Lesson video

Welcome to our new music and movement unit.

This is called "Using symbols to represent pitch." And this first lesson is high and low notes.

There's lots of singing in this lesson and I'm excited to get started.

Here we go.

By the end of this lesson, you'll be able to identify high notes and low notes, and you'll know that melodies have different pitches.

So let's begin by taking a close look at our keywords.

Warm-up.

A warm-up is a sequence of exercises, and we use that to prepare our mind and our bodies and our voices ready for singing.

A note.

A note is a single sound in music.

Pitch is how high or low a note is.

And a melody.

That's a combination of notes that we use to make a memorable tune.

If we look at our lesson outline for today, you can see we're going to begin by warming up so that we're ready for music.

Then we'll play some games using our high voices and our low voices, and we'll be able to identify high and low pitches.

So let's begin by warming up so that we're all ready for music.

We know that before all of our lessons, we warm up our bodies and our voices so that we're ready to move and sing.

So maybe like in PE< we stretch our muscles before we exercise; in singing, we stretch our vocal chords here before singing.

That's gonna help keep them safe and protect us from injuring our voice.

So we'll begin by warming up our body.

Jacob says that when he warms up, it helps his muscles loosen and relax.

Warming 'em up gently will also give us lots of energy.

I'd like you to watch this video now and join in with the whole body warm-ups.

Make sure you've got plenty of space.

(wooden pieces tapping) ♪ Reach up to the sky and down to the ground ♪ ♪ To the side, to the side ♪ ♪ Turn around and clap ♪ (children clapping) (wooden pieces tapping) ♪ Reach up to the sky and down to the ground ♪ ♪ To the side, to the side ♪ ♪ Turn around and clap ♪ (children clapping) (wooden pieces tapping) ♪ Reach up to the sky and down to the ground ♪ ♪ To the side, to the side ♪ ♪ Turn around and clap ♪ (children clapping) <v ->Oh, yes, a great stretch.

</v> Now we're going to warm up our face muscles.

Sam says that our face muscles also need to be stretched and relaxed, and that prepares us for singing too.

Join in with these face warm-ups.

<v ->Let's warm up all the muscles of our faces.

</v> Show me your happy face.

Show me your grumpy face.

Show me your big face.

Show me your small face.

Show me your silly face.

Show me your thinking face.

<v ->Now then, breathing exercises.

</v> They help us to learn to control our breathing, and that's really important when we're singing so we've got plenty of breath.

Aisha says, "Breathing supports our voice.

Having enough air prevents our voice from becoming tired." Join in with these breathing exercises.

<v ->Copy me.

</v> (hands rubbing) (instructor blowing) (instructor hissing) <v ->Well done.

</v> Now we can start to warm up our voices with some vocal exercises.

Alex says that vocal exercises gently stretch our vocal chords and that prevents them from being injured and keep our voice safe.

So join in with these vocal warm-ups.

♪ Ah, ah ♪ ♪ Ah, ah ♪ ♪ Ah, ah ♪ <v ->Tongue twisters help wake up all of our muscles</v> in our lips and our tongues.

So here is a fun tongue twister.

Laura can say she sells seashells by the sea shore.

I really have to concentrate when I say that.

You're going to try that in a moment.

And if you can do that one, you might also like to try Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.

And this one from Andeep.

Red lorry, yellow lorry, red lorry, yellow lorry.

Pause the video and try those tongue twisters where you are.

Well, we are warmed up and ready to sing when our body feels awake, and our muscles are relaxed, our breathing is controlled, and our chest feels nice and open, and we're feeling alert and focused and that our mouths are relaxed and loose and our voice is warm and ready.

Right then, there's two opinions here, one from Jacob and one from Alex.

Jacob says, "When I warm up, I start by singing quietly and then getting louder." And Alex says, "When I warm up, I like to start by moving my body first." And I'm wondering, who do you agree with? Based on what you've done in your warm-ups, what makes the most sense to you? You can point to Jacob if you agree with Jacob or Alex if you agree with Alex.

Yeah, I think I agree with Alex too.

I like to warm up those bigger muscles in my body, helps me feel engaged, helps me feel warm and prepared, and then I can focus on those smaller muscles in my throat and connecting that voice to my body.

Great stuff.

Okay, well done.

It's time to join in with a warm-up song and chant.

The first time we do this, we're going to chant the lyrics using our speaking voice.

Then we're going to chant them in a quiet voice.

And then the third time, you're going to pause the video and use the audio track to sing the lyrics with your singing voice.

Okay, so this is one, two, buckle my shoe.

Pause the video here, practise speaking it, then speaking it in a quiet voice.

Then use the track to sing.

Off you go.

Well done.

Now it's time for our second warm-up song, "The Grand Old Duke of York." You might have heard this one before.

