Lesson video

Hello again, everyone, it's me, Mrs. Steele, and I'm here to guide you through another music lesson today.

But before we begin, as always in this unit, there are some listening examples that don't feature in today's video.

If you haven't already done so, you'll need to take a moment to find those examples now as we'll need them today.

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.

Now that we have everything we need, let's get started together.

By the end of today's lesson, you'll be able to select and combine musical ideas and work effectively as part of an ensemble to create a fusion piece.

Here are the keywords 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.

Practice: to deliberately make an effort to improve musical skills.

And structure: the way the music is organized.

But first, we know how this works now.

We need to warm up our voices, our minds, and our bodies.

We need to make sure that we gently warm and stretch our vocal cords to prevent injury to our voice, and to develop our vocal strength.

Sequence your whole body, breathing and voice warm-ups so that you're ready to make music.

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

We know these really well now.

let's start with one, one, two, one (melodic music) ♪ One, one, two, one ♪ ♪ One, one, two, one ♪ ♪ One, two, three, two, one ♪ ♪ One, two, three, two, one ♪ ♪ One, two, three, four ♪ ♪ One, two, three, four ♪ ♪ Three, two, one ♪ ♪ Three, two, one ♪ ♪ One, two, three, four ♪ ♪ One, two, three, four ♪ ♪ Five, four, three, two, one ♪ ♪ Five, four, three, two, one ♪ ♪ One, two, three ♪ ♪ One, two, three ♪ ♪ Four, five, six ♪ ♪ Four, five, six ♪ ♪ Five, four, three, two, one ♪ ♪ Five, four, three, two, one ♪ ♪ One, two, three ♪ ♪ One, two, three ♪ ♪ Four, five, six, seven ♪ ♪ Four, five, six, seven ♪ ♪ Six, five, four ♪ ♪ Six, five, four ♪ ♪ Three, two, one ♪ ♪ Three, two, one ♪ ♪ One, two, three, four ♪ ♪ One, two, three, four ♪ ♪ Five, six, seven, eight ♪ ♪ Five, six, seven, eight ♪ ♪ Seven, six, five, four ♪ ♪ Seven, six, five, four ♪ ♪ Three, two, one ♪ ♪ Three, two, one ♪ <v ->Now we'll start with number three.

</v> (melodic music) ♪ One, one, two, one ♪ ♪ One, one, two, one ♪ ♪ One, two, two, one ♪ ♪ One, two, two, one ♪ ♪ One, two, four, two, one ♪ ♪ One, two, four, two, one ♪ ♪ One, two, four, five, four ♪ ♪ One, two, four, five, four ♪ ♪ Two, one ♪ ♪ Two, one ♪ ♪ One, two, four, five, six ♪ ♪ One, two, four, five, six ♪ ♪ Five, four, two, one ♪ ♪ Five, four, two, one ♪ ♪ One, two, four, five, six ♪ ♪ One, two, four, five, six ♪ ♪ Seven, six, five, four ♪ ♪ Seven, six, five, four ♪ ♪ Two, one ♪ ♪ Two, one ♪ ♪ One, two, four, five, six ♪ ♪ One, two, four, five, six ♪ ♪ Seven, eight, seven, six ♪ ♪ Seven, eight, seven, six ♪ ♪ Five, four, two, one ♪ ♪ Five, four, two, one ♪ <v ->Now join in with "Don't Let Fusion Cause Confusion."</v> Here's the music for you.

(upbeat music) ♪ 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 bassline from Argentinian tango song ♪ (upbeat music) ♪ 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 ->Check that you're ready for music.

</v> Make sure you've got a relaxed singing posture and that your voice feels warm and ready to sing.

We're going to start by selecting sounds to create a fusion piece.

We know that fusion music forms a deliberate and new synthesis of styles.

Let's listen to contrasting examples of fusion and order them in preference of those you most like to those that you least like.

To choose from, I've got four of our listening examples here that we already know.

Press pause to listen to each one in turn and then order them from those that you most like to those that you least like.

A personal preference isn't considered right or wrong morally is it? It's a subjective feeling based on how the music makes you feel, so there's no right or wrong answer.

What did you like about your favorite fusion performance? Perhaps you liked the upbeat and lively rhythms, or you may have liked how the melody is made more interesting by adding extra notes.

You could press pause now to share what you liked most about your favorite example of fusion from our listening examples.

Remember, there's no right or wrong answer here.

It's whatever your opinion is.

Press pause to share your ideas now, or you could think about them in your own thinking voice.

The fusion warm-up song, "Don't Let Fusion Cause Confusion," deliberately blends different musical styles.

We know this song really well now.

Listen to the musical styles and influences in the warm-up song.

Let's start by listening to the Son clave rhythm.

(rhythmic beat) (bright rhythmic music) Now listen to the soca rhythm.

(rhythmic beat) (rhythmic music) And finally listen to the tango melody.

