Lesson video

Hi everyone and thank you for joining me today for lesson four in our unit all about melody.

Today we're learning about melody and something called tonality, which I will explain in a bit, let's get started.

In this lesson, you will need your headphones if you would like to use them.

If not, don't worry, just find somewhere you can sit a focus, where it's quiet and you'll also need a pen and paper.

I'm definitely your singing voice.

As well as this, we're going to use household items today to play along to the melody.

So you may want to find a pan and spoon or something similar.

So pause the video now, go and fetch these items and then come back and resume once you're ready.

Today we're going to recap our previous lessons.

We're going to learn a new song called Woolly Mammoth.

We are going to learn about tonality, about keys and chords.

We're going to do a tonality listening test where I quiz you and we'll finish with a listening exercise.

Well, we have learnt so many different things in this unit.

So let's recap, lesson one, we learned what a melody consists of.

Two things, can you remember? I'm sure you know by now, pitch and rhythm.

Fantastic, so our pitch, our rhythm come together, makes our tune which is also our melody.

And we learnt a tuneful song, can we sing it together in unison? Meaning we sing it together.

♪ Off we go ♪ ♪ A melody is a tune ♪ ♪ Sometimes memorable for me and you ♪ ♪ Made by pitches and a rhythm too ♪ ♪ To satisfy your every mood ♪ And then we learned the second song, Lowlands Away.

We sang it in unison and I played the keyboard accompaniment really good.

♪ Off we go ♪ ♪ Lowland, lowlands away my boy ♪ ♪ Lowlands away I heard them say ♪ ♪ Lie low and away ♪ And moving on to lesson two, we discovered something called a scale.

And it was a specific scale.

I wonder if you remember which one it was.

It was the C major scale.

Brilliant if you remembered that, and we saw the C major scale written out on the xylophone.

Can we have a go at singing our C major scale together? Singing the letters but putting the numbers in our fingers, okay.

♪ Off we go, ♪ ♪ C, D, E, F, G ♪ ♪ A, B, C ♪ ♪ Try again for me ♪ ♪ C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C ♪ Really good, then we learnt a four line melody, which you played on the online xylophone.

Can we have a practise singing the four line melody? If you want an extra challenge, you can try with me to put the numbers which match the notes.

So for example, this is C, this is G, this is F, this is E, this is D and this is our top C.

♪ Off we go ♪ ♪ C, D, E, C, G, G, G ♪ ♪ C, D, E, C, D, D, D ♪ ♪ C, D, E, C, G, G, G ♪ ♪ C, D, F, E, D, C ♪ And in lesson three, we learnt about themes, motifs and tone poems. Now, our theme, can you remember what it was about? Can you picture it in your mind? That was all flying dragon theme.

So imagine you're watching a film and the flying dragon theme starts playing and you see flying dragons and then near the end of the film, that music comes back.

And you recognise that melody.

And you start thinking of the dragons, and then maybe the dragons appear in that moment.

So that theme has been really effective in making you think about the flying dragons.

And we also had our motifs, tiny little melodies that remind us of maybe certain objects or creatures.

For example, this one.

What was this again? The butterflies, really well done.

What about this one? The castle, fantastic and what about this one? That one was the golden path and the golden forest.

Can we sing our flying dragon theme? ♪ Off we go ♪ ♪ I want to fly away on dragon's wings ♪ ♪ Fly to the moon and back again in spring ♪ ♪ Fly to the castle hear the butterflies sing ♪ ♪ When I'm home again on Saturday ♪ ♪ A present I will bring ♪ And then we learnt about tone poems and we listened to that beautiful piece of music by Elgar and his tone poem was a way of expressing how much he cared about his love.

So it was almost like a love letter.

We are going to learn our Woolly Mammoth song now.

So you're going to need your household item, here's my sauce pan, here's my spatula.

And if you're using the same as me, then great.

If not, use whatever you've chosen, we're trying to make the sound of a stomping, heavy mammoth walking along the ground.

Can you join in on the beat with me? Can you put the beat into your feet as well? Really heavy feet, heavy bodies.

I'm going to sing the melody, join in on the beat with me and then we'll learn melody together.