When you join in, I'd like you to think about standing tall (instructor inhaling) and breathing deeply.

You're going to join in with your whole body.

So you might be standing, maybe you'll march in time and you're going to do that in a focused way so that we're singing well.

And when you sing, sing with enthusiasm.

But don't shout because we don't want to hurt our voices.

Off we go.

(lively music) ♪ Oh, the grand old Duke of York ♪ ♪ He had 10,000 men ♪ ♪ He marched them up to the top of the hill ♪ ♪ And he marched them down again ♪ ♪ And when they were up, they were up ♪ ♪ And when they were down, they were down ♪ ♪ And when they were only half-way up ♪ ♪ They were neither up nor down ♪ (lively music) ♪ Oh, the grand old Duke of York ♪ ♪ He had 10,000 men ♪ ♪ He marched them up to the top of the hill ♪ ♪ And he marched them down again ♪ ♪ And when they were up, they were up ♪ ♪ And when they were down, they were down ♪ ♪ And when they were only half-way up ♪ ♪ They were neither up nor down ♪ (lively music) ♪ Oh, the grand old Duke of York ♪ ♪ He had 10,000 men ♪ ♪ He marched them up to the top of the hill ♪ ♪ And he marched them down again ♪ ♪ And when they were up, they were up ♪ ♪ And when they were down, they were down ♪ ♪ And when they were only half-way up ♪ ♪ They were neither up nor down ♪ ♪ And when they were only half-way up ♪ ♪ They were ♪ <v ->Oh, you caught me.

</v> Well, if you've sung the whole song, let's move on.

Are you warmed up and ready to sing? If you are, your body might feel tall and relaxed.

If you're standing, your feet might be slightly apart.

Your face and your neck are relaxed, your chest feels open, (instructor inhaling) and you can take deep breaths.

Your voice is feeling warm.

Your lips and your mouth have had time to move, and your mind is feeling focused and ready to concentrate.

<v ->I feel warmed up when my voice is warm.

</v> <v ->I feel warmed up when I am full of energy</v> and ready to sing.

<v ->I feel warmed up when my face muscles have moved.

</v> <v ->I feel warmed up when I'm focused and ready to go.

</v> <v ->Let's move on to our second part of our learning cycle,</v> which is playing games using our high voices and our low voices.

When we sing, our voices can go higher and lower, and this is called using our singing voice.

Izzy says, when she sings, her voice can go higher and lower to make a tune, and we can use our singing voices to play games.

Let's watch this song.

This is "Bounce High, Bounce Low." Here comes the clip.

♪ Ready, steady, off we go ♪ ♪ Bounce high, bounce low, bounce the ball to Laura ♪ ♪ Ready, steady, off we go ♪ ♪ Bounce high, bounce low, bounce the ball to Alex ♪ ♪ Ready, steady, off we go ♪ ♪ Bounce high, bounce low, bounce the ball to Sam ♪ <v ->So now you've seen what to do,</v> you can pause the video and practise this where you are.

And as you sing, you'll bounce the ball around the circle on the beat.

Use that audio button to help you.

Alex is already singing, "Bounce high, bounce low, bounce the ball to Shiloh." And you'll bounce it to whoever's in the circle where you are.

Off you go.

When we sing, we're using a combination of our higher pitches and our lower pitches to make a melody.

And in this video that's about to come on, there's actions and they're gonna show when our voices go higher or lower as we sing the melody.

Have a watch.

♪ Ready, steady, off we go ♪ ♪ Bounce high, bounce low, bounce the ball to Shiloh ♪ <v ->This time you're going to watch the video again</v> and join in with the actions, and notice how are you showing the high pitches and the low pitches while you're singing.

And if you don't have a real ball, you can use an imaginary one.

Here you go.

(instructor whooshing) ♪ Ready, steady, off we go ♪ ♪ Bounce high, bounce low, bounce the ball to Shiloh ♪ <v ->Lovely.

</v> When we sang a high note, we held the ball up high, and when we sang a low note, we held the ball down low.

This is a new singing game.

This is "Frog in the Meadow." Andeep's already singing Frog in the meadow, can't get him out.

Take a little stick and stir him about.

Here comes the video.

♪ Ready, steady, off we go ♪ ♪ Frog in the meadow ♪ ♪ Can't get him out ♪ ♪ Take a little stick and stir him about ♪ (hands clapping) ♪ Ready, steady, off we go ♪ ♪ Frog in the meadow ♪ ♪ Can't get him out ♪ ♪ Take a little stick and stir him about ♪ (hands clapping) <v ->Now you're going to pause the video</v> and use the audio clip to join in singing and playing "Frog in the Meadow." Off you go.

Did you notice the melody of "Frog in the Meadow" uses high and low notes? This time, you're going to join in that song using your hand as the frog.

