Lesson video

Hello everyone.

My name is Mrs. Steele.

And I'm excited to be guiding you through your music lesson today.

In today's lesson we'll be learning about syncopated rhythms. Let's go.

By the end of today's lesson, you will be able to play a syncopated rhythmic ostinato using body percussion.

Here are the key words that will be important in our learning together today.

The first one is beat, the playing or showing of the steady pulse like the ticking of a clock.

Rhythmic ostinato, a repeating musical idea created from a rhythmic pattern.

Syncopation, rhythms that emphasize the offbeat.

Body percussion, to make a percussive musical sound with the body.

And finally texture, the combination of different layers of sounds.

We know how important it is to warm up our voices, our bodies, and our minds before every music lesson.

Gently warming and stretching the vocal chords helps us to prevent injury so that we can sing safely, and warming up is a great opportunity to develop our other musical skills too.

Let's complete this unit's warmup cycle so that we are ready for music.

First, we're going to listen to "Ning Wendete" twice.

The first time, we're going to gently tap the beat, feeling that 2-time strong-weak, strong-weak feel.

Then the second time, we're going to gently hum along following the lyrics that you can see here.

Here comes the song.

The first time through, gently tap the beat.

(hands clapping) (rhythmic upbeat music) (rhythmic upbeat music continues) (rhythmic upbeat music continues) (rhythmic upbeat music fading) Now listen again.

This time gently hum along, following the lyrics you can see on the screen as you go.

Let's check that you are ready for music.

Do you have a relaxed singing posture, and does your voice feel warm and ready to sing? Great.

Here we go.

We're going to begin by learning about holding the beat in syncopated songs.

To be able to play and sing together as an ensemble, we need to have a good sense of pulse.

This is especially important when the music uses lots of syncopated rhythms. And Alex is saying that, "Singing games and songs with actions can help us feel the pulse and play the beat in time together." Let's sing "Four White Horses" and tap a gentle beat.

This song has lots of syncopation.

The only lyrics that are not syncopated are the ones you can see on the screen here, everything else is.

Let's sing along and gently tap the beat in "Four White Horses." Here comes the music.

♪ Ready, steady, off we go ♪ ♪ Four white horses on the river ♪ ♪ Hey, hey, hey, up tomorrow ♪ ♪ Up tomorrow is a rainy day ♪ ♪ Come on and join our shadow play ♪ ♪ Shadow play is a ripe banana ♪ ♪ Hey, hey, hey, up tomorrow ♪ ♪ Up tomorrow is a rainy day ♪ <v ->Sing the song again.

</v> Tapping the beat when the rhythm is syncopated and clapping the beat when the rhythm is not syncopated.

This is a tricky challenge.

You can see the purple lyrics on the screen here for when the rhythm is not syncopated.

So we're going to clap there and the black lyrics for when it is syncopated, we are going to tap.

This challenge might take a bit of practice, and you're going to want to do it at your own pace where you are, so you can press pause, use the audio to help you and have a go at this challenge now.

Good luck.

We can turn "Four White Horses" into a really fun group clapping game.

Let's start by watching these movements in this video here.

Have a look carefully.

Then we'll break it down and learn it one phrase at a time.

Here it comes.

(upbeat music) ♪ Ready, steady, off we go ♪ ♪ Four white horses on the river ♪ ♪ Hey, hey, hey, up tomorrow ♪ ♪ Up tomorrow is a rainy day ♪ ♪ Come on and join our shadow play ♪ ♪ Shadow play is a ripe banana ♪ ♪ Hey, hey, hey, up tomorrow ♪ ♪ Up tomorrow is a rainy day ♪ <v ->Okay, let's break that down</v> and learn it one phrase at a time, starting off with ♪ Four white horses on the river ♪ That's high fiving in a circle shape for eight beats.

Press pause to try that part now where you are.

Hi again.

Here are the actions for the next two phrases.

Try pressing pause and practicing those where you are.

And remember you can refer to the video again if you want to see how it works once more.

Press pause and try the actions for these two phrases.

Watch the video again.

What do you notice about the remaining actions in the song? What did you notice? Did you spot that the high and low fives and turning high fives pattern repeats for the rest of the song? So now you can sing and play the whole song.

You know every bit.

Here's another song that we know that uses syncopation, "To Stop The Train." "To Stop The Train" uses syncopation to emphasize key lyrics and it also has an upbeat to stress key lyrics too.

Watch this video to see the actions.

Then press pause to try it where you are.

Remember to emphasize the syncopated phrase, ♪ Pull down the chain ♪ ♪ Pull down the chain ♪ <v ->Watch the actions for "To Stop The Train."</v> Then press pause to try it where you are.

And you could watch the video again and join in if you'd like to do it that way.

