Lesson video

Hi, everybody, welcome back to our Compose and Create unit on recording our musical ideas using a graphic score.

Today's lesson is called Graphic Score Notation.

So we are going to be able to write our own music down.

Are you ready? Here we go.

By the end of today's lesson, you'll be able to say, I can use symbols to write my animal sounds on a graphic score.

So let's begin by looking at today's keywords.

We'll start with composer.

A composer is a person who creates music.

So we're all going to be composers today.

Notation.

A way of writing music down.

Graphic score is a way of writing music down, using symbols, shapes, and images.

And then timbre.

The description of a sound or tone that an instrument makes.

We know how important it is to warm up before each of our lessons and as Sam describes when we do warm up, we're actually connecting to each other, we're listening, well, we're tuning in.

This really helps us when we are playing music together.

So I would like you to join in with the following warmups.

Here they come com.

(upbeat piano music) (kids stumping) (kids hands tapping) (hands thudding) Very well done, and on your screen are three more games for you to practise rhythm and pulse.

That is, Don't Clap This One Back, Do as I'm doing and Timbre in a Box.

So take each one of those in turn and I'll see you in a moment.

This is a game called Don't Clap This one Back.

You'll hear me clapping different rhythms like this one.

(instructor clapping) And that rhythm is actually our secret rhythm that we are never going to clap because that rhythm says don't clap this one back.

(instructor clapping) So if you hear it, you do nothing.

Any other rhythm you hear, we all clap together.

Let's try a couple.

(instructor clapping) (instructor clapping) (instructor clapping) Very, very good.

Now you're going to listen super carefully because if you hear.

(instructor clapping) We don't clap that rhythm back.

Okay, let's play.

(instructor clapping) (instructor clapping) (instructor clapping) (instructor clapping) Did I catch any of you out? Let's try one more time.

Here we go.

(instructor clapping) (instructor clapping) (instructor clapping) (instructor clapping) (instructor clapping) Very well done.

Now you can practise that where you are.

<v ->Ready, steady, off we you go.

</v> <v Everybody>Do as I and follow me.

</v> Do as I do and follow me.

If I do it high or low.

If I do it fast or slow.

Do as I do and follow me.

Do as I do and follow me.

Ready, steady, off we go.

Do as I do and follow me.

Do as I do and follow me.

If I do it high or low.

If I do it fast or slow.

Do as I do and follow me.

Do as I do and follow me.

Ready, steady, off we go.

Do as I do and follow me.

Do as I do and follow me.

If I do it high or low.

If I do it fast or slow.

Do as I do and follow me.

Do as I do and follow me.

Ready, steady, off we go.

Do as I do and follow me.

Do as I do and follow me.

If I do it high or low.

If I do it fast or slow.

Do as I do and follow me.

Do as I do and follow me.

(gentle piano music) ♪ Here is a box ♪ ♪ Lift the lid ♪ ♪ I wonder what inside it is hid ♪ <v ->So are we now ready for music?</v> I hope so.

I'm hoping that your body is feeling warm and relaxed.

I'm hoping that your listening ears are on and you are ready to focus.

And if you are, let's go.

In today's lesson, there are two parts.

The first one is reading a graphic score, and the second one is writing a graphic score down.

So we're gonna start by reading a graphic score.

We've been listening to Carnival of the Endangered Animals by the composer Debbie Wiseman.

And in this suite of music, we get to hear the animals that she's chosen being brought to life with lots of instruments.

When that's written down, it's called notation.

So if you see here, there's lots of lines of different instruments playing music at the same time, and seeing that notation allows us to play or sing the same thing again.

We're going to watch a percussionist from the National Children's Orchestra play the woodblock.

And my question's going to be, if they perform the same piece again, would it sound the same? Have a watch, here it comes.

(instrumental music) So what do you think? Would that percussionist play the same thing again in the same way? And the answer's yes, pretty much the same because the notation helps the performers to play the same notes each time so that it sounds the same.

And that sounds how Debbie Wiseman wanted the music to sound.

Next, here's some children from the National Children's Orchestra playing the xylophone and the glockenspiel have a watch here.

(instrumental music) And my question now is, how do the musicians know what to play and when to play? Have a think.

What do you reckon? Jacob says, the musicians can see and read the notation and they use that to help them remember what to play.

