Lesson video

Hi everyone, welcome to this lesson on articulation and vocal quality when singing.

This is from our Singing for Performance Unit, where we're conveying emotion and character through our performance.

My name's Mr. Croughan, and I'm excited about today's lesson because we are introducing a brand new character.

Are we ready for it? Let's go.

At the end of this lesson, you'll be able to say that you can adjust your articulation and your vocal quality to convey the emotion and purpose of a song.

Let's look at today's keywords that we begin with, staccato.

This is performing in a short and detached way.

Forte, a dynamic instruction asking us to play or sing loudly.

Articulation, this is how individual notes or groups of notes should be played or sung.

How are they articulated? Diction, how clearly and precisely words are spoken or sung, and then vocal timbre.

That's a description of the tone, sound, or the singing quality of our voice.

Here are three warmup games.

Yes, we are introducing the witch today.

So we've added in witch's cauldron.

So we'll begin with witch's cauldron, then the spell casting and character roll call.

Here they all come now.

<v ->In Hansel and Gretel,</v> we meet a wicked witch called the gingerbread witch, who lives in a house made of yummy gingerbread and sweets.

The witch tries to trick children into coming inside to push them in the oven and turn them into gingerbread.

We are going to become the gingerbread witch and use body percussion and our imagination to create our own magical potion in a warmup called the witch's cauldron.

I want you to imagine that there's a witch's cauldron in the center of our circle, and we have all become the gingerbread witch.

So I'm gonna count down from three, and I want to see a room full of witches.

Three, two, one, freeze.

Even bigger for me now, three, two, one, freeze.

Lovely stuff, back to normal.

So what we're going to do is we're going to create some magical potions in our cauldron.

But to do that we need to learn a magic spell.

I'm gonna do it first and then you'll do it back to me.

The magic spell looks like this, my turn.

(hands clapping) Your turn.

(hands clapping) Amazing, but remember, we are all witches, so I want you to use different parts of your body to send your magic spell into different directions.

Twice through, let's try it all together now.

(hands clapping) (feet thumping) Amazing stuff, okay, so no potion is complete without some magic ingredients.

So we need to throw some ingredients in.

Maybe we'll sprinkle in some cinnamon.

What would that look like, let's get that a go, nice.

Maybe I'll throw in a big bucket full of stinky cheesy toes, go! Lovely stuff, so we need to think of some things to throw into the cauldron.

What's an idea from the group that we could throw in, yes? <v Student>You can throw in tons of rainbows.

</v> <v ->Tons of rainbows, and what will happen?</v> <v Student>It'll give you the power</v> to make everything into gold.

<v ->So everything you touch turns to gold, you ready?</v> We are gonna throw the rainbows in.

We are gonna do the spell.

It's gonna bubble, hopefully, if we are magic enough.

And then everything we touch will turn to gold, you ready? Get your rainbows, throw 'em in, magic spell, let's go.

It's bubbling, bubbling, bubbling, bubbling, bubbling, bubbling, bubbling.

Everything you touch turns to gold, wow.

How do you feel about that? (students chattering) Lovely stuffer, that to me.

Who's got another idea of something we can throw into the cauldron, yes? <v ->We could throw in a goblin's tail.

</v> <v ->We could throw in a goblin's tail, I love it.

</v> And what will happen when we throw in a goblin's tail? <v ->We turn into a goblin.

</v> <v ->We turn into goblins, are you ready?</v> Brilliant, show me your goblin's tail.

Mine's gonna be teeny tiny, and let's throw it in.

And magic spell go.

(hands clapping) (feet thumping) And it's bubbling, bubbling, bubbling, bubbling, bubbling, buble, blah, blah, blah, blah.

It's worked, we turned into goblins.

(feet thumping) How can you use your body and faces, amazing.

And back into the circle.

Lovely, lovely goblins.

We've had some examples from the group.

Now it's your turn to all do your own ingredients.

