Lesson video

- ♪ Hello, everyone ♪ I'm Miss Hart and welcome to this unit on syncopation.

We're going to be learning all about syncopation and what it means, through songs, rhythms, and composing as well.

So, I hope you've got your bodies and your voice ready.

Let's go.

Welcome to lesson one in this unit.

In today's lesson, we are going to: learn what syncopation means, learn a syncopated song, move on and off the beat, and then perform the song with a syncopated rhythm.

In this lesson, you will need your hands, because we're going to be doing lots of rhythms and body percussion, and of course your brain.

This is all spoken, but there is a syncopated rhythm that goes along with it.

I want you to have a listen and see if you can work out what syncopation is through this song.

We're going to be looking at a definition and what syncopation means later on.

My turn, your turn, okay? So, I'm going to say something and I want you to say it straight back to me.

My turn.

Hello, hello, hello.

Hello, hello, hello.

Get your body moving, let's go.

Get your body moving, let's go.

Stamp your feet and clap your hands.

Stamp your feet and clap your hands.

Turn your brain on, focus now.

Turn your brain on, focus now.

Well done, let's have one more go.

My turn, your turn.

Hello, hello, hello.

Hello, hello, hello.

Get your body moving, let's go.

Get your body moving, let's go.

Stamp your feet and clap your hands.

Stamp your feet and clap your hands.

Turn your brain on, focus now.

Turn your brain on, focus now.

Well done.

This time, we're just going to clap the rhythm, okay? So, put the words into your thinking voice.

That means we're thinking them in our heads, but we don't say them out loud.

My turn.

Well done.

Activity one, learning what syncopation means.

Syncopation, rhythm patterns where stressed notes are placed off the beat.

Activity two, moving on and off the beat.

It goes like this.

Don't clap this back.

Tee-ta, tee-ta.

Okay? If I clap that rhythm, you are not allowed to clap it back.

Have one more listen.

Okay? Anything else, you are allowed to clap it back.

Shall we have a practise? My turn, your turn, here we go.

Don't clap this back.

Did you have a break? This time, let's go straight in.

I'm going to try and catch you out.

Don't clap this back.

Well done.

One more go.

Don't clap this back! Well done if you managed to stay in on those three "don't clap this back" rhythms. So, what is syncopation? Syncopation is where a rhythm is placed off the beat.

All the notes that you are clapping or playing are stressed on the weaker beats.

So, instead of one, two, three, four, it would be one, and, two, and, three, and, four, and.

They fall in between the beats.

We're going to have a look at some different styles of music here.

We have some Brazilian samba, we have some jazz music and we also have some djembe drumming from West Africa.

Let's have a listen to these three pieces of music, and listen out for the rhythms that fall off the beat.

It features heavily in these types of music.

Okay, so let's practise going on and off the beat, okay? So, this is going to be our tempo.

One, two, three, four, one, two, three, four.

And we're going to start by clapping on each number on the beat, okay? So, I'm going to count you in, in four, and then I want you to join in clapping with me on the on beats.

Okay, ready? One, two, three, four, one, two, three, four.

One, two.

Well done.

This time, you are going to do off the beat, okay? So, I'm going to start on the beat, and then you will see the other version of me clap off the beat.

See if you can join in.

So, on and off.

My turn.

One, two, three, four.

And now, off.

Two, three, four.

Now, let's have a go clapping on and off the beat with a piece of music.

Are you ready? We're going to start on the beat, okay? One, two, three, four.

One, two, three, four.

Now, off the beat.

One, and.

And on the beat.

One, two, three, four.

Back to off the beat, ready? One, and.

On.

One, two, three, four, one, two, off.

One, and.

On.

One, two, three, four, one.

Off for the last time, ready? One, and.

Yeah, well done! Activity three, learning a syncopated song.

Right, we are going to learn a new song now, called "Take Time in Life".

And this song features a syncopated rhythm throughout.

Let's just have a listen to that rhythm, and I want you to listen out for it whilst I'm singing the song.

It goes like this.

Synco-pa-ta.

Synco-pa-ta.

Synco-pa-ta, join in! Synco-pa-ta.

Synco-pa-ta.

Well done.

And that rhythm features throughout, so have a listen.

I'm going to sing the song first.

This is the pulse of the song.

I'm going to sing it all the way through first, okay? My turn.

♪ I was passing by ♪ ♪ My brother called me in ♪ ♪ And he said to me ♪ ♪ You better take time in life ♪ ♪ People take time in life ♪ ♪ People take time in life ♪ ♪ People take time in life ♪ ♪ 'Cause you got far way to go.

♪ Did you hear that? Tee-ta, tee-ta, or synco-pa-ta rhythm? Can you work out whereabouts in the song it came up? Which words featured on that rhythm? ♪ Take time in life ♪ ♪ Take time in life ♪ ♪ Take time in life ♪ ♪ 'Cause you've got far way to go ♪ It was at the end of most of the lines, wasn't it? Let's have a go now at learning the song, one line at a time.

My turn, your turn, okay? My turn.