♪ Ready, steady, off we go ♪ ♪ To stop the train in cases of emergency ♪ ♪ Pull down the down the chain ♪ ♪ Pull down the chain ♪ ♪ Penalty for improper use five pounds ♪ ♪ To stop the train in cases of emergency ♪ ♪ Pull down the chain ♪ ♪ Pull down the chain ♪ ♪ Penalty for improper use five pounds ♪ <v ->"To Stop The Train" can be sung as a two part round.

</v> A round is a song structure where multiple groups sing the same melody but start at different times.

It creates a pleasing sound and a great fun to sing and also a thicker texture.

Watch and listen to this performance.

Count how many beats are sung before the second voice enters.

Watch and listen carefully.

Here comes "To Stop The Train" as a round.

When does that second voice enter? ♪ Ready, steady, off we go ♪ ♪ To stop the train in cases of emergency ♪ ♪ Pull down the chain ♪ ♪ Pull down the chain ♪ ♪ Penalty for improper use five pounds ♪ ♪ To stop the train in cases of emergency ♪ ♪ Pull down the chain ♪ ♪ To stop the train ♪ ♪ Pull down the chain ♪ ♪ In cases of emergency ♪ ♪ Penalty for improper use ♪ ♪ Pull down the chain ♪ ♪ Pull down the chain ♪ ♪ Five pounds ♪ ♪ Penalty for improper use, five pounds ♪ <v ->Did you count how many beats are sung</v> before the second voice enters? The second voice enters with an upbeat after the eighth beat.

Well done if you spotted that.

Great listening.

Let's watch this video showing "To Stop The Train" as a two part round.

Join in as a whole class with the second entry.

Tap your foot on the offbeat, beats two and four, to help you to keep in time.

Here's the video, join in with the second entry.

♪ Ready, steady off we go ♪ ♪ To stop the train in cases of emergency ♪ ♪ Pull down the chain ♪ ♪ Pull down the chain ♪ ♪ Penalty for improper use, five pounds ♪ ♪ To stop the train in cases of emergency ♪ ♪ Pull down the chain ♪ ♪ To stop the train ♪ ♪ Pull down the chain ♪ ♪ In cases of emergency ♪ ♪ Pull down the chain ♪ ♪ Penalty for improper use ♪ ♪ Pull down the chain ♪ ♪ Five pounds ♪ ♪ Penalty for improper use, five pounds ♪ <v ->Let's try it as a two part round now.

</v> Divide into two groups and decide who will sing with the first entry, and who will sing with the second entry.

Here's a challenge question for you.

When you were tapping your feet on the offbeats, there were only two one syllable words that you sang at exactly the same time as you tapped.

Can you spot which two words are these? Press pause to work out your answer.

And you might want to tap on those offbeats and sing again to check.

Hello again.

Did you spot them? It was "of" and "five." That was a tricky question.

Well done if you spotted that.

You can't see my feet, so I can't tap, I'll clap instead.

♪ to stop the train in cases of emergency ♪ <v ->There's the first one.

</v> And the next one was, ♪ Pull down the chain ♪ ♪ Pull down the chain ♪ ♪ Penalty for improper use, five pounds ♪ <v ->So "of" and "five." Well done if you spotted that.

</v> Now let's learn about adding a syncopated rhythmic ostinato.

Sing the Jamaican folk song, "Mango Walk." This song contains the repeated syncopated phrase, ♪ Go mango walk ♪ <v ->And an upbeat to emphasize key lyrics.

</v> Here comes the music.

Join in.

♪ Off we go ♪ ♪ My mother deed-a tell me that you go mango walk ♪ ♪ You go mango walk, you go mango walk ♪ ♪ My mother deed-a tell me that you go mango walk ♪ ♪ And eat all the number 'leven ♪ (rhythmic upbeat music) ♪ My mother deed-a tell me that you go mango walk ♪ ♪ You go mango walk, you go mango walk ♪ ♪ My mother deed-a tell me that you go mango walk ♪ ♪ And eat all the number 'leven ♪ (rhythmic upbeat music) ♪ My mother deed-a tell me that you go mango walk ♪ ♪ You go mango walk, you go mango walk ♪ ♪ My mother deed-a tell me that you go mango walk ♪ ♪ And eat all the number 'leven ♪ (rhythmic upbeat music) ♪ My mother deed-a tell me that you go mango walk ♪ ♪ You go mango walk, you go mango walk ♪ ♪ My mother deed-a tell me that you go mango walk ♪ ♪ And eat all the number 'leven ♪ (rhythmic upbeat music) <v ->We can add a rhythmic ostinato to this song</v> to create interest and a thicker texture.

Our syncopated repeated phrase would be suitable inspiration for our ostinato.

Let's try chanting this as a whisper on repeat.

It's my turn first, then your turn.

