Lesson video

Hi everyone, I'm Ms. Boyd and I'll be your music teacher today.

In this lesson, we are going to learn about contrasting melodies.

By the end of today's lesson you will learn how to recognise contrasting melodies, you'll get a chance to perform contrasting melodies, and you'll be able to compose using contrasting melodies.

But before we get started it, should we begin with a hello song? ♪ Off we go ♪ ♪ Hello hello it's good to see you ♪ ♪ Hello hello it's good to see you ♪ ♪ I must say you've made my day ♪ ♪ Hello hello hello ♪ So what is melody? Melody is simply just the tune of a piece of music.

But contrasting melodies are really interesting.

That's when you have different parts of a piece of music that have different tunes or different melodies and because they're different, it sounds really interesting.

If you have the same tune throughout the entire piece of music, it would sound pretty boring after a while.

Let's see if we can recognise some contrasting melodies by using this song.

For our first challenge today have a listen to this song.

I'd like you to try and tell me where there differences in the melody, in the tune.

What parts of the song are the same and what parts are different? Have a listen.

♪ Off I go ♪ ♪ There's a hole in the middle of the sea ♪ ♪ There's a hole in the middle of the sea ♪ ♪ There's a hole there's a hole ♪ ♪ There's a hole there's a hole ♪ ♪ There's a hole in the middle of the sea ♪ Now that simple chorus had two contrasting melodies, did you notice which ones they were? I'll have a go singing it again.

Listen out for them.

♪ Off I go ♪ ♪ There's a hole in the middle of the sea ♪ ♪ There's a hole in the middle of the sea ♪ ♪ There's a hole there's a hole ♪ ♪ There's a hole there's a hole ♪ ♪ There's a hole in the middle of the sea ♪ So in this song, there were two different types of melodies.

Firstly, you had the, ♪ There's a hole in the middle of the sea ♪ Right? That tune happens, it actually happens three times.

You've got, ♪ There's a hole in the middle of the sea ♪ ♪ There's a hole in the middle of the sea ♪ But the third phrase is very different.

♪ There's a hole there's a hole ♪ ♪ There's a hole there's a hole ♪ Okay so we've got very different contrasting melody over here, and then the fourth line goes back to, ♪ There's a hole in the middle of the sea ♪ So there are four phrases to this song.

The first and the second one really are the same.

♪ There's a hole in the middle of the sea ♪ ♪ There's a hole in the middle of the sea ♪ Very similar.

Then you have the third phrase which is really different to the first two.

♪ There's a hole here's a hole ♪ ♪ There's a hole there's a hole ♪ And then the last phrase comes back to the same one at the beginning.

♪ There's a hole in the middle of the sea ♪ So we actually have contrasting melodies there.

Let's have a go at singing that together now that we know that there are contrasting melodies in this song.

♪ Off we go ♪ ♪ There's a hole in the middle of the sea ♪ ♪ There's a hole in the middle of the sea ♪ ♪ There's a hole there's a hole ♪ ♪ There's a hole there's a hole ♪ ♪ There's a hole in the middle of the sea ♪ Now, because there were two types of melody in this song we are going to use our hands to represent those two types of melodies.

And I really want you to listen out for those differences.

So when you hear the first melody I want you to raise this hand.

And when you hear the second melody, you're going to switch to this side.

First melody, contrasting different melody.

Okay.

♪ Off we go ♪ ♪ There's a hole in the middle of the sea ♪ ♪ There's a hole in the middle of the sea ♪ ♪ There's a hole there's a hole ♪ ♪ there's a hole there's a hole ♪ ♪ There's a whole in the middle of the sea ♪ Well done.

For our second activity today, let's try and do the same thing, but this time we're going to perform those contrasting melodies really clearly.

We're going to sing three blind mice.

I'll sing through the whole song first and then I'll explain what we're going to do ♪ Off I go ♪ ♪ Three blind mice three blind mice ♪ ♪ See how they run see how they run ♪ ♪ They all ran after the farmer's wife ♪ ♪ Who cut off their tails with a carving knife ♪ ♪ Did you ever see such a thing in your life ♪ ♪ As three blind mice ♪ Again, in that song there are two contrasting melodies.

