Lesson video

(no audio) <v ->Hi, everyone.

</v> My name is Mrs. Steele, and I'm going to be guiding you through your music lesson today, where we're going to be learning about fusing and layering rhythmic patterns.

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

So, if you haven't already done so, please press pause to find those listening examples now.

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

Now that everybody's ready, let's get started together.

By the end of today's lesson, you'll have learnt and combined different syncopated rhythms derived from different musical styles.

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

Fusion, the process of blending two or more different musical styles, genres, or traditions to create a new distinct sound.

Clave rhythm, a rhythmic pattern used widely in Latin music.

Latin music, music from Latin America, Spain, Portugal, and the Latino population in North America, and music sung in Spanish or Portuguese.

Soca music, an upbeat dance focused music genre that is a modern evolution of Calypso music.

And syncopation, rhythms that emphasize the offbeat or rhythms that emphasize the beats that are usually weaker.

But first, we know how important it is to warm up before each and every music lesson.

We need to make sure our voices, our bodies, and our minds are ready to make music.

Warming and gently stretching our vocal cords helps us to prevent injury to the voice and it develops our vocal strength.

Warmups are a great opportunity to rehearse lots of other musical skills too, like singing and listening skills.

Sequence your whole body, breathing, and voice warmups, so that you're ready for singing.

Now, join in with these warmups to warm up your voice and practice articulating words clearly.

The first one is "One, One, Two, One".

Here comes the music.

Join in.

("One, One, Two, One") ♪ One, one, two, one ♪ ♪ One, two, three, two, one ♪ ♪ One, two, three, four, three, two, one ♪ ♪ One, two, three, four, five, four, three, two, one ♪ ♪ One, two, three, four, five, six, ♪ ♪ Five, four, three, two, one ♪ ♪ One, two, three, four, five, six, seven ♪ ♪ Six, five, four, three, two, one ♪ ♪ One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, ♪ ♪ Seven, six, five, four, three, two, one ♪ ♪ Eight, eight, seven, eight ♪ ♪ Eight, seven, six, seven, eight ♪ ♪ Eight, seven, six, five, six, seven, eight ♪ ♪ Eight, seven, six, five, four, five, six, seven, eight ♪ ♪ Eight, seven, six, five, four, three, ♪ ♪ Four, five, six, seven, eight ♪ ♪ Eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two ♪ ♪ Three, four, five, six, seven, eight ♪ ♪ Eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one ♪ ♪ Two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight ♪ <v ->Now let's remind ourselves of our new song,</v> "Don't Let Fusion Cause Confusion".

Here comes the music.

Join in.

("Don't Let Fusion Cause Confusion") ♪ Don't let fusion cause confusion ♪ ♪ It is just a blend of styles ♪ ♪ Mixing sounds from different places ♪ ♪ Traveling over many miles ♪ ♪ It can be a rhythmic pattern ♪ ♪ Instrumental special scale ♪ ♪ Driving new ideas in music ♪ ♪ Always fresh and never stale ♪ ♪ Take a rhythm from South America ♪ ♪ Mix it with a scale that comes from Southern India ♪ ♪ Soca beat from Trinidad ♪ ♪ Soca beat from Trinidad ♪ ♪ Mix it with a baseline from Argentinian tango song ♪ ♪ Don't let fusion cause confusion ♪ ♪ It is just a blend of styles ♪ ♪ Mixing sounds from different places ♪ ♪ Traveling over many miles ♪ ♪ It can be a rhythmic pattern ♪ ♪ Instrumental special scale ♪ ♪ Driving new ideas in music ♪ ♪ Always fresh and never stale ♪ <v ->Let's take a moment to check</v> that you're ready for music making.

Check that you've got a relaxed singing posture and that your voice feels warm and ready to sing.

Let's begin by learning about Latin fusion.

We're going to dive into our first listening example now.

This one's called, "Oye Como Va" by Santana, and it's an example of fusion music.

It mixes the Afro-Cuban cha-cha-cha style of Tito Puente and Carlos Santana's rock sound.

Santana changed the music by adding electric guitar, Hammond organ, and a rock drum kit too.

This gives the song a stronger beat and a louder, more energetic feel, while still keeping those lively Latin rhythms underneath.