♪ Go mango walk, you ♪ ♪ Go mango walk, you ♪ <v ->Press pause to try chanting that as a whisper</v> on repeat over and over again.

We already know that the beat is ta and the half beat is di.

Notice how in "Mango Walk" the early entry of man means the whole beat now enters on di instead of ta, and this is what makes a syncopated rhythm.

♪ Ta di, di ta ta ♪ <v ->Let's play the song "Mango Walk" twice.

</v> The first time, whisper chant as a class.

♪ Go mango walk you ♪ <v ->Under the song and then the second time</v> you play, whisper chant ♪ Ta di, di ta ta ♪ <v ->Instead, and you've got a bonus question to consider</v> while you do that, how many times is the rhythmic ostinato chanted in one verse.

Press pause to play "Mango Walk" twice with challenges one and two, and see if you can come back to me with the answer to question three.

Good luck.

Hi everyone.

Did you find the answer to question three? It's eight times.

Well done if you spotted that.

Great understanding and great listening.

We can create further interest by playing the rhythmic ostinato using body percussion.

Here are two ideas of how you could do that.

Press pause to choose one of these two ideas for your body percussion, or perhaps, you could create something of your own.

Press pause to choose and meet me back here for the next bit.

Did you choose a body percussion idea? So now, using the body percussion pattern examples, or perhaps you did create one of your own, divide into groups and perform "Mango Walk" with syncopated rhythmic ostinato.

You could have three groups.

Group one singing, group two whisper chanting, ♪ Go mango walk, you ♪ <v ->Ostinato, and group three performing</v> the body percussion ostinato.

You're going to want to do this at your own pace where you are, so press go on the audio when you are ready in your groups and perform "Mango Walk" with a syncopated rhythmic ostinato.

See you in a bit.

Have we heard this rhythm before in another of our folk songs? ♪ Ta di di ta ta ♪ <v ->Or ♪ Go mango walk you</v> <v ->Have a think carefully, have we heard that rhythm before?</v> Press pause to share your ideas or think about it in your thinking voice.

Have we heard it before? Well done if you spotted that yes, we have.

It's the syncopated phrase from "Pull Down The Chain" from the folk song "To Stop The Train." ♪ Ta di di ta ta ♪ ♪ Pull down the chain ♪ <v ->Let's complete one final big musical challenge.

</v> First up, let's listen to "To Stop The Train" in unison.

As you listen, as a class, whisper chant a rhythmic ostinato of ♪ Pull down the chain ♪ ♪ Pull down the chain ♪ <v ->Underneath to create texture.

</v> Remember to begin on the word stop because two is the upbeat.

Here comes the music.

Listen and add that rhythmic ostinato.

♪ Ready, steady, off we go ♪ ♪ To stop the train in cases of emergency ♪ ♪ Pull down the chain ♪ ♪ Pull down the chain ♪ ♪ Penalty for improper use, five pounds ♪ ♪ To stop the train in cases of emergency ♪ ♪ Pull down the chain ♪ ♪ Pull down the chain ♪ ♪ Penalty for improper use, five pounds ♪ (rhythmic upbeat music) <v ->Now using your body percussion ostinato from before,</v> play this underneath the song dividing into groups again, just as you did with "Mango Walk." Press pause to organize yourselves into groups and meet me back here and I'll play the music again.

Ready? Here's "To Stop The Train" once more.

Add your body percussion ostinato.

♪ Ready, steady, off we go ♪ ♪ To stop the train in cases of emergency ♪ ♪ Pull down the chain ♪ ♪ Pull down the chain ♪ ♪ Penalty for improper use, five pounds ♪ ♪ To stop the train in cases of emergency ♪ ♪ Pull down the chain ♪ ♪ Pull down the chain ♪ ♪ Penalty for improper use, five pounds ♪ (rhythmic upbeat music) <v ->If you're ready for a real challenge,</v> you could add the ostinato underneath singing the song as a two part round, creating an even thicker texture.

Press pause to try that now if you're up for a challenge, using the audio button to help you if you need it.

Were you successful in your challenges? You were successful if you can feel the steady pulses you sing, keeping you in time.

Well done if you did that.

That's a really, really important step, and if your rhythmic ostinato maintains a clear syncopated rhythm, and you'll be successful if you're able to play and or sing as part of an ensemble, keeping on time with one another.

Well done if you did any or all of those things in your playing and singing.

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

We know that having a strong feeling of the pulse helps us to perform syncopated rhythms more successfully.

We've certainly done a lot of that today.

And we know that a syncopated phrase can become a rhythmic ostinato to create interest, just like we did in "To Stop The Train" and "Mango Walk." And we know that adding a rhythmic ostinato creates another layer of sound and a thicker texture.

Great musical learning this time everyone.

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

Bye.