Here comes the clip.

Be ready to join in.

♪ Ready, steady, off we go ♪ ♪ Frog in the meadow ♪ ♪ Can't get him out ♪ ♪ Take a little stick and stir him about ♪ <v ->So what do you notice about how the frog's moving?</v> Did you spot that the frog moves up when our voices are high and down when our voices are lower? If you did, very well done.

This is a new game.

This is called "Jump Frog, Jump." And in this game we echo what the leader sings.

So that's an exact copy.

We're going to pretend that our hand is a frog.

Let's get our little froggy hands ready, and we make it jump higher and lower to match our voices.

So Jacob's singing.

♪ Jump frog, jump ♪ Just like that.

When we sing higher, our little frog gets higher, and when we go down, our frog goes back down too.

Here comes the clip.

Be ready to copy.

♪ Jump frog, jump ♪ ♪ Jump frog, jump ♪ ♪ Jump frog, jump ♪ So did your voice echo the leader? Sam says, "My voice went higher and lower matching what the leader was singing." So she was able to echo that exact copy of that phrase.

And Laura says, "My frog jumped higher when I sang a higher note, and lower when I sang a lower note," which is brilliant.

If that happened in your class, well done.

Let's now look at our third part of our lesson today.

This is identifying higher pitches and lower pitches.

Now, when we talk about high and low notes in music, that word we use is pitch.

And Laura says, "When we're singing, our voice goes high and we call that a high pitch, and when our voice goes low, we call it a low pitch." Now, the melody of a song is made up of lots of different pitches.

Jun says, "When my voice is high, that means I'm singing loudly." And Sofia says, "When my voice is high, it means I'm singing at a high pitch." Who do you agree with? Is it Jun who thinks high is singing loudly or Sofia who thinks high is singing at a high pitch? Have a think.

I'm sure you're all right.

It is indeed Sofia.

Well done.

So in music, we use the words high and low to describe pitch, not volume.

This is a great fun singing game.

This is "Apple Tree." Aisha's singing apple tree, apple tree, will your apples fall on me? I won't cry and I won't shout if your apples knock me out.

Have a watch of this clip.

♪ Ready, steady, off we go ♪ ♪ Apple tree, apple tree ♪ ♪ Will your apples fall on me ♪ ♪ I won't cry and I won't shout ♪ ♪ If your apples knock me out ♪ (instructor gasping) <v Instructor>You've been caught.

</v> Okay, join the apple tree.

Let's join up the circle again.

♪ Ready, steady, off we go ♪ ♪ Apple tree, apple tree ♪ ♪ Will your apples fall on me ♪ ♪ I won't cry and I won't shout ♪ ♪ If your apples knock me out ♪ <v Instructor>You've been caught.

</v> Join the apple tree.

Join up the circle again.

♪ Ready, steady, off we go ♪ ♪ Apple tree, apple tree ♪ ♪ Will your apples fall on me ♪ ♪ I won't cry and I won't shout ♪ ♪ If your apples knock me out.

♪ <v ->And now you're going to pause the video</v> and play "Apple Tree" where you are, joining in the singing.

Off you go.

Great stuff.

Now let's listen to the first line of "Apple Tree." Here it comes.

♪ Apple tree, apple tree.

♪ (sticks banging) <v ->The melody in the first line</v> of the song uses two different pitches.

It uses a high pitch and a low pitch.

So what I'd like you to do is to use your hand to show the high pitch and the low pitch as you sing that first line.

So as Sam is demonstrating.

♪ Apple tree, apple tree ♪ Pause the video and practise that where you are.

If you need a reminder, there is a clip that you can watch again.

Super duper.

Now, here comes a clip to show us some new actions for "Apple Tree." The new actions are going to show us how the pitch moves higher and lower in the melody.

Here it comes.

♪ Apple tree, apple tree ♪ ♪ Will your apples fall on me ♪ ♪ I won't cry and I won't shout ♪ ♪ If your apples knock me out ♪ <v ->And this time you're going to watch it a second time</v> and join in with the singing and the actions.

So pause the video and join in where you are.

Can you show me what action did you all do when the pitch was highest? Very, very good.

And can you show me which action you did when the pitch was lowest? Fantastic.

Brilliant.

So when the pitch was highest, we touched our heads.

And when the pitch was lowest, we touched our toes.

Very good.

That's all we have time for for today.

Let's have a little recap on what we've learned.

We always remember that we warm up before singing to prevent us from injuring or hurting our voices.

We can use singing voices to sing songs and to play singing games.

When we sing a song, our voices sing high notes and low notes to make a melody.

And when we talk about high and low notes in music, we use the word pitch.

Fantastic work today, everybody.

Great joining in and I will see you next time.

Bye-bye.