Lesson video

- ♪ Hello, everyone ♪ Welcome back to lesson two: Improvising Rhythmic Patterns.

Today, we're going to be learning what improvising is and we're going to be using our hands and creating lots of rhythms. We're also going to be learning songs and playing a few games as well, finishing with a quiz.

Are you ready? Let's go! In this lesson, we will be recapping what call and response means, we're going to understand the term improvise, we're going to improvise rhythmic patterns, and we're going to improvise rhythmic patterns in time with the pulse.

In this lesson, you will need; your hands, again, you will see a pattern through these lessons, we're going to be using them a lot.

And of course your brain.

Activity one: recapping what call and response means.

In lesson one, we learned the song "Step back, baby, step back".

Let's have a recap to see if we can remember how that song goes.

This week, we're going to add in a dance action.

So in the call section, you're going to walk forwards.

♪ Not last night, but the night before ♪ And then we go, ♪ Step back, baby, step back ♪ and we move backwards, so we're going to go in and out.

If you're playing this with somebody at home, you could stand in a circle if you wanted to, and you all go in and all go out.

Shall we have a go, all the way through? I would like you to join in with the response first of all.

Okay? ♪ Here we go, ♪ ♪ Not last night, but he night before ♪ ♪ Step back, baby, step back ♪ ♪ 24 robbers at my door ♪ ♪ Step back, baby, step back ♪ ♪ Open up the door and let them in ♪ ♪ Step back, baby, step back ♪ ♪ Hit 'em on the head with a rolling pin ♪ ♪ Step back, baby, step back ♪ ♪ I picked up my fryin' pan ♪ ♪ Step back, baby, step back ♪ ♪ Should have seen the way those robbers ran ♪ ♪ Step back, baby, step back ♪ ♪ Some ran east and some ran west ♪ ♪ Step back, baby, step back ♪ ♪ Some flew over the cuckoo's nest ♪ ♪ Step back, baby, step back ♪ Did you manage to fit in all the call and response sections? Well, done if you did and managed to go backwards on the response as well.

This time you are going to have a go at the call.

Okay? So remember when you're singing, you are walking forwards, and when I'm singing the response, I'm going to be moving backwards.

Are we ready? ♪ Off you go ♪ ♪ Not last night, but the night before ♪ ♪ Step back, baby, step back ♪ ♪ 24 robbers at my door ♪ ♪ Step back, baby, step back ♪ ♪ Open up the door and let them in ♪ ♪ Step back, baby, step back ♪ ♪ Hit 'em on the head with a rolling pin ♪ ♪ Step back, baby, step back ♪ ♪ I picked up my fryin' pan ♪ ♪ Step back, baby, step back ♪ ♪ Should have seen the way those robbers ran ♪ ♪ Step back, baby, step back ♪ ♪ Some ran east and some ran west ♪ ♪ Step back, baby, step back ♪ ♪ Some flew over the cuckoo's nest ♪ ♪ Step back, baby, step back ♪ Well done.

Right, this time you can choose whether you join in with the call or the response.

I'm going to sing both.

But we're going to go a little bit faster.

The tempo is faster.

Are we ready? Remember the stamping is our pulse.

Okay? So if I go faster, my feet are going to go faster as well.

Okay? So our tempo is going to go like this.

♪ Not last night, but the night before ♪ ♪ Step back, baby, step back ♪ Ready? One, two.

♪ Off we go, ♪ ♪ Not last night, but the night before ♪ ♪ Step back, baby, step back ♪ ♪ 24 robbers at my door ♪ ♪ Step back, baby, step back ♪ ♪ Open up the door and let them in ♪ ♪ Step back, baby, step back ♪ ♪ Hit 'em on the head with a rolling pin ♪ ♪ Step back, baby, step back ♪ ♪ I picked up my fryin' pan ♪ ♪ Step back, baby, step back ♪ ♪ Should have seen the way those robbers ran ♪ ♪ Step back, baby, step back ♪ ♪ Some ran east and some ran west ♪ ♪ Step back, baby, step back ♪ ♪ Some flew over the cuckoo's nest ♪ ♪ Step back, baby, step back ♪ Well done if you manage to keep up.

Now, can you remember? This song is call on response, isn't it? This time what I'd sort of we'd like you to do, instead of singing the words, 'step back, baby, step back', I would like you to clap the rhythm.

So it's going to go something like this.

♪ Not last night, but the night before ♪ Okay? I am also goin to tend to call into a rhythm.

So how about listen? This is the first part.

Okay? Shall we have a go? Remember, every single one is the same.

How many lines are there? Count them up.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven.

Eight times, we're going to do this.

Should we see if we can do it and count the right number? Using your thinking voice for the words really helps.

I will do the call, you're going to do the response.

Here we go.

One, two, three, four.

Well done.

We're going to have a go at improvising some responses this time.

So instead of doing, ♪ Step back, baby, step back ♪ we're going to change it.

You're going to think of a response.

If you want to use words to help you, you can, or you can just clap the rhythm back.

So, for example, if I did, ♪ Not last night, but the night before ♪ you could say.

