Lesson video

Hello, my name is Miss Charatan and I'm really excited to be teaching you all about drum patterns and how they communicate a musical style.

Let's begin by having recap of our rhythm grid.

So, I'm going to clap throughout the whole way of the grid.

You all need to do that with me and if you're really not sure what to do, watch me and then do it with me the second time.

Ready? One, two, three, with me.

Tricky.

Some of those rests there.

So, we had in C.

We had two crotchet rests so you might want to say shush instead and the quaver rest on line D which makes it syncopated.

So, if you didn't clap it with me last time, clap it with me this time.

If you did clap it with me last time, you are going to now join in later.

So, I'm going to start on line A and then when I get to line B, you're going to join in.

Tell me what kind of texture that creates.

Are we ready? So, if you're with me, join with me.

One, two, three, four.

Your turn.

Shush.

Shush.

Tap, tap, tap, tap.

That should be you.

Great, well done! Let's get on with our lesson.

In our lesson, you will need a piece of paper, a pencil, something to play on or an app, a sort of drumming app.

I've got some equipment I'm going to show you later for that, as well as a digital audio workstation, so something like GarageBand or BandLab Education that you can get free online.

That would be great.

Pause the video, get those things and come back when you're ready.

Lovely! So, we're going to start by recapping our knowledge of drum patterns.

We will learn about how the band setup has changed, explore different band setups on a digital audio workstation.

We will input some different drum patterns and then we will learn how to share our work.

So, what can we remember about the different parts of the drum kit? I'm going to play you a short section of a drum rhythm and you're going to identify the three most important parts.

What were the three most important parts? Tell them to me now.

Okay, let's check your answers.

So, first one, hi-hat cymbal.

It sounded like this.

It didn't sound like that.

It sounded like the kind of sound.

Then, the second one, a snare drum.

It sounded like this.

And the third one sounded like this.

This is the bass drum played with a pedal and it sounds like this.

The bass drum is the deepest drum and that often happens on a first beat of the bar.

The snare drum is slightly harsher and a hi-hat cymbal is the kind of sound you can hear on top of everything else.

So, the three most important parts are the bass kick drum, the hi-hat cymbal and the snare drum.

Why are these the most important parts? They're the most important because they are the mainstays, the main three parts of drum beats.

So, the extra drums are kind of extra and fulfils.

These three parts of the drum are in pretty much every drum beat there is.

So, what are the three main parts of the drum kit? Can we recap? Pause the video.

Resume when you're ready.

Okay, the main parts are hi-hat, snare and bass and the extras are crash cymbal, ride cymbal and Toms. They add some extra something to the beats, but the main things we need are hi-hat, snare and bass.

So, for this part of the lesson, you will need some equipment.

So I have got with me here my dog's dog food container, because it makes a very nice bass drum sound.

I have also got a saucepan.

A small saucepan like this.

I have also got two wooden spoons.

So, if you don't have equipment like this with you right now, please ask your parent and carer and maybe try and find some around the house.

Even a baking sheet would do or just one saucepan is fine.

Otherwise, you can do it on body percussion.

Pause the video.

Get the things you need with permission and come back when you're ready.

Lovely! We're now going to recap all of our dream beats through body percussion, playing on the instruments and then you're going to practise with your track.

So, a rock beat.

Remember, we had our base and snare.

With me.

Add hi-hats.

Like this! I did a small mistake there.

Did you notice? I accidentally did two hi-hats.

I did a quaver instead of a crotchet.

On your instrument, it would look like this.

So, I'm going to do it with one stick on this one and here's my hi-hat here.

You could always do it with two and with the hi-hat in your mouth.

Like this! Pause the video.

Recap that rhythm and resume when you're ready.

This should take you about two minutes to recap.

Fantastic! Let's now play along with a track.

Excellent! If you need more time to play along with the track, you can just rewind and do that again.

Let's now have a look at our pop beat.

So, the base and the snare was exactly the same.

With me.

And on top, the hi-hat was different.

Can we do it all together? On your kit, will look like this.

So, same as before.