(bright music) Salsa and the Son clave rhythm come from Cuba.

Soca comes from Trinidad and Tobago, and tango comes from Argentina and Uruguay, so all of these three things influence our piece, "Don't Let Fusion Cause Confusion." It's your turn now to try playing each of these.

Play the tango melody on pitched percussion, the soca rhythm on drums, and the Son clave pattern on claves.

You're going to want to practice each one of these at your own pace where you are, so press pause to listen to the audio button of each one, and try playing each one for yourselves.

Good luck and I'll see you soon.

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

Match these styles of music to the countries from which they originate.

Press pause to try that musical challenge together and meet me back here for the answers.

Could you match each one? Here are the answers.

Tango comes from Argentina and Uruguay.

Soca comes from Trinidad and Tobago, and salsa comes from Cuba.

Well done if you worked out all of those.

Let's put all of that together now and play the three parts with the backing track as a class ensemble.

Let's take a look at our steps for success before you begin.

You'll be successful if you listen carefully to the backing track and each other to keep a steady pulse whilst playing together.

Make sure that you balance your parts so that you can hear all the different layers of the texture, and make sure that you feel the different rhythms and influences working together as you create something new as a class ensemble.

I'll show you the slide that you're going to need to complete this task.

Here we go.

Press pause to try that musical challenge where you are and play the three parts with the backing track as a class ensemble.

Now let's move on to combining sounds and structuring a fusion piece.

Throughout this unit, we've practiced lots of different musical ideas from different musical styles.

We've explored the soca rhythm, Latin percussion, rhythmic cells inspired by afrobeat, melodic riffs inspired by horn riffs in jazz, and tango melodies too.

Now, you're going to work together in small groups to combine some of these ideas to create your own fusion piece.

Begin by practicing your Latin percussion parts.

Decide whether you're going to start all together or layer each part in turn, and remember to choose a leader to set the tempo and count you all in.

Press pause to try practicing your Latin percussion parts now, and remember, you could refer back to the audio buttons if you need a reminder of how each one goes.

Now, let's practice the soca rhythm.

Use two different body percussion sounds or a high and low drum to create the effect of the kick and snare drum sounds.

Remember to keep a steady pulse as you play.

Your leader could help you with that.

Press pause to practice the soca rhythm.

Now, practice your syncopated rhythmic cell.

If you don't have one, you could use one of these examples, or you could create one now.

Remember that syncopated rhythms emphasize weaker beats or the in-between beats.

Press pause to practice your syncopated rhythmic cell.

Now, practice your melodic riff, and we created this by adding some pitches to your syncopated rhythm.

Remember, we chose two or three notes from these notes, D is the tonic or home note.

Remember to make the first and last note of your riff the same, and make the fourth repeat of your riff slightly different.

Press pause to practice your melodic riff.

Here's a reminder that in jazz music, you might hear improvised melodies, syncopated rhythms, and sometimes long, short swing rhythms, instruments taking turns to play solos, calls and responses between different instruments, and sometimes notes are bent or played in a way that makes them sound expressive.

You might like to incorporate one of these ideas into your piece.

The tango melody is from our warm-up song and is played in the backing track.

Listen to the backing track again.

This will form the accompaniment to your fusion piece.

Here it comes.

(bright rhythmic music) (bright rhythmic music continues) (bright rhythmic music continues) (bright rhythmic music continues) Now you're going to work in small groups to create a fusion piece, using the musical ideas inspired by different styles of music.

Experiment with different ideas together, and decide as a group which ideas you'll use in your final piece.

Remember to decide how you will structure your ideas to make your piece.

Here are some other important things to consider.

How will you start? How will you add some contrasts to make the piece more exciting? And how will you finish? Use the backing track to help you to develop your piece.

Remember to work as a team, listen carefully to each other's ideas, and make decisions together as an ensemble.

Finally, this is an important bit: Remember to make some notes or record your ideas on a tablet or something similar.

This will make sure that you don't forget them, so that you've got them to refine and rehearse for a performance at a later date.

Press pause to try that big musical challenge now and start to create your fusion piece with your ensemble.

Good luck.

Let's take a moment to reflect on your work so far.

Have you decided which ideas you're going to use? Have you all agreed on a structure for your piece? And are you working together well? Have you recorded all of your ideas for later so that you don't forget them? You might like to press pause now to share the answers to these questions, or make any little changes that you need to.

That's it for today, but before we go, let's take a moment to reflect on everything that we've been learning.

We know that different people might have different ideas of what works well in a fusion performance because everyone responds to music in different ways.

We know that fusion music forms a deliberate and new synthesis of styles, and finally, we know that experimenting, developing, and rejecting ideas is a crucial part of the artistic journey of creating a piece, and you've been on that artistic journey today as you create your own fusion piece with your ensemble.

Well done, everyone.

I can't wait to see you again soon for another music lesson.

Bye.