Press pause to find and listen to this listening example and probably have a bit of a boogie as you listen.

It's hard not to.

I'll see you in a bit.

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

"Oye Como Va" is fusion music, blending Afro-Cuban cha-cha-cha with, A, ragtime, B, rock, C, reggae, or D, R&amp;B.

Press pause to choose your answer.

Here comes the answer.

It's B.

Well done.

It blends the Afro-Cuban cha-cha-cha with rock music.

Syncopated layered rhythms, a feature of Latin music, are a powerful part of "Oye Como Va"'s musical fusion.

Here, we can see rhythms layered from a guiro, cowbell, shakers, and claves.

Have a listen to what all of these syncopated rhythms sound like when they're layered together.

(percussive music) (percussive music continues) (percussive music continues) Let's zoom in on one of those rhythms in particular now, the clave rhythm, which is found in Cuban, Latin, and African influenced music.

The pattern is syncopated so the second strike places emphasis on the offbeat that you can see with the purple arrow here.

The term clave, Spanish for keystone, or in Spanish, they say claves, refers to two hardwood sticks used to play a repeated rhythm and the actual rhythmic pattern itself.

So this clave rhythm is like the musical key that holds Afro-Cuban and Latin songs together.

Let's listen to it and learn how to play it.

If you've got claves, you could play it on those or you could use body percussion instead.

Listen carefully to the clave rhythm, then press pause to try it where you are, and you could join in with the audio track if you'd like to do it that way.

(claves clicking) (claves clicking continues) (claves clicking continues) Let's look at another one of the rhythms now played on the guiro.

The guiro is held vertically in the left hand while the right hand scrapes the rhythm with a small stick.

As you play the rhythm, your left and right hand should move in opposite directions to get the best sound.

The rhythm is Ta Ta-di, Ta Ta-di.

Listen to the track and learn how to play the guiro rhythm.

Here it comes.

Then press pause to try it where you are or join in with the track if you'd like to.

(guiro music) (guiro music continues) (guiro music continues) <v ->The next rhythm is played on the cowbell.

</v> The cowbell is held in the left hand with a mouth, the open part of the bell, pointing away from you.

Play on the rim of the mouth to get a nice open sound.

The rhythm's nice and simple.

It's Ta Ta Ta Ta.

Listen to the track to learn how to play it.

You could play it on a cowbell if you have some of those or use body percussion if you don't.

Listen carefully and learn how to play the cowbell rhythm.

(cowbell clangs) (cowbell clangs continues) (cowbell clangs continues) (cowbell clangs continues) The final rhythm is played by the maracas or shakers.

They come in all sorts of different shapes and sizes, and I expect you've got some where you are.

The aim is to make an even sound without the contents of the shaker rattling around.

Moving your hand forwards and backwards in time with the rhythm is the way to get the best sound.

The rhythm is a nice simple Ta-di Ta-di Ta-di Ta-di.

So if we're moving our hand backwards and forwards, it will look like this.

(Instructor shushing) Listen to the rhythm on the maracas or shakers, then press pause to play it where you are.

(maracas shaking) (maracas shaking continues) (maracas shaking continues) It's time for a check-in with our learning.

I've got four audio clips here and four rhythms. Can you match each audio clip to its rhythm? I'll play all of them and then I'll let you know all of the answers at the end.

Here comes rhythm A.

(guiro music) Can you match up rhythm B? (cowbell music) And which rhythm can we hear in C? (maracas music) And finally, here's D, match this one.

(claves clack) Are you ready? Here come the answers.

Here was rhythm A, B, C, and D.

Well done if you've got all of those right.

Great listening.

Now it's about time we did some exciting music making.

Using the "Oye Come Va" by Santana clip as a rhythmic foundation, layer all of these Latin rhythms creating a thick texture under the song.

So split into groups.

Some of you will play the guiro rhythm, some the cowbell rhythm, some the shaker's rhythm, and some that keystone claves rhythm.

Press pause to find "Oye Como Va" and play all of these rhythms creating a thick texture under the song.

How did it go? Some of our Oak pupils tried that challenge too.