So I would like each of you to think of your own ingredient and the effect it's gonna have and we're gonna try them all at the same time.

Think you've got your ingredient ready? Show me your ingredients.

Show me in your body how it is to hold.

Is it massive, is it tiny, is it low, is it high? And we are gonna throw it in the cauldron after three, one, two, three.

Very nice, magic spell, last time, off you go.

(hands clapping) (feet thumping) Bubbling, bubbling, bubbling, bubbling, bubbling, and show me what your ingredient does, go! (students chattering) (feet thumping) You've used your imagination and your body to conjure up some magical potions, just like the wicked gingerbread witch.

<v ->Let's warm up our voices</v> through an activity called character roll call.

<v ->In this activity, we'll introduce the main characters</v> from our opera, Hansel and Gretel.

<v ->Let's use our voices and movements</v> to act like each character, show their feelings and learn their special motif, the music that matches them.

The story starts with brother and sister, Hansel and Gretel, who are at home doing chores.

They are tired and hungry.

Gretel, the most confident of the siblings says that they should do a dance to cheer themselves up.

She sings ♪ Little brother dance with me ♪ <v ->Gretel is a very good dancer.

</v> So let's add a dance move to go with the line and make sure you are using your most confident voices.

<v ->Yes, off we go.

</v> ♪ Little brother dance with me ♪ Excellent, now let's hear from Hansel.

Hansel is Gretel's clumsy, younger brother.

He sings.

♪ Which is left and which is right ♪ <v ->That must be hard for Hansel.

</v> Maybe we can hear the confusion in his voice and show that with our bodies like this.

<v ->Off we go.

</v> ♪ Which is left and which is right ♪ Oh, no, poor Hansel and even worse, mother comes home and catches them not doing their chores, but dancing.

She says angrily.

Hey you! <v ->Oh, do you think we should add a point</v> for the moment she sees them? <v ->Yes, off we go.

</v> <v ->Hey you!</v> <v ->Hey you!</v> <v ->She chases them outta the house in a rage</v> and sends them off to the forest.

We then meet our next character, father, who comes home cheerfully with a huge sack of food.

He sings.

♪ Tra la la la, tra la la la ♪ <v ->Should we do a cheery walk just to show how happy he is?</v> <v ->Off we go.

</v> ♪ Tra la la la, tra la la la ♪ When father hears that mother has sent the children to the forest, he is horrified and tells her of the legend of the gingerbread witch who lives there.

The witch sounds like this.

♪ Watch me fly ♪ <v ->Wow, I love that body percussion.

</v> Maybe we can use that rhythm to cast a spell, which helps us fly.

<v ->Off we go.

</v> ♪ Watch me fly ♪ The forest is dark and scary, but full of magical creatures too.

They meet a mysterious figure who is called the Sandman, who sprinkles dust into the eyes of Hansel and Gretel to help them sleep.

The Sandman whispers calmly, I have not come to harm you.

<v ->Can you show us that you're a mysterious figure</v> who's sprinkling magic? <v ->Off we go.

</v> ♪ I have not come to harm you, shh ♪ What other magical creatures might be out there? What if Hansel and Gretel encountered the gingerbread witch? I don't think they'll be as kind as the Sandman.

<v ->We'll find out.

</v> But first it is time for the roll call.

Let's remind ourselves of each character.

When I call out their name, I want you to perform their motif, their special music that we've learned.

Mother.

<v ->Huh? Hey, you!</v> <v ->Huh? Hey you!</v> Sandman.

♪ I have not come to harm you, shh ♪ Hansel.

♪ Which is left and which is right ♪ Gingerbread witch.

♪ Watch me fly ♪ Gretel.

♪ Little brother dance with me ♪ Father.

♪ Tra la la la, tra la la la ♪ <v ->You have just learnt the roll call for the main characters</v> in Hansel and Gretel.

<v ->You've used your voices and bodies</v> to explore how you can become a character and tell their story.

<v ->Think that it is time that we put our spell all together.