You have ♪ Three blind mice three blind mice ♪ ♪ Da da da da da da ♪ That pattern stays the same for the first part of the song.

Then you have that contrasting section that has a really different melody.

♪ They all ran after the farmer's wife ♪ ♪ Who cut off their tails with a carving knife ♪ ♪ Did you ever see such a thing in your life ♪ Very different, two.

♪ Three blind mice ♪ which is how the song ends.

So we have, again, similarly to the last song the first section has one type of melody.

The middle section has a completely different melody.

And then we come back at the end for another round of that first melody.

So let's sing this all together.

We use our hands again to represent when the melody changes.

So the first time you hear a melody, I want to see this side, when it changes you go back to this side.

If it changes back, you go back here.

Are you ready? ♪ Off we go ♪ ♪ Three blind mice three blind mice ♪ ♪ See how they run see how they run ♪ ♪ They all ran after the farmer's wife ♪ ♪ Who cut off their tails with a carving knife ♪ ♪ Did you ever see such a thing in your life ♪ ♪ As three blind mice ♪ Okay, so now we know that there were those two different contrasting melodies in this song that it's performing and really stressed those differences in the melody.

Are you ready? ♪ Off we go ♪ ♪ Three blind mice three blind mice ♪ ♪ See how they run see how they run ♪ ♪ They all ran after the farmer's wife ♪ ♪ Who cut off their tails with a carving knife ♪ ♪ Did you ever see such a thing in your life ♪ ♪ As three blind mice ♪ Well done.

Now there are lots of things you can do with contrasting melodies once you learn how to create them.

And so now it's your turn to create some contrasting melodies.

I'm going to teach you this song.

And in this song, you get the chance to compose, to make, to create, your own contrasting melody.

Now for it to be contrasting, it has to be different to what I've sung already.

Have a go at performing this song with me first.

It's a call and response which means I sing a line, and then you copy me back.

Are you ready? ♪ Off I go ♪ ♪ The telephone is ringing ♪ ♪ Could it be for you ♪ ♪ Could it be for key stage one ♪ ♪ No no no no no its for Ms. Boyd ♪ So this song is a bit of a game.

The first three lines is a call and response where you get to copy me.

♪ The telephone is ringing ♪ ♪ Could it be for you ♪ ♪ Could it be for key stage one ♪ And then after you've copied those lines, it is your turn to make up a different melody.

The main melody is ♪da da da da da da ♪ Okay? But then when it comes to, could it be for key stage one, I'd like you to create a contrasting melody there and say ♪ No no no no no it's for Ms. Boyd.

♪ Okay? So let's have a go.

♪ Off we go my turn ♪ ♪ The telephone is ringing ♪ ♪ Could it be for you ♪ ♪ Could it be for key stage one ♪ ♪ No no no no no it's for Ms Boyd ♪ So this time I'll sing the first part of the melody, and then when it comes on to, could it be for key stage one I'd like you to tell me no, no, no, no, no.

It's for Ms Boyd.

But you can create any melody you like, okay? Off we go.

One, two, three.

♪ Off We go ♪ ♪ The telephone is ringing ♪ ♪ Could it be for you ♪ ♪ Could it be for key stage one ♪ Well done.

I hope that melody was contrasting, really different to what we've sung before.

Let's try again.

♪ Off we go ♪ ♪ The telephone is ringing ♪ ♪ Could it for you ♪ ♪ Could it be for key stage one ♪ Excellent.

Feel free to pause the video, have a go at playing around with that song and make sure that you really, really demonstrate the difference between two different types of melodies so that they're so contrasting.

We're at the end of our lesson already, but well done you've really got the hang of those contrasting melodies.

You were able to recognise contrasting melodies, you performed some contrasting melodies, and you even composed some contrasting melodies.

Well done.

But before we go, we have to say goodbye properly with our goodbye song.

Are you ready? ♪ Off we go ♪ ♪ Goodbye goodbye ♪ ♪ It's time to go now ♪ ♪ Goodbye goodbye ♪ ♪ It's time to go now ♪ ♪ I must say you have made my day ♪ ♪ Goodbye goodbye goodbye ♪ If you'd like to share some of the music we've made together today, feel free to ask your parent or carer to share your work on social media.