Lesson video

Hello again, musicians.

My name is Mrs. Steele and I'm here to guide you through your music lesson today.

Today we are going to be performing and improvising within an ABA structure, and I'm really excited to get started, so here we go.

By the end of today's lesson, you will be able to perform an ABA piece, keeping a steady pulse, and improvising thoughtfully on the notes, do, mi, so, and la.

Let's take a look together at the keywords that will be important in our learning today.

There are quite a few, but we already know about lots of them.

The first one is call and response, a question and answer musical structure.

Improvise, to thoughtfully create new musical ideas in the moment.

Melody, a combination of notes to make a memorable tune.

Structure, the way music is organised.

And finally ensemble, a group of people who perform together.

That's what we are going to do today.

We are great at warming up our bodies and voices before every music lesson, because we know that it's important to help us sing safely.

Join in with these warmups where you are.

Here comes the video.

(wood knocking) Reach up to the sky and down to the ground.

To the side, to the side, turn around and clap.

(wood knocking) Reach up to the sky and down to the ground.

To the side, to the side, turn around and clap.

(wood knocking) Reach up to the sky and down to the ground.

To the side, to the side, turn around and clap.

Let's warm up all the muscles of our faces.

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.

Join in with these breathing exercises, copy me.

(hands scraping) (Steele blowing) Ss, ss, ss, ss.

♪ Ah, ah, ah ♪ She sells seashells by the seashore.

She sells seashells by the seashore.

These songs and chants will help us to warm up even further, as they help us to move our bodies and use our voices in lots of different and interesting ways.

First up, it's a video of me performing "Dipidu." Here's the video for you to join in, here I come.

♪ Good day, good day to you ♪ ♪ Good day, oh dipidu ♪ ♪ Good day, good day to you ♪ ♪ Good day, oh dipidu ♪ ♪ Dip, dip, dipidu ♪ ♪ Dipidu, oh dipidu ♪ ♪ Dip dip dip, dipidu ♪ ♪ Dipidu, oh dipidu ♪ Next join in with "Two, Four, Six, Eight." This is a partner chant.

Have a look at these pupils giving it a go, then it's your turn.

(wood knocking) Ready, steady, off we go.

<v Children>Two, four, six, eight.

</v> Meet me at the garden gate.

If I'm late, don't wait.

Two, four, six, eight.

<v ->And finally, join in with these pupils</v> in "Do As I'm Doing", here comes the video.

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

</v> ♪ 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 ♪ ♪ 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 ♪ <v ->Let's see if you're ready to sing.

</v> Do your muscles feel loose, is your throat relaxed, and are you alert and ready to focus? Brilliant news, let's keep going.

Let's begin by improvising in a group, using do, mi, so, and la.

Join in with our rhyme and game "Bakery Shop." Here comes the video.

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

</v> ♪ Down on the corner at the bakery shop ♪ ♪ There were five little cupcakes with sprinkles on top ♪ ♪ Along came Lucas, all alone ♪ ♪ He bought one cupcake and took it home ♪ ♪ Down on the corner at the bakery shop ♪ ♪ There were four little cupcakes with sprinkles on top ♪ ♪ Along came Alex, all alone ♪ ♪ He bought one cupcake, and took it home ♪ ♪ Down on the corner at the bakery shop ♪ ♪ There were three little cupcakes with sprinkles on top ♪ ♪ Along came Laura, all alone ♪ ♪ She bought one cupcake and took it home ♪ ♪ Down on the corner at the bakery shop ♪ ♪ There were two little cupcakes with sprinkles on top ♪ ♪ Along came Sofia, all alone ♪ ♪ She bought one cupcake and took it home ♪ ♪ Down on the corner at the bakery shop ♪ ♪ There was one little cupcake with sprinkles on top ♪ ♪ Along came Jacob, all alone ♪ ♪ He bought one cupcake, and took it home ♪ <v ->What did you buy at the bakery shop?</v> Can you practise clapping the call? It's my turn first.

(clapping) What treat did you buy? Fantastic, and let's choose a response.

I'm going to start with, (clapping) I bought apple pie.

Or I could choose, (clapping) I bought bread rolls.

Or, (clapping) I bought jam doughnuts.

Or my favourite one, I probably would choose this.

(clapping) I bought lemon drizzle.

We can improvise simple melodies by playing our bakery rhythms on pitched percussion instruments.

For this lesson, we'll be using the following bars on our pitched percussion instruments.

C or do, E, mi, G, so, and A, la.

Let's listen to a simple melody for our call, here it comes.

(bright tone music) ♪ What treat did you buy ♪ <v ->Now can you try singing the call? My turn first.

</v> ♪ What treat did you buy ♪ That sounded great.

It's time to improvise a melody for your response now.

First try clapping your response, here's mine.

(clapping) I bought lemon drizzle.

Using your own rhythm, improvise a melody on your instrument.

Remember to use only the notes do, mi, so, and la, but you don't need to use all of those notes, if you don't want to.

Pause the video now to try clapping your response, and then improvising a melody for it on your pitched percussion instrument, have a great time.

Let's make some music with a partner now.

Take turns improvising with your partner, using a call and response structure.

One pupil will sing the call.

♪ What treat did you buy ♪ And then the other pupil will improvise a response.

This one sounds like this.

♪ So so, mi mi, do do ♪ ♪ I bought lemon drizzle ♪ I wonder what your improvised responses will sound like? Repeat this activity a few times with your partner, aiming to improvise a new melody each time.