And that helps it become the same each time.

So quick check-in for you.

What is notation? Is it a person who creates music? Is it a description of the sound or tone of an instrument? Or is it a way of writing music down? What do you think is notation A, B, or C? You can point to the one you think it is.

I think you've all got it.

It is C, notation's a way of writing music down.

And we call music that's notated using symbols or shapes or images, we call that a graphic score.

And on the screen there are three boxes each with a symbol or a shape describing how some music should be played.

So they're not pictures, but they're trying to capture the sound clearly without using words.

Now if Debbie Wiseman had used a graphic score to show the woodblock in orangutan, it could have been notated like this.

That box on the end has two crosses together, then a gap and a cross, and then a gap and a cross.

And the same thing happens underneath.

I'd like you to watch the clip again now to see if you think, "Yep, I can understand why it would've been or could have been notated like that." Here it comes.

(instrumental music) Yeah, I can see how that symbol makes sense for notating woodblock on the graphic score.

Let's now look at the polar bear.

If Debbie Wiseman had used a graphic score to describe the symbol in polar bear, it could have been notated like this.

We've got the swirls, then a loud or big blob, then some more swirls that are gradually getting smaller.

So have a watch of the clip and see if you can understand why the symbol could have been notated using those shapes and symbols.

Here it comes.

(instrumental music) Yeah, I really like that.

I like the loud bit.

I can see how it's getting smaller to show that it's getting quieter too.

I'd like you now to listen to the pitched percussion represents the red panda.

And there's three graphic scores in front of us in three boxes.

And I want you to think when this comes on, looking at them carefully, A, B, and C, which one really clearly or the most clearly shows what's happening in the music that you can understand.

Okay, it's gonna be A, B or C.

Here comes the clip.

(instrumental music) It's quite a short clip.

Let's watch it one more time and look for both the pitched instruments.

So you can see a glockenspiel and a xylophone.

Here it comes again.

(instrumental music) So what picture do you think represents what we just saw with those two pitched percussion instruments, the glockenspiel and the xylophone playing? Now I don't think it's B, 'cause I don't think that swirl is very, isn't really what I heard.

And then with C, that's sort of quiet and swirly and quiet, and it doesn't feel like it's talking about pitch to me.

With A, if I look at those arrows going from low to high, that's showing me the pitches going from low to high, and then by each arrow there's two sets of symbols.

So I think that's one for one instrument and one for the other.

And if you look closely, you can see that one looks like it's starts sooner than the other one and has more notes.

So I think it's A, and if you agree with me, well done.

Your first task now is to use any percussion instrument that's available to you and have a go at playing these graphic score symbols and turn them into sounds.

So if we look at the first box, there are five lines and some are high and some are lower.

So you might interpret that one way.

With the second one, dots, a swirl that's getting bigger and smaller, and then some dots.

So you might think, what instrument can I create that on? And then the last one, those small blobs getting bigger and then a sort of a splash of a different kind of dot.

So take your time.

You can use pitched and unpitched percussion instruments and have a go at playing those score symbols.

Off you go.

Very good exploring.

Welcome back.

Now this is what the graphic score notation might sound on these instruments.

So for that first one with the lines, we chose a glockenspiel with the second one, an egg shaker and the third one, a drum, a gathering drum.

So have a listen to how they sound.

Here they come.

(glockenspiel sounding) (shaker shaking) (drum thudding) And I imagine that yours were a bit different to that.

Some of them might have been similar and some a bit different.

And that's all fine because it's you representing sound, using your symbols and images that you will understand.

It's time to now write our own graphic score.

And so when we do this, we use shapes or symbols, it's easy and clear for us to read.

And as Lucas reminds us, we're not drawing an instrument.

Also a graphic score might show the number of sounds that are made.

Do you remember when the lines went up when we were looking at the xylophone and glockenspiel? There were the right number of blobs for those notes being played.

A graphic score might show that the sound gets louder or quieter and we've seen kind of swirls getting bigger and swirls getting smaller.

And when things trail off, they seem to be getting quieter.

And as Jun says, a graphic score might show that the sound gets higher and lower.

And I think we've seen that with arrows and we've seen that with lines placed higher and lower too.

So there's different ways of writing it down using those images and shapes.