♪ Off I go, thump, thump, thump ♪ ♪ Thump, thump, thump, the mammoth is on the move ♪ ♪ Lump, lump, lump, pump, pump, pump ♪ ♪ Let's get in the mammoth dance groove ♪ ♪ Let's dance the mammoth thumpety thump ♪ ♪ Let's dance the mammoth humpety hump ♪ ♪ Let's dance the mammoth thumpety thump ♪ ♪ We're on the move and we're in the groove ♪ ♪ Thump, thump, thump ♪ ♪ Thump, thump, thump ♪ ♪ The mammoth is on the move ♪ Brilliant, let's learn the melody line by line I'll sing it first, you repeat it back, you can put the beat in as well.

♪ Thump, thump, thump ♪ ♪ Thump, thump, thump ♪ ♪ The mammoth is on the move ♪ Have a go.

Well done.

♪ Lump, lump, lump, pump, pump, pump ♪ ♪ Let's get in the mammoth dance groove ♪ ♪ Let's dance the mammoth thumpety thump ♪ ♪ Let's dance the mammoth humpety hump ♪ ♪ Let's dance the mammoth thumpety thump ♪ ♪ We're on the move and we're in the groove ♪ ♪ We're on the move and we're in the groove ♪ ♪ Thump, thump, thump ♪ ♪ Thump, thump, thump ♪ ♪ The mammoth is on the move ♪ Excellent, we are going to try all of woolly mammoth, you are going to stay on the beat with your feet and your instrument.

You're going to sing the melody in your voice.

I will play keyboard accompaniment.

♪ One, two, off we go ♪ ♪ Thump, thump, thump ♪ ♪ Thump, thump, thump ♪ ♪ The mammoth is on the move ♪ ♪ Lump, lump, lump ♪ ♪ Bump, bump, bump ♪ ♪ Let's get in the mammoth dance groove ♪ ♪ Let's dance the mammoth, thumpety thump ♪ ♪ Let's dance the mammoth, humpety, hump ♪ ♪ Let's dance the mammoth, thumpety, thump ♪ ♪ We're on the move and we're in the groove ♪ ♪ Thump, thump, thump ♪ ♪ Thump, thump, thump ♪ ♪ The mammoth is on the move ♪ We've had to go at our woolly mammoth song all the way through, thumping along, doing the mammoth dance.

I'd now like you to listen really carefully.

I'm going to sing it all the way through.

It's going to be really similar but really different at the same time.

And this is what tonality is about, have a listen.

♪ Thump, thump, thump ♪ ♪ Thump, thump, thump ♪ ♪ The mammoth is on the move ♪ ♪ Lump, lump, lump ♪ ♪ Bump, bump, bump ♪ ♪ Let's get in the mammoth dance groove ♪ ♪ Let's dance the mammoth, thumpety thump ♪ ♪ Let's dance the mammoth, humpety, hump ♪ ♪ Let's dance the mammoth, thumpety, thump ♪ ♪ We're on the move and we're in the groove ♪ ♪ Thump, thump, thump ♪ ♪ Thump, thump, thump ♪ ♪ The mammoth is on the move ♪ We are going to learn about tonality.

Tonality, keys, chords.

If a song is in a major key, it is bright, joyful, happy, cheerful, grand.

If a piece of music is in a minor key, it is darker, can you hear the difference, minor, major.

We have something called chords.

Chords are a group of notes put together and they could be a major chord.

That wasn't even a major chord, I wonder if you caught me out there.

It could be a major chord, it could be a minor chord, major chord, minor chord, major chord, minor chord.

Our woolly mammoth song started in a minor key.

We sung the whole thing together in a minor key.

With minor chords, except this one.

This is a major chord, have a listen.

Then it went back to the minor.

And then I sang woolly mammoth all the way through for you in a major key, did you hear? I swapped it and we went into a brighter version.

That meant that the melody had to ever so slightly change from.

Our minor to our major.

Can we have a go at singing Woolly Mammoth together in our major key.