</v> Remember, it starts over your right shoulder, off we go.

(everyone shushing) Again.

(everyone shushing) Wiggly noots, woo.

Even wigglier, woo.

Wigglier, woo.

One last one, woo.

Give it a stir.

Take in that smell, even yummier.

And again, one last one.

The steam.

(teacher hissing) Take a taste.

(teacher breathing aggressively) Woo, woo, woo, woo.

You've used spell casting to explore the full range of your voices and energize your bodies so you are ready to sing.

<v ->Fabulous, well done everyone.

</v> Hopefully now our voices are feeling warmer and we are understanding those characters more.

There were two learning cycles in today's lesson.

The first one, making musical comparisons between two songs and then the second one, changing our vocal quality to suit a character.

Maybe you can guess which one, but we'll begin with making musical comparisons between two songs.

So far in the story, Hansel and Gretel have got lost in the forest and they fallen asleep under the spell of the Sandman.

However, there's a revolting picture on the screen, so you might guess what's coming next.

You see the next day, as they tried to find their way home, they discovered the witch's gingerbread house.

Once the children have been captured by this horrid witch in the forest with a delicious gingerbread house, ugh, so tempting, she performs a song called Hop, Hop, Hop, and it's quite a mischievous song, and the witch adds body percussion into the spell that she's conjuring and she talks, quite gruesomely, about how she'll cook her captives.

I'd like you to listen to Hop, Hop, Hop, and I'd like you to hear just how different this is musically to As We Close Our Sleepy Eyes.

If you need a reminder of playing sleepy eyes, there is a clip there as well.

The one I'm going to play is Hop, Hop, Hop.

And I'd like you to listen specifically for the articulation in the instrument in the vocal line.

How are those notes being played very differently to As We Close Our Sleepy Eyes, what are their dynamics like? How are they different? What's the tempo like, what's the change there? And the vocal timbre, the quality of that vocal sound that you hear.

Okay, are we ready? Here comes the track.

♪ The other tot ♪ ♪ I'll make a brew ♪ ♪ Her bones are boiled ♪ ♪ The boy, I'll chew ♪ ♪ It's such a treat to taste the sweet ♪ ♪ The tender flesh of children's meat ♪ ♪ It's such a sweet delicious treat ♪ Right then I've got a job for you having listened to that.

There's a grid on the screen.

It goes tempo, articulation, dynamics and vocal timbre, and then we've got words that will describe As We Close Our Sleepy Eyes and then Hop, Hop, Hop.

I've put a set of descriptions underneath.

All you need to do is put the right ones in the right box.

For example, tempo for As We Close Our Sleepy Eyes, is that slower or quicker? And you pop that one in there.

For articulation, is it legato and smoother or is it something else? Put the right ones in the right boxes.

You're gonna pause here and we'll come back and see if you're right, off you go.

So comparing those two songs and the tempo is certainly quicker in Hop, Hop, Hop.

And the articulation that hop, hop hop, that staccato, short prickly sound is very different to the smooth legato of As We Close Our Sleepy Eyes.

Their dynamics, this is louder.

It's louder in the instrumentation and in the vocal delivery too.

The vocal timbre.

See in As We Close Our Sleepy Eyes, all smooth and flowing and rounded, but Hop, Hop, Hop, it's brittle, it's spiky, it's detached.

It's giving me an idea of the way the witch might move even as well.

A great way to explore how a character might move physically is by choosing a body part to lead from.

Now, this is a great fun exercise and one we're going to use to help us create our witch characters.

You can experiment with different qualities of movement by leading with different body parts.

Watch this video first to help discover your individual witch character.

Once you've watched it, we'll pause to give you an opportunity to try it where you are, here it comes.

<v ->Our characters, Hansel and Gretel</v> have just met the wicked witch who tricks the children by tempting them with treats from the house of gingerbread.

In this activity, we are going to become the gingerbread witch by using your body, different qualities of movement and your imagination.

