Lesson video

Hi, everyone.

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

In this lesson, we're going to learn about rhythmic contrasts.

By the end of this lesson, you'll be able to recognise different rhythmic contrasts.

You'll be able to read different rhythmic patterns.

You'll be able to notice rhythmic differences and you'll be able to compose contrasting rhythmic patterns.

But before we get started, 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 rhythmic contrast? Rhythms are musical patterns and contrasts are differences.

So rhythmic contrasts are when a musical pattern has differences.

Those differences can be short or long.

Have a listen.

Here's one rhythmic pattern.

And here's one that's contrasting to that.

Did you hear the difference? Have a listen again.

I had two contrasting rhythmic patterns there.

Now to practise this, we're going to play a game.

You may have played this before with your teachers.

It's called "Don't Clap This One Back." For this game, I'm going to clap some rhythmic patterns.

I would like you to copy them back.

Now these patterns are going to have rhythmic differences, which is fine, but I would like you to not clap this one back.

Don't clap this one back.

You got that? If you hear.

Don't clap this one back.

Don't clap that one back.

Are you ready? Here's my first rhythmic contrast.

Do you like it? Copy me.

Can you hear the differences? This one's a bit shorter and this one's a bit longer.

Good job.

Okay, here's another rhythmic contrast.

You hear it? This one had a shorter pattern this time and this one had a longer one.

Have another listen.

Would you like to clap along? Fantastic! How about this rhythmic pattern? Did you get it? Don't clap this one back.

I hope you didn't play that pattern.

Okay, now you've got the rules of the game.

I'm going to play a few different patterns.

For the first time, I'll have a go and then it'll be your turn to copy me.

If you hear "Don't clap this one back," do not clap, okay? Good luck.

Did you hear that? Don't clap.

Don't clap that one.

Keep listening.

Here are some more rhythmic differences.

Nice.

Hope you didn't play the last one.

So that's it.

So that's it.

Rhythmic contrasts are short and long rhythmic patterns.

Now, for our second learning activity today, we're going to look at how to perform different rhythmic patterns.

Have a look at the notes there on the screen.

Do you recognise them? If you don't, there's nothing to worry about.

Each of these notes represent one beat.

Have a listen.

So because there's four.

Sometimes when I forget different rhythmic patterns, I give some notes some nicknames.

This one we're going to call "ta." Ta, ta, ta, ta.

Should we try that again? Ta, ta, ta, ta.

Now these are some different rhythmic patterns.

They're called "ti-ti." One of them sounds like this.

Ti-ti.

Should we try that together? Ti-ti.

So as you can see on the screen, there are four ti-ti's there.

ti-ti, ti-ti, ti-ti, ti-ti.

Should we read that together? ti-ti, ti-ti, ti-ti, ti-ti.

Great reading.

Now this is where it gets fun.

We've got ta's.

And we've got ti-ti's.

Now this is where it gets really interesting.

We can create different rhythmic patterns using ta.

And ti-ti.

Okay? So, use your finger to follow the music on the screen with me and I'm going to play these rhythmic patterns.

You ready? Ta, ta, ta, ta.

Ti-ti, ti-ti, ti-ti, ti-ti.

Well done.

Can you hear those two rhythmic differences? They're very different but when you play them together, the music sounds pretty interesting.

Do you want to play that with me? Okay, let's try it together.

One, two, three, four.

Ta, ta, ta, ta.

Ti-ti, ti-ti, ti-ti, ti-ti.

Well done.

Let's try that again.

Ta, ta, ta, ta.

Ti-ti, ti-ti, ti-ti, ti-ti.

That's easy.

Well done.

Now, let's mix them up even further.

Have a look at this pattern.

What do you notice about the rhythmic differences? Can you see the different patterns there? Excellent.

Okay, I'm going to have a go playing this rhythm.

You use your finger to follow me.

And then on the second time, I'd like you to join me.

Are you ready? Finger ready? One, two, three, four.

Ta, ta, ti-ti, ta.

Are you ready to join me? One, two, three, four.

Ta, ta, ti-ti, ta.

Very good.

Let's try again.

One, two, three, four.

Ta, ta, ti-ti, ta.

Excellent.

Okay, let's keep moving.

We're going to do this again with a different rhythmic pattern.

First time, use your finger to follow and then you can join in with the claps.

Or if you think you've got it, have a go at joining me straight away.

One, two, three, four.

Ta, ti-ti, ta, ta.

How's that? Should we try again? Ta, ti-ti, ta, ta.

Well done.

One more time.

Ta, ti-ti, ta, ta.

Excellent reading.

Okay, it's going to get harder now.