♪ Off we go ♪ ♪ Thump, thump, thump ♪ ♪ Thump, thump, thump ♪ ♪ The mammoth is on the move ♪ ♪ Lump, lump, lump ♪ ♪ Bump, bump, bump ♪ ♪ Let's get in the mammoth dance groove ♪ Stay in the major.

♪ Let's dance the mammoth, thumpety thump ♪ ♪ Let's dance the mammoth, humpety, hump ♪ ♪ Let's dance the mammoth, thumpety, thump ♪ ♪ We're on the move and we're in the groove ♪ Can we swap to minor key? ♪ Thump, thump, thump ♪ ♪ Thump, thump, thump ♪ ♪ The mammoth is on the move ♪ Can you hear the difference between the two? Here's a challenge, I'm going to call out major key or minor key and you're going to swap your melody to fit.

Let's start, Woolly Mammoth major key.

♪ Off we go ♪ ♪ Thump, thump, thump ♪ ♪ Thump, thump, thump ♪ ♪ The mammoth is on the move ♪ Minor.

♪ Lump, lump, lump ♪ ♪ Bump, bump, bump ♪ ♪ Let's get in the mammoth dance groove ♪ Major.

♪ Let's dance the mammoth, thumpety thump ♪ ♪ Let's dance the mammoth, humpety, hump ♪ ♪ Let's dance the mammoth, thumpety, thump ♪ ♪ We're on the move and we're in the groove ♪ Minor for me.

♪ Thump, thump, thump ♪ ♪ Thump, thump, thump ♪ ♪ The mammoth is on the move ♪ I'd like to know which you prefer, Woolly Mammoth in major key or Woolly Mammoth in minor key or maybe Woolly Mammoth in a combination of the two.

Let's cover your keywords for today and feel free to write them down.

So we have major key, when the music sounds bright and often joyful.

We have minor key, when the music can sound darker, gloomy or even sad.

And then we have chords, a group of notes played together that support the melody and can be major or minor.

It's almost time for your listening challenge.

But before that, I'd like you to consider this statement.

Mammoths were carnivores, is this true or is this false? Well, the answer is definitely false because mammoths mainly ate grass for up to 20 hours a day.

How did they have time to do anything like sleep or chat to their friends or wash? I would love to find out your best mammoth facts because all I know is that they really enjoy dancing.

It is time now for your major, minor listening test.

I am going to play chords on the ukulele.

They will either be major or minor.

If you think the chord is major, I would like you to do this.

If you think the chord is minor, I would like you to do this.

And I will show you afterwards.

So we're in this together and you can find out if you've got it right, off we go.

That was a major chord, well done.

That was a minor chord.

That was a major chord.

Another major chord.

That was a minor chord.

That was also a minor chord, another minor chord.

A major chord, really good.

I'm going to do another test where I'm going to tell you if it's major or minor.

And if you agree with me, and I'm telling the truth, then you can go, yeah.

And if I'm lying to you and it's actually the opposite, then you can do this.

Ready, this is a major chord.

Yes, it is, I was telling the truth.

This is a minor chord.

No, I'm lying, that it's a major chord.

This is a minor chord.

Yeah, it is a minor chord, I'm telling the truth.

This is a minor chord.

That is a major chord and finally, this is a minor chord.

This was actually a major chord.

It's time for a listening and lightning round, where we're going to listen to a string quartet play beautiful, atmospheric tunes that are swirling around each other.

In this quick round, which is only one minute, 18 seconds, I want you to think of adjectives and verbs that are describing the melody and what the melody is doing, or maybe the melody's mood.

Think of emotions, shape and detail.

I'm going to do the task with you as well.

If you'd like to write sentences, that's also fine.

Let's have a listen.

So I'll let you know what I wrote.

I put that the first melody sounds agitated.

It trembles and waves.

The melodies are quite smooth but they also jump on jolt and they sound panicked.

So we've reached the end of lesson four.

Thank you so much for joining me.

And don't forget if you would like to, you can always rewind and try the listening test again or try the major, minor chord test, or have a go at the Woolly Mammoth song in either key.

If you'd like to share your Oak National work, then please ask your parent or carer to share it on Twitter, tagging @oaknational and hashtag learn with Oak.

In the meantime, take care and I'll see you for lesson five, bye for now.