So let's start by walking around the space, fill in the gaps as if we're just going for a stroll down the street to the shops.

Off we go.

(footsteps clacking) Lovely and freeze, fantastic work.

Okay, this time as we walk around the space, we are going to lead with one body part.

The first thing we're gonna do is our nose.

Are we ready, go! See how that changes the rest of your body, good.

And freeze, can we change to our knees now? Our knees are gonna lead the way, go! (footsteps clacking) (instructor giggling) Freeze, I'm gonna add a few extra instructions for you to think about how your witch might move.

The first thing we're gonna do is does your witch move fast or slow? Give it a go, fast or slow.

(footsteps clacking) And freeze! Let's choose which witch you want to be.

Do you want to be grumpy witch with their shoulders rounded? Do you want to be a mischievous witch with your hands leading the way? Or would you like to be a powerful witch with your chest? Are you ready, make that decision, off you go.

(footsteps clacking) And freeze, last instruction, now we're gonna put all these elements together and add in the music and see how the music makes you want to move, and we're gonna add in a bit of imagination.

So as you're on your journey, I want you to think about what your witch might be up to.

Are they brewing a potion, casting a spell, or have they got their broomstick? Are they going for a little fly around the room? Are you ready? Three, two, one, off you go.

(upbeat instrumental music) Fantastic! Really good, yes, I can see some powerful witches leading with their chest, some mischievous witches.

Good job everybody, keep going.

But in five seconds, I want you to give me your best witch pose and your best witch cackle, are we ready? Five, four, three, two, one! (children screaming playfully) You've just explored how you can use your body, the way you move it, and your imagination to become a witch.

<v ->So you can see that we can respond physically</v> to the musical choices that composers made for this song.

The tempo is livelier, the articulation far more staccato and the vocal delivery is punchier, snappier, and it has very clear diction.

So you're gonna think about how you'll respond to the music now as you move about the space, this is where you're going to pause, use the video, follow the instructions on the video, and start to discover your witchy character, off you go.

Super fun, it's great leading from different body parts whether it's your shoulders or your nose or your knees or your toes to give away into thinking how that character might move, and of course, responding to the music.

It's very different to As We Close Our Sleepy Eyes.

So my question is this.

How, specifically, how does the music in Hop, Hop, Hop encourage us to move differently? What does the music do that's different As We Close Our Sleepy Eyes that makes us move in a different way? Pause here and share some answers.

So you might have said something like the quicker tempo and the staccato articulation made you move quickly and likely across the room and then when we're thinking about which body part was most effective to you as the witch, which one did you prefer? Some people might like that rounded shoulders or the nose in people's business.

Is it their knees to give them a really different walk to any other kind of character? What worked well for you? Again, you can have a quick pause if you want to and share some ideas.

Moving led by either our nose or our shoulders or even our knees gives us a different feelings to the way that we would normally walk and it can encourage us to feel some of the witch's personality.

Your task now is you're going to pause and put the full track on and move about as your witch character.

I'd like you to listen to their lyrics and any gestures or actions that you think the witch might do, add those in.

And when you see another witch, also moving about the space, decide if you like them or not, or if you've got any patience with them.

And if you're too busy, perhaps, creating your own spells and potions.

Use the feel, that quicker tempo, the staccato articulation of the music to guide how you might move.

And remember, the witch, she's quite a solitary character and so the only communication in this exercise is nonverbal, okay.

So you can acknowledge another witch, but you can't speak to them.

All right, pause here, play the track and work through that where you are, have fun.

Well, I hope that was super fun.

Lucas said he led with his nose.

It made him feel inquisitive like he was trying to smell where his next gingerbread child was gonna come from, revolting.

Izzy said, I led with my shoulders and as I listened to the music, I used short, sharp movements and that mirrored the staccato sounds in the music, nice! She said it gave her witch a wild and unpredictable energy.

I like unpredictable, that's great.

We're going to move on to the second part of our lesson now, which is where we change our vocal quality to suit our witchy character.