We've got two lines of music and there's lots of different rhythmic patterns there for you to play with.

Feel free to use your finger to follow along at first.

But if you want to dive straight in, you're going to join me to create and perform.

We're going to read these rhythmic patterns.

Are you ready? One, two, three, four.

Ta, ta, ti-ti, ta.

Ta, ti-ti, ta, ta.

Oof, how was that? Tricky, isn't it? One, two, three, four.

Ta, ta, ti-ti, ta.

Ta, ti-ti, ta, ta.

Well done.

Okay, have a go, really following me this time.

Feel free to stare at the music, not at me.

You ready? One, two, three, four.

Ta, ta, ti-ti, ta.

Ta, ti-ti, ta, ta.

Excellent.

We're going to keep that going.

Have a look at this rhythmic pattern.

You ready to have a go? If not, feel free to pause the video and have a look at the screen.

Or just follow me with your finger for the first time, and then the second time you can join me.

You ready? One, two, three, four.

Ti-ti, ta, ta, ta.

Ta, ta, ta, ti-ti.

That was a bit tricky, wasn't it? Let's try again.

One, two, three, four.

Ti-ti, ta, ta, ta.

Ta, ta, ta, ti-ti.

Well done.

One more time.

One, two, three, four.

Ti-ti, ta, ta, ta.

Ta, ta, ta, ti-ti.

Well done.

Okay, we keep on going.

One, two, three, four.

Ti-ti, ta, ta, ta.

Ta, ta, ta, ti-ti.

Oh, that was a tricky one! Feel free to pause the video if you need to practise, otherwise let's have a go together.

One, two, three, four.

Ti-ti, ta, ta, ta.

Ta, ta, ta, ti-ti.

Excellent.

Let's do that just one more time.

Okay.

One, two, three, four.

Ti-ti, ta, ta, ta.

Ta, ta, ta, ti-ti.

Absolutely brilliant.

Okay.

I'm going to introduce a new rhythmic pattern now.

Just to mix things up a bit.

This sign is as long as a "ta" but, it's sleeping.

Shh.

So what you need to do, every time you see that sign, I want to see a "shh." And that "shh" is going to be as long as a ta.

Okay? It's a sleeping "ta." So, let's have a practise of including those sleeping "ta's" into our rhythm.

So this rhythmic pattern should sound like this.

And this rythmic pattern should sound like this.

Ta, ti-ti, ta, shh! Tricky, isn't it? So in this rhythmic pattern, you've got "ta's," you've got "ti-ti's." Ta, ti-ti.

But you've also got a "shh!" Should we try that together? One, two, three, four.

Ta, ti-ti, ta, shh! Nice.

Let's try again.

Ta, ti-ti, ta, shh! Excellent.

Okay.

So, you've got this now.

So here's a combination of different rhythmic patterns for you to play with.

We've got "ta's," we've got "ti-ti's" and we've got "shh!" Okay? We've also got two lines of music.

So there's a lot of rhythmic patterns to read.

To get this right, you'll need to look at the music, not at me.

For each piece of music, we'll play it three times.

So you're welcome to use your finger on the first one and just follow along.

Maybe pause it, have a practise.

On the second time, have a go at joining me.

And the third time you should get it and we'll be together playing this rhythmic pattern.

Okay? Let's have a go.

One, two, three, four.

Ta, shh, ti-ti, shh.

Ti-ti, shh, ta, shh.

Oh, that was fiddly, wasn't it? Let's have another go.

One, two, three, four.

Ta, shh, ti-ti, shh.

Ti-ti, shh, ta, shh.

Feel free to slow this down or pause the video.

Let's do it one more time.

You ready? One, two, three, four.

Ta, shh, ti-ti, shh.

Ti-ti, shh, ta, shh.

Absolutely brilliant! Well done.

If you want to have a go at practising those even more, feel free to rewind the video and you can read as many rhythmic patterns as you like, for as long as you like.

Now for a third learning activity today, I would like you to create your own rhythmic patterns.

You should have a pencil and a piece of paper nearby.

What I would like you to do is use your "ti-ti's" and your "ta's" and "shh", your sleeping "ta's" to be able to create your own rhythmic patterns.

So just like the ones we've played together, try and create your own.

Pause this video, get your piece of paper and pencil and have a go.

That's tricky stuff.

Well done.

Can you believe we're at the end of our lesson already.

But you have learned so much about rhythmic contrasts.

You've been able to recognise different rhythmic contrasts, you can read different rhythmic contrasts, you can notice the rhythmic differences and you can compose your own rhythmic patterns.

Fantastic! 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've 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.