Quick check-in for you.

Why is this a good example of a graphic score? Why do you think? You're gonna pause the video, just have a quick with each other.

Maybe people have got ideas to say why they think that is a good example.

Pause here, off you go.

You might have said it's quite simple and clear.

Simple and clear is good.

And you might say it only uses a few shapes to show us how to play.

It's not over complicated.

I can see a note or a sound going to a lower pitch, three more sounds and then going to possibly a higher pitch.

That's what it says to me.

Sofia reminds us that a composer is a person who creates their own music and you are all now being composers.

And when we compose, as Jun, we are creating new music.

Sofia also reminds us that a composer might choose an instrument because of the timbre or the sound that instrument makes.

Here's what's gonna happen today, we'll create our own graphic scores and we're going to think about the timbre of our instruments.

As a little help, listen to how the composer Debbie Wiseman has used the timbre of the cello to create a picture of a blue whale.

Here it comes.

(instrumental music) What did you think? Did you think the cello suited the whale? Did it have a suitable timbre? Its sound that it produced for the blue whale and why? Have a little quick pause.

Maybe there's someone in your group who would like to share why they think that the cello was a good idea.

And Alex says, "I wonder if any of you said this." Alex said, the cello sounds rich and dark like it's far below in the ocean, which is a lovely description, just like where the blue whale might hang out.

Secondly, we're going to listen to the timbre of the bassoon.

Now the bassoon is a great, fun instrument and it's helping create the picture of the orangutan.

Here it comes.

(instrumental music) And why do you think that bassoon has a suitable timbre for the orangutan? Pause now, and maybe there's someone who'd like to share an idea as to why that instrument suits the orangutan.

Well, Andeep said, "The bassoon sounds warm and buzzy and like a kind, fun animal.

So the sound that it made, made him think of the character of the orangutan.

It's warm and it's kind and it's fuzzy and fun.

Your job now is to choose an instrument from your classroom collection that makes you think of one of the four animals.

So it could be the blue whale, the orangutan, the polar bear, or that scurrying red panda.

And whichever one you choose, you're going to explore your instrument and play it in many different ways.

If we remember the guiro, yes, it can make this sound.

(guiro sounding) but maybe it could also make more sounds that.

(guiro sounding) Yeah, that sounds very different.

So we want to explore the different timbres our instrument can make.

When you are happy with a sound, think, would I repeat any of those sounds? Do I want to tap a few times? Would I play a higher or lower note? Do I get louder or quieter, or quicker or slower? And when you've decided, I'd like you to notate your sound on a piece of paper, you're gonna create a symbol or a shape.

Remember, some of the best graphic scores are kept simple.

If we think of the examples we've seen, you might think about using an arrow to show pitch going up or down, or a symbol that shows sound getting louder.

You might show a shape that shows how to play the instrument.

Maybe there's a set number of symbols for the number of times that it's played, okay? And lastly, you're gonna share your sound and your symbol with someone else and see if they can match that symbol to your sound.

And maybe they'll even know which animal you are trying to describe in your performance.

So pause the video here, take your time deciding on your animal, choosing your instruments, and really exploring how many different sounds you can make and which one suits, which timbre suits the animal that you are describing.

Off you go.

So much creativity, wonderful.

Now how do we know if we've been successful? Well, there's a few things we could check.

Andeep said that someone else could also read his symbol and they could play his sound, which is really exciting if you shared your symbol with someone else.

Sam said that she changed her symbol because now it looks much clearer.

It wasn't so clear before, too much going on, but now it's clearer, it's easier to recognise.

And Jun said, "My symbol and my sound makes me think of my animal." So if you are happy with it, if you think, yes, this really does represent the orangutan or the polar bear, then you've been successful.

Really, really well done.

That's almost the end of today's lesson on graphic score notation.

So let's have a recap on our learning.

We know that music can be notated to be shared and remembered for another day.

A graphic score is one way of reading and writing notation.

Graphic scores need to be clear and simple.

Use simple symbols, not pictures.

An instrument might be chosen to represent a sound based on that instrument's timbre.

And percussion instruments can be played in many different ways to create the imagery of an animal and its environment.

Really well done for today.

Great exploring, great creating, and I'll see you next time.

Bye-bye.