

You can hear it most clearly in this part ♪ Starting at the bottom.

♪ ♪ Then we move up to the top ♪ ♪ And hear the notes become the same as before ♪ Listen to the track again.

See if you can spot the swing rhythm, especially in that section.

Now try tapping the melody's rhythm again.

Pay careful attention to the syncopated rhythms and the swing rhythms too.

These helped give the song its jazzy feel and character.

This time tap the melody's rhythm, The minor pentatonic scale, the syncopated rhythms and the swing rhythms all help to give this song its jazzy feel, but so does your characterful singing.

Using the backing track, now join in with the song, giving a jazzy characterful performance as you sing.

Join in with your characterful singing.

Hello again.

How did you get on? Did you recognize when you were singing syncopated or swung rhythms? Did you add lots of jazzy character to your singing, and did you feel the steady pulse tapping gently on the offbeat as you sang? Now let's move on to learning more about jazzy rhythms in the D minor pentatonic scale, The song Five Notes in A Pentatonic is built on the minor pentatonic scale.

We can sing and sign the minor pentatonic scale to help identify its tonality.

Watch this video and join in.

♪ Ready, steady, ♪ ♪ Off we go ♪ ♪ La, do, re, mi, so ♪ ♪ So, mi, re, do, la ♪ <v ->We know that this song uses the D minor pentatonic scale,</v> and this uses the notes D, F, G, A, and C.

It doesn't use E or B.

It's time to find the five notes needed on your pitched percussion instrument.

Press pause now to find all of the notes you'll need for the D minor pentatonic scale.

Now it's your turn to play the D minor pentatonic scale ascending four times nice and slowly.

When you're playing pitched percussion instruments, it's important to hold the beaters loosely and strike the bar in the middle.

Then, remember to let the beater bounce off.

This will allow the sound to resonate.

Watch this video of two performers doing just that then go back to the beginning of the video when you're ready and you can join in and play too.

Here comes the video.

Watch it first to learn how it goes.

Then play it again so that you can join in ♪ Ready, steady, off we go ♪ (upbeat jazz music) Now let's play the D minor pentatonic scale descending four times slowly, again, watch the video to see how it goes.

Then, when you're ready, go back to the beginning of the video and join in with the performers on your pitched percussion instrument.

♪ Ready, steady, off we go ♪ (upbeat jazz music) <v ->When you're ready, and you're ready for another challenge,</v> you could put all of that together and play the D minor pentatonic scale, ascending, and then descending without stopping.

As you do this, try to maintain a steady pulse and focus on playing the notes as accurately as possible.

Let's watch the musicians undertaking that challenge then you can press pause and try it where you are using the audio button to support you.

Here comes the video, then press pause and use the audio button to try it for yourselves.

♪ Ready, steady ♪ ♪ Off we go ♪ (upbeat jazz music) <v ->Improvisation is the real time spontaneous creation</v> of musical ideas such as improvised melodies and rhythms. Whilst it is spontaneous, when improvising musicians use their understanding of the musical elements such as rhythm, melody, dynamics, and tempo to make sure that they can improvise successfully.

Watch this video of musician Richard Barnard improvising.

What do you notice? (fun jazz music) Did you notice that he uses melodic shapes taken from the song? He makes great use of syncopated rhythms too, and there is a swing rhythm descending phrase at the end.

Well done, if you spotted any or all of those.

It's your turn to improvise now.

We're going to improvise using the D minor pentatonic scale by making changes to your rhythm.

Play the scale ascending and then descending, but try making some changes to the rhythm if you do so.

You could play each new note on the offbeats.

You could play each note of the scale twice with a long-short swing rhythm pattern on each note.

Have a go at this using the backing tracks to support you when you're ready.

Press pause to try your own improvisation using the D minor pentatonic scale.

Use the backing track to support.

Hello again.

How did you get on? Did you play the notes of the scale accurately, ascending or descending, whilst you improvised different rhythms, Did you use the backing track to help you keep to a steady pulse? And were you able to hold the beaters loosely and hit the note in the middle of the bar to really let that sound resonate? Great work, everyone.

Excellent improvisation.

We've reached the end of our lesson together today, all about playing the D minor pentatonic scale.

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

We know that jazz music often uses syncopated and swung rhythms, and we know that the D minor pentatonic scale is made up of the five notes, D, F, G, A, and C.

We know that improvisation means creating new musical ideas in the moment, and the improvisation can mean choosing small changes such as changing from playing on the beat to playing on the offbeat, and you may have done that just now in your own improvisation.

Great musical learning, everyone.

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

Bye everybody.