If you think about it enough, you'll certainly be able to think of, whether it's characters from TV or film or a video game or on stage, and these characters that can sound so different to one another and certainly very different from us, their character of the witch is one of these voices we can really explore.

So we've explored her physically.

Now we're gonna think about what she sounds like.

The video that's coming up is of an opera singer explaining how we can add safely in our voice a witchy vocal quality to our singing.

And when we do this, we're changing our vocal timbre, the quality of sound.

Here comes the opera singer to explain this.

<v ->In opera we can use our voices creatively</v> to show what kind of character we are playing.

We can practice this using the song Hop, Hop, Hop, the gingerbread witch's song.

At this point in the story, the witch has tricked Hansel and Gretel into the gingerbread house and plans to bake them in the oven, how evil! Let's start by just saying the words in our normal voices, just like we're talking to a friend.

Keep your voice natural and relaxed, like this.

So hop, hop, hop, gallop, lop lop, you lazy broom, be off you sloth.

Now, I dunno about you, but I didn't think that was very scary.

Let's sing the next line and make it sound more like the gingerbread witch by adding a witchy quality, kind of like this.

♪ So hop, hop, hop, gallop, lop, lop ♪ ♪ You lazy broom, be off you sloth! ♪ To find this sound, we can pretend to be the hell-cat in the song, like a cat meowing on a scale, like this.

♪ Meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow ♪ Make sure you really sound like a cat.

♪ Meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow ♪ Can you hear how I've used my voice to really capture the hell-cat? And we can use it for the witch's character too.

You don't need to do it all the time, but pick your favorite moments to make them the most witchy.

You could be the scariest witch of all, but nobody would be frightened if they couldn't understand what you were saying.

So we need to use diction to make sure that every word is clear and crisp, especially the ph, tck, tsh and even the Z sounds.

The clearer your words, the more the character comes to life.

Let's try again.

♪ So hop, hop, hop, gallop, lop lop ♪ ♪ You lazy broom, be off you sloth! ♪ ♪ When up I spring, the bat takes wing ♪ ♪ The hell-cat sings, the death knell rings! ♪ Did you notice how I picked certain moments and used that quality when I felt my most witchy? It's now time for you to become your most wicked witch with your singing by using that bright sound to represent a witchy character using clear diction, making the consonants of your words really crisp and clear.

You can now use your voices creatively to make your version of Hop, Hop, Hop truly horrible.

<v ->Okay, so now we've got some plenty of ideas.

</v> We're gonna have a go at singing the first part of the song with a witchy timbre.

We're remembering that lovely staccato, hop, hop, hop, gallop, lop, lop, you lazy broom, be off you sloth.

Okay, I'll put the music on now, are you ready? Maybe you want to adopt some of your witchy stances.

Maybe that will help as well.

Here comes the track.

(upbeat instrumental music) ♪ So hop, hop, hop, gallop, lop, lop ♪ ♪ You lazy broom, be off you sloth! ♪ ♪ When up I spring, the bat takes wing ♪ ♪ The hell-cat sings, the death knell rings ♪ Looking at the score, we can see there is body percussion for the witch written in.

So after she said, you lazy broom, be off you sloth, calling a broom a sloth.

It says R, L, R, clap, so this is right, left, right clap.

Don't worry if it's the other way around, left, right, left.

It's absolutely fine.

The important thing is we are getting the timing right.

So you've got ba-bam-bam-pa, ba-bam-bam-pa, ba-bam-bam-pa, ba-bam-bam-pa.

You can do that on any body part.

So thinking how the witch might do it, is she doing on her thighs, on her chest, up in the air, creating some kind of spell.

Have a think about that.

You're gonna watch an example of Hop, Hop, Hop, and you can see children interpreting that witchy body percussion in different ways.

It can give you some ideas, but I'd like you to come up with plenty of your own.

So watch this and then you can decide how you'll interpret the body percussion as your witch, okay.

Here comes the clip of the children.