Andeep says, "The syncopated percussion gives the music "a certain feel and it's part of the fusion of styles "in the music." Izzy says, "It was important to listen carefully to the beat "and keep a very steady pulse." That's true, especially with all those layers working together.

And Sofia really liked that layered sound.

She thought it was really effective.

You might want to press pause to share your ideas about how your performance went or think about them in your thinking voice.

Now let's move on to learning about fusing two rhythmic styles.

Here's our next listening example.

This one's called "Like Ah Boss", and it's by Machel Montano.

The fast carnival rhythms and call and response singing in this music come from the Caribbean soca, but the big bass drops and electronic sounds come from modern dance music.

So it's fusion music, both rooted in Trinidad carnival and modern dance music too.

Press pause to find and listen to this listening example and see what you think.

Soca music itself is a fusion music and it combines melodies, song structures, and storytelling from Calypso music from Trinidad and Tobago.

Percussion instruments such as the dhol and tabla, and sometimes the decorated melodic elements from Indian folk music and layered syncopated rhythms, as well as call and response singing structures from West Africa.

And Machel Montano helped bring soca music to a global audience by fusing it with yet more musical styles and performing it internationally.

It's time for another check-in with our learning.

Who do you agree with? Jacob says, "All traditional music stays the same forever "and only modern music evolves." Laura says, "Music never stays the same.

"It changes over time as musicians add new ideas "and try new sounds." Press pause to decide together who you agree with and why.

Did you decide you agreed with Laura? I do.

Music we hear today, in any style, has been shaped by many people over time, so music is always growing, mixing, changing, and evolving.

In our listening example, "Like Ah Boss", the soca rhythm drives the music.

Soca rhythms are defined by a high energy syncopated beat that sounds dance like and celebratory.

Listen to this drum kit play in the style of soca.

(drum music) (drum music continues) (drum music continues) The soca drum kit groove has a fast beat with a driving kick drum, offbeat high hats, and a syncopated snare drum pattern.

Let's listen again.

This time, feel the beat.

(drum music) (drum music continues) (drum music continues) Let's squeeze in another quick check-in with our learning.

True or false? Latin and soca rhythms are the same.

Do you think that's true? Show me a thumbs up or false, thumbs down.

It's false.

Well done if you knew that.

Latin and soca rhythms have different origins and have developed into two different rhythmic styles.

They're not the same.

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

We're going to create a rhythmic fusion by performing Latin rhythms over the soca drum kit beat.

Start by playing each rhythm with the soca beat.

Try that with the guiro rhythm, the cowbell rhythm, the shaker's rhythm, and the claves rhythm individually.

And there's an audio button for each one of those rhythms if you need a reminder of how they sound.

Then when you are ready, you can split into groups and play all of those layers at the same time over the soca rhythm to create your rhythmic fusion.

If you are ready for the ultimate challenge, there's a faster version of the soca drum kit beat two for you to try.

You are going to want to do this at your own pace where you are, so it's time to press pause and try that musical challenge where you are, using whichever of the audio buttons you need to support.

Good luck and have fun.

Hi again.

How did it go? Some of the Oak pupils had a go at this challenge too.

Izzy says, "The combination of the two styles gave the music "a different feel and created a new sound.

"It was upbeat and fun." Laura's remembered that, "Fusion music "is when two musical styles are combined like this," and Jun says, "It took a few goes to make sure the pulse "of the Latin percussion was really secure." I expect that happened with you too.

A challenge like this can take a lot of practice.

If you'd like to, you could press pause now to share your ideas about how your performance went.

We've come to the end of our lesson together today, but before we go, let's take a moment to think about everything we've been learning.

We know that fusion music is a genre that deliberately combines two or more existing musical styles to create a new sound.

And we know that the clave is a rhythmic pattern found in Cuban, Latin, and other African influenced music, and we've played that rhythm today too.

We know that layered syncopated rhythms are a feature of Latin music and that the soca rhythm is a fast-paced, highly syncopated beat that forms the foundation of soca music.

And we know that soca is an upbeat dance focused music genre that's a fusion of Calypso, Indian folk, and West African musical traditions.

Great musical learning this time everyone.

I'm looking forward to seeing you sometime soon to guide you through another music lesson.

Bye everyone.

(no audio).