♪ I was passing by ♪ ♪ I was passing by ♪ ♪ My brother called me in ♪ ♪ My brother called me in ♪ ♪ And he said to me ♪ ♪ And he said to me ♪ ♪ You better take time in life ♪ ♪ You better take time in life ♪ Well done.

I'm going to put those four sentences together now.

And then, you're going to sing it straight back after me.

Okay, my turn.

♪ I was passing by ♪ ♪ My brother called me in ♪ ♪ And he said to me ♪ ♪ You better take time in life ♪ ♪ I was passing by ♪ ♪ My brother called me in ♪ ♪ And he said to me ♪ ♪ You better take time in life ♪ Well done.

Shall we have one more go at that? My four lines, your four lines, okay? Here's my pulse.

My turn.

♪ I was passing by ♪ ♪ My brother called me in ♪ ♪ And he said to me ♪ ♪ You better take time in life ♪ ♪ I was passing by ♪ ♪ My brother called me in ♪ ♪ And he said to me ♪ ♪ You better take time in life ♪ Well done, now let's do the next bit line by line, okay? ♪ People take time in life ♪ ♪ People take time in life ♪ ♪ People take time in life ♪ ♪ People take time in life ♪ ♪ People take time in life ♪ ♪ People take time in life ♪ ♪ 'Cause you've got far way to go ♪ ♪ 'Cause you've got far way to go ♪ Well done.

Four lines, four lines? My turn.

♪ People take time in life ♪ ♪ People take time in life ♪ ♪ People take time in life ♪ ♪ 'Cause you've got far way to go ♪ ♪ People take time in life ♪ ♪ People take time in life ♪ ♪ People take time in life ♪ ♪ 'Cause you've got far way to go ♪ Well done.

I'd like you to tap the pulse all the way through it this time.

We're going to go from the beginning to the end.

Are we ready? ♪ Off we go ♪ ♪ I was passing by ♪ ♪ My brother called me in ♪ ♪ And he said to me ♪ ♪ You better take time in life ♪ ♪ People take time in life ♪ ♪ People take time in life ♪ ♪ People take time in life ♪ ♪ 'Cause you've got far way to go ♪ Well done, did you manage it? Let's do it one more time for luck, and then we're going to add some rhythms in as well.

Are we ready? ♪ Off we go ♪ ♪ I was passing by ♪ ♪ My brother called me in ♪ ♪ And he said to me ♪ ♪ You better take time in life ♪ ♪ People take time in life ♪ ♪ People take time in life ♪ ♪ People take time in life ♪ ♪ 'Cause you've got far way to go ♪ Fantastic.

This time, we are going to add two rhythms to our song.

One is an on beat rhythm, and one is a syncopated, off beat rhythm, okay? The on beat rhythm is a simple crotchet on each beat, like this.

One, two, three, four, one two three four, like we did on our on and off beat game.

And like we tapped on our shoulders through the song.

So, the first time through, you can just have a go at clapping the pulse, okay? With our song.

The second time we do it, we're going to add in a synco-pa-ta rhythm.

Synco-pa-ta, okay? And then, you can try this one with our song.

So, let's try the on beat rhythm first, okay? So, you will see the top one on the left is clapping the on beat rhythms, okay? And I'm going to sing the song over the top, okay? A one, two, three, four.

♪ Off we go ♪ ♪ I was passing by ♪ ♪ My brother called me in ♪ ♪ And he said to me ♪ ♪ You better take time in life ♪ ♪ People take time in life ♪ ♪ People take time in life ♪ ♪ People take time in life ♪ ♪ 'Cause you got far way to go ♪ Well done, did you keep that rhythm going all the way through? This time, I want you to try the synco-pa-ta rhythm, and we're going to use our bodies to make sounds.

So, we might go synco-pa-ta, synco-pa-ta, or synco-pa-ta.

You choose, synco-pa,ta.

And you're going to keep that going, okay? Are we ready? One, two, three, four.

♪ Off we go ♪ ♪ I was passing by ♪ ♪ My brother called me in ♪ ♪ And he said to me ♪ ♪ You better take time in life ♪ ♪ People take time in life ♪ ♪ People take time in life ♪ ♪ People take time in life ♪ ♪ 'Cause you've got far way to go ♪ Well done.

This time, you choose.

On or off beat, okay? And I will sing, and you've got to sing too.

Are we ready? ♪ Off we go ♪ ♪ I was passing by ♪ ♪ My brother called me in ♪ ♪ And he said to me ♪ ♪ You better take time in life ♪ ♪ People take time in life ♪ ♪ People take time in life ♪ ♪ People take time in life ♪ ♪ 'Cause you got far way to go ♪ Well done if you kept your rhythm going all the way through and sang.

In today's lesson, we have learnt what syncopation means, we've learnt a syncopated song, we have learnt to move on and off the beat, and we have learnt a song with a syncopated rhythm.

Well done for your learning in this lesson.

You now have a quiz to complete, to see what you have been learning and to see if you've understood everything we have learnt.

So, don't forget to complete it.

Hope to see you for lesson two soon.

Bye-bye.

Well done for your hard work today in lesson one.

Don't forget you can share your work with Oak National.

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 for lesson two again soon.

Bye-bye.