(upbeat instrumental music) ♪ So hop, hop, hop, gallop, lop, lop ♪ ♪ You lazy broom, be off you sloth! ♪ ♪ When up I spring, the bat takes wing ♪ ♪ The hell-cat sings, the death knell rings ♪ Great, now let's sing this section of the song adding in that body percussion.

Remember, the body percussion, really snappy and sharp so it's neat altogether and you can explore which phrases in the singing that you make perhaps more witchy than others.

Okay, pause here, and enjoy exploring both the body percussion and your witchy vocal timbre with this section of Hop, Hop, Hop, off you go.

Yes, wonderful, absolutely lovely.

Lets say lovely, I mean I'm sure your characters are utterly disgusting and horrendous, but really well done.

I'd like you to now look at the score from at dead of night and it creeps up the scale.

So it starts on that low B, at dead of night, well out of sight, the witches give the kids a fright, and ends up on the higher B.

And it's just like the witch might creep up on Hansel and Gretel, or to building up to give someone a fright.

So at dead of night, that's quite sort of quiet and spooky, right to give the kids a fright.

So I'd like you to think about how we might sing this phrase.

You can see that pitch, it's just steadily rising throughout.

Listen to the clip.

I'd like you to show, first of all, the pitch rising with your hand.

Then I'd like you to listen again and sing along and then I'd like you to alternate between listening and singing along until you feel confident about this section.

The notes sometimes are very close together and we want to get this bit right, so we're going to pause and it'll take as long as it would take you.

Remember we're listening.

Show the pitch rising with your hands.

Have a go at singing it.

Listen again, sing it again.

Okay, pause here and do that now.

You have worked so hard to get this song right.

This is wonderful, well done.

You are now going to sing the first section of Hop, Hop, Hop adding in that witchy body percussion.

Now to be successful, I would like you to do the following, walk into the space as your witchy character leading with a body part, that's gonna help establish you as your witch before you start singing, and I'd like you to explore with using your witchy vocal quality on certain phrases, maybe stuff like.

♪ The hell-cat sings, the death knell rings ♪ Whatever bit sounds witchy for you, entirely up to you to choose which bit you want to explore that witchy vocal quality, you will do it way better than me, and I'd like you to add in the body percussion and keep it spiky to mirror that staccato articulation in the music, okay? So pause here, rehearse that a couple of times, and enjoy exploring your witchy characters as you sing the first section of Hop, Hop, Hop, off you go.

Magic, I hope that was brilliant and revolting and great and spiky and you enjoyed yourself.

We'll have a quick discussion now.

I want to think, did you keep leading from a body part and did that help you move about and sing as the witch? Were there certain lyrics that you sang that sounded more witchier that you used that witchier vocal timbre for? Did it suit, did it work, did you like it? I'm gonna pop on an example staging, and there might be any ideas you want to pinch, including are there any body percussion moments that you like that you might want to try out? So really well done.

This is the end of the lesson where we are watching this as an example to get some ideas ready for next time and to keep building on our witchy characters.

Here it comes.

(upbeat instrumental music) ♪ So hop, hop, hop, gallop, lop, lop ♪ ♪ You lazy broom, be off you sloth! ♪ ♪ When up I spring, the bat takes wing ♪ ♪ The hell-cat sings, the death knell rings ♪ ♪ The dead of night, when out of sight ♪ ♪ The witches give the kids a fright ♪ Fantastic, I hope you got some extra ideas in there and are excited about building on your wonderful learning already, well done.

In summary then in today's lesson, we know we can explore characters by thinking about which part of the body they lead from when they move.

We can use different singing techniques to change the vocal timbre to suit a different character.

And we can change the articulation, for example, from legato to staccato, and that can really change the mood and the atmosphere of the music too.

Adding body percussion can add another level of characterization.

We can perform our body percussion in character, which gives it a whole extra level.

Fantastic work today.

Looking forward to seeing you next time.

Have a great day, bye for now.