Pause now to complete that partner musical challenge.

Great work, everyone.

Now you can improvise with a partner, using call and response structure.

We can also improvise as part of a group ensemble.

Make a group of four, each with your own pitched percussion instrument for your ensemble.

Pause now to get into your ensemble groups of four.

We're going to improvise as a group, using the bakery rhythms you chose earlier.

Play your bakery rhythms in turn, improvising a melody on your pitched percussion instruments.

Before you have a go at that where you are, let's see how some of our Oak friends got on with that challenge.

Sofia, Jun, Izzy and Andy have made an ensemble of four.

Listen to this ensemble improvise together.

(bright tone music) Before it's your turn to complete that challenge, let's have a quick check in with our learning.

Who do you agree with? Aisha says, "When I improvise, I plan and practise which notes I'm going to play, and write them down so that I will remember them." And Laura says, "When I improvise, I think about what I might play, like the rhythm or which notes I might use, but the final product is played in the moment." Pause now to decide who you agree with.

Here comes the answer, Laura is right this time.

Well done Laura, and well done you if you remembered that.

Great understanding of improvising.

Now it's time to get ready for your improvising as an ensemble.

You are going to practise improvising in your ensemble group, taking turns improvising new melodies for your bakery rhythms. Decide which order which you'll play, and sit in this order with your pitched percussion instruments, so you're ready to go.

Play your bakery rhythms in turn, improvising a melody on your own pitched percussion instrument.

Remember to use the notes do, mi, so, and la, aiming to keep a steady pulse as you play.

Pause here to play in your ensemble, good luck.

Welcome back, how did it go? You were successful if you listened to other members of your group, you were ready to play, you kept a steady pulse, and played at the same tempo as the rest of the group, and you played your improvised bakery melody accurately, choosing from the notes do, mi, so, and la.

Congratulations if you did any or all of those things.

What successful playing.

Now we're going to rehearse and perform our ABA piece.

We are going to create a musical performance played on our pitched percussion instruments.

We're going to use our skills playing and improvising melodies, using do, mi, so, and la.

And we're going to organise our musical ideas, giving our piece structure.

For our performance, we're going to combine our improvised bakery melodies from earlier with our song, "Apple Tree." We are going to structure our performance like a musical sandwich.

For the A section we're going to play "Apple Tree." Our B section will be our improvised melodies, using our bakery rhythms just like we've done earlier today.

And for our A section, we'll finish by playing "Apple Tree" again.

That will complete our sandwich.

Before we try that, it's time for another check-in.

In ABA musical structure, the A section is, A, the same as the B section.

B, different each time we hear it.

Or C, repeat it again at the end.

Which one do you think is the right answer? Pause now to decide.

Here comes the answer, in ABA musical structure, the A section is repeated again at the end.

Fantastic understanding, well done.

You'll perform your ABA piece in your ensemble.

Before a performance, it's important to rehearse together.

Andeep's saying that, "When we rehearse together, we learn to work as a team, and our final performance will be better." That's absolutely right, Andeep.

Let's think about how we can be successful while playing in an ensemble.

Some of our Oak friends have some ideas.

Aisha says, "We should start and finish at the same time." Good idea.

Jacob says, "We should play together at the same tempo and volume," yes we should.

And Laura's idea is that, "We should keep a steady pulse as we play together." All three of those things are really going to help us play successfully in our ensembles.

It's time for another check-in, true or false? When you rehearse in an ensemble, you should focus on playing your own part properly, and ignore everybody else.

Do you think that's true or false? That's false, of course it is.

When musicians rehearse together, it's important they work as a team, listen to each other, and help the whole group improve.

I'm sure you remembered that, well done musicians.

Working in your ensemble of four, rehearse your "Apple Tree" ABA piece.

For the A section, practise playing "Apple Tree" together as an ensemble group, and for section B, practise improvising melodies using your bakery rhythms. When rehearsing "Apple Tree" for your A section, remember to play together as a group, keeping a steady pulse.

You should start and finish at the same time.

It will help to chant, "Ready, steady, off we go", before you begin.

Listen to each other as you play, aiming to play at the same tempo and volume.

You'll want to do this part of your practising at your own pace where you are, so I'm going to show you the slides that you might need to play.

Then at the end of them you can pause, and you can always go back a little bit, if you want to see a particular slide again as you are practising , here they come.

There you go, pause now to practise the A section, "Apple Tree", with your ensemble.

Now it's time to practise improvising as a group for your B section.

Play your bakery rhythms in turn, improvising a melody on your own pitched percussion instrument, just like Sofia, Jun, Izzy, and Andy have done here.

Pause now to practise your B section.

When you are ready, it's time to perform your ABA piece for an audience, or you could record it.

Pause now to perform your final piece.

Excellent music making, everyone.

Let's take a moment to evaluate our performance.

What went well, and how could you have improved? Here are some of our Oak friends with their ideas.

You might like to pause now, and evaluate your performance where you are.

Now that we've come to the end of our lesson today, let's take a moment to think about everything that we've been learning.

We know that we can improvise alone, with a partner, or in an ensemble.

We can improvise thoughtfully, think about which notes we might use, or which rhythm we might play.

We know that when we play and improvise in a group ensemble, it's important to listen to each other, and keep a steady pulse, and we can structure our musical performance to make it more interesting.

What a lot of musical learning today, I had a great time.

I'm looking forward to seeing you again soon, bye everyone.