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 a musical drone.

By the end of this lesson, you'll be able to recognise what a musical drone is.

You'll have the opportunity to perform using a musical drone, and you'll get the chance to compose using a musical drone.

To prepare for this lesson, all you will need is an exercise book or a piece of paper and a pencil.

So what is a musical drone? Now there are lots of different tricks that we can use in music to create different moods and atmospheres, and you can use some of these tricks to tell a musical story.

Have you ever heard of a musical drone? A musical drone is one sound that lasts a long time.

A musical drone is often used to create a scary atmosphere or bring some suspense to a story, making the audience think that something is about to happen.

Have a listen to this musical drone.

Whoa! Wasn't that musical drone a bit scary? There was only one note to start with.

In that example, the drone was played by a low-pitched string instrument.

It started off with just one note didn't it? And then, it started to move in small, tiny steps and then go back.

So it went.

And it got faster and faster and faster and faster, and we knew didn't we, as we listened to that, we knew something in the story was about to happen.

Let's have another listen.

So cool.

The thing about a musical drone is that it's often played in those low-pitched sounds and it creates such an atmosphere, doesn't it? Have a listen to this next example.

I want you to close your eyes this time and listen out for that musical drone.

Imagine what is happening.

Wow! There were quite a few drones going on there, wasn't there? There was that first one.

That was kind of playing by itself for a really long time.

When I heard that, I was wondering, what's going to happen next? Were you imagining as you was listening to that? What kind of story did you hear? I did give a clue away didn't I? Have a look at the picture on my screen.

This piece of music that we just listened to is from a film that is set in space.

That music that you can hear is the beginning of the film.

And so when listening to it, the audience automatically know that they're about to go somewhere that no one has ever been before.

Have a listen again.

What I love about this musical example is that as the music goes on, there's not just one musical drone, there's two, then three, then four, and they're building each other and they get louder, which automatically makes us think something's about to happen.

Let's listen to this space them one more time.

But this time, I want you to have a go at performing your own musical drone.

You need to take a big breath.

And then create that low sound and sing that for as long as you can.

Because as we heard in that musical example, that drone lasts a long time.

Are you ready? Gosh, drones are hard to sing, aren't they? Were you able to sing that really, really, really low sound? No, neither was I.

But it was good fun having a go pretending to be a musical drone, wasn't it? Now let's try one more time for fun.

So fun.

Okay.

For this next activity, we're going to create another drone.

But this time, our drone is going to represent this guy on the screen.

Now sharks have a reputation for being mean and scary.

So a musical drone would be a perfect musical device to represent that character.

Now, I think you heard the theme earlier, but a very, very, very famous theme that represents a scary shark is this one.

Okay, so after three, I'm going to let you a go.

I would like you try and perform a musical drone trying to scare us.

Would you like to copy me and perform a musical drone? Let's have a go together.

My turn, your turn.

Are you ready? Off we go.

Great job.

For your third learning activity today, I would like you to pause this video to complete a composing challenge.

Can you draw a short story? It could be about anything, but you can also take ideas from the two musical stories that we just looked at.

The one in space and the one with the shark.

I would like you to add a musical drone sound to your story to make it sound really scary and dramatic.

Maybe even find someone in your home to perform your composition to.

Welcome back.

How did your performance go? That's the end of our lesson now, but you've really been able to recognise what those musical drones are.

Well done.

You've had the chance to perform using musical drones and you can now compose using a musical drone.

Such a great job.

But before we go, we have to say goodby 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.