♪ It was dark, it was dark ♪ Okay? ♪ 24 robbers at my door ♪ ♪ I am sad, I am sad ♪ ♪ Open up the door and let them in ♪ ♪ I don't think so, I don't think so ♪ ♪ Hit 'em on the head with a rolling pin ♪ ♪ Hit 'em hard, hit 'em hard ♪ I was thinking of those off the top of my head.

I was improvising and I used words to help me.

What I would like you to do now, is pause the video and have a little think about what your responses could be.

Because we're doing rhythmic responses, I'm going to speak the song and I want you to fill in the gap with your own idea.

So pause the video now just to have a little think.

Right.

Are we ready? I'll do the call and then you're going to answer with a different improvised section.

Are we ready? One, two.

My turn.

♪ Not last night, but the night before ♪ ♪ 24 robbers at my door ♪ ♪ Open up the door and let them in ♪ ♪ Hit 'em on the head with a rolling pin ♪ ♪ I picked up my fryin' pan ♪ ♪ Should have seen the way those robbers ran ♪ ♪ Some ran east and some ran west ♪ ♪ Some flew over the cuckoo's nest ♪ How did you get on? Did you manage to fit all of your sections before I started saying the next line? It's really important that we fit our answer in the gap.

How many beats do we have to fit it in? Have a listen.

Four beats? If you didn't quite manage to fit your answer in, rewind and have one more turn of fitting in your answers.

Activity two, to understand the term 'improvise'.

So what does improvise actually mean? It means to make it up.

There is no plan before you perform.

When you are improvising a pattern, you make it up on the spot.

Right, we are going to have a go at improvising some patterns.

In this one, you will see two patterns already written on the screen and today I've done it in pictures.

So if we look at the first one, it goes like this.

One, two, three, four.

And then I want you to think of a body percussion sequence to answer it.

So I might go like this.

One, two, three, four.

One, two, three, four.

Okay? I made that up, I was improvising, but it still fit after the call.

Okay? Right.

Let's have a go.

I'll do the first bit.

And then I want you to answer me with your own pattern.

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

One, two, three, four.

One, two, three, four.

Did you manage to think of something? Let's have another go, This time I'm going to go a little bit faster, making it even more tricky.

Remember, whatever the pulse is, you've got to stay with it, okay? So if I go like this, Stamp, stamp, clap, clap.

One, two, three, four.

I still have to keep up.

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

One, two, three, four.

One, two, three, four.

One, two, three, four.

One, two, three, four.

Well done, let's see this time if you can do both patterns.

So you're going to do the pattern with me and then an answer and then a pattern with me and then the answer.

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

Stamp, stamp, clap, clap.

One, two, three, four.

Stamp, tap, stamp, tap.

One, two, three, four.

Did you manage to improvise a pattern? Well done.

Remember, you can play with somebody else at home if you would like to.

Let's have one more go at some patterns now.

I am going to do another call and response idea, but this time I'm going to ask you a question.

For example, I might go, ♪ What are you having for your dinner tonight ♪ And you might answer, ♪ Fish and chips, fish and chips ♪ and we're going to improvise that.

It's going to be straight away.

We're not writing it down.

Hopefully the questions will help you to answer.

Okay? Are we ready? Get your brains on, get your hands ready.

Whatever you say, you need to match the words with your clapping and your rhythm.

Okay? Here we go.

♪ What are you having for your dinner tonight ♪ ♪ Have you got a pet ♪ ♪ What do you like to do at school ♪ ♪ What was your favourite sport to play ♪ Did you manage to get the answers in straight away? It's hard to think really quickly, isn't it? Should we have another go? This time, I'm going to change the questions again.

Are you ready? So this is our pulse.

Okay, let me think of my improvised question.

Hmm.

Okay.

I've got it.

♪ Do you have any brothers or sisters ♪ ♪ Who is the tallest in your family ♪ ♪ What is the weather outside today ♪ ♪ Do you like ice cream ♪ Oh, wish I could hear your answers.

I'd love to know if you like ice cream.

I definitely do.

Let's recap with a true or false question.

Improvising is when we write down a pattern and perform it.

True or false? It's false.

When we're improvising, we never write it down because we are making up as we go along.

Activity three, to improvise rhythmic patterns.

Activity four, to improvise rhythmic patterns in time to the pulse.

Right we're going to have a go at a game called plug the gap now.

You will see on the screen that there are four crotchet beats.

Each one is worth one.

In between the four crotchets and the next four crotchets there is a gap, so it will sound like this.

One, two, three, four, gap, two, three, four.

One, two, three, four, gap, two, three, four.

Guess what? You have to plug the gap, which means you have to fill it.

So very similar to the backings that we just did, you have to put a response in after I clap the four crotchets.

Just be careful that it fits in those four beats before I do the next four.

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

Did you manage to plug the gap? Well done.

This is another great one to play with somebody at home.

Well done on all your learning today.

You've done a fantastic job.

Hopefully you now know what improvising means.

To make sure you have been trying really hard this lesson, I have created a quiz to see if you can remember everything we have learnt.

So don't forget to complete it before you finish this lesson.

Well done for working so hard today.

Remember, if you would like to share your work with the class teacher, please ask a parent or carer.

If you would like to please ask your parent or carer to share your work on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter, tagging @OakNational and #LearnwithOak.

I hope to see you next time for lesson three.

Bye-bye.