Let me get my sticks correct.

Yes, or you can do it with your mouth just like with the rock beat.

Pause the video.

Take three minutes to practise it.

Resume when you're ready to play with the track.

Great! Now let's practise with the track.

Well done! Great! If you need more time to practise, that's fine.

Rewind the video and try it again.

Let's now have a look at our house beat.

So, the house beat has a four and a floor.

So, the bass drum on every single beat.

What we're going to do now is we're going to use our feet.

So, I'm just going to stay sitting down so I don't make a mess of the camera position.

So, I'm going to tap my feet on the floor like this, one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four.

Then our snare is on beats two and four, one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four.

And then, our hi-hat is on a syncopated so, just after the base drum every time.

I did that wrong.

Okay? So, practise that with body percussion.

If you have instruments with you, it might look a bit like this.

So, we can't really do all three parts on the instruments.

So, you're going to do the hi-hat with your mouth.

So, it's going to sound like this.

Pause the video.

Practise your part for three minutes.

Resume when you're ready to practise with the track.

Well done! Let's now play it with the track.

Excellent! If you need more time, go back and rewind the video.

Let's now have a look at our one drop beat.

So, remember, this one has emphasis on beats two and four.

So, let's just do it first with body percussion.

So,.

So, when you do this on your instruments, I would play the snare and the bass together with maybe a big, big sound and then the hi-hat separate.

So, remember, these are separate.

These are on beats two and four.

So, these are beats two and four and these are on all the other beats.

With me.

Great! So, practise using rewinding and looking at me again.

Practise on your own and then we're going to do it with the track.

Pause the video now.

Great! Let's now practise with the track.

Lovely! So, if you want to do that again, just rewind.

That's fine.

So, the trap beat.

Remember that was much more complicated.

So, again, like the reggae beat, we have the hi-hat is never really at the same time as the base or snare.

They happen at different times.

This is also much, much faster.

So, let's just do the base and snare first.

We're just going to do it on instruments straight away.

Body percussion.

One, two, three, four.

Base, base, snare, base, base, base, snare, bass.

The hi-hat is syncopated over the top.

So, it's slightly different to the one on the screen, because there's a little extra bit at the end.

So, listen very carefully.

Pause the video.

Practise that part and resume when you're ready to play with the track.

Let's now play with the track.

Lovely! Great job! We've now recapped all of our five drum beats.

We're now going to learn about how the band setup has changed over the years.

So, what are the four parts in a typical pop or rock band? Have bands always had this setup? And if you think no, how have the band setup changed? Here are four pictures to help you.

Pause the video.

Write down the four parts and resume when you're ready.

Lovely! So, we have melody.

We have base line.

We have rhythm and we have chords.

Have bands always had this setup? The answer is pretty much, yes.

Although, in more recent years, we've seen some changes with additional technology and some other instruments.

So, let's now explore rock music, because rock music is where our typical four-piece setup actually comes from.

So, we're going to look at the history of rock music and use that to find out more about this band setup and how it has evolved over the years.

So, rock is a type of popular music and it's often performed in a four-piece band.

So, with two electric guitars, a bass guitar and a drum kit.

Often, one of the electric guitar players doubles as a singer as well.

It's often song-based.

So, using verse and chorus structure.

The songs are normally in 4/4 as we felt with our rock beat with a really strong 4/4 rhythm there.

A 4/4 time signature there.

Musicianship and live performance are really important in rock music.

So, the musicianship is all around the skill of the player and their virtuosity and live performance.

Just going on tour, performing on stage rather than being listened to in the home.

And there are many different styles of rock music.

So, from pop rocks to heavy metal.

Let's now look at the journey of rock music.

So, rock! The origins of rock music lie before the 1950s with jazz, rhythm, blues and country music.

Together, these influenced rock and roll in the 1950s, beginning with Elvis Presley's 1953 hit, "That's All Right, Mama".

So, you've probably heard of Elvis Presley before and check him out underneath the box singing with his band.

Then, we have in the 1960s, we branch out to psychedelic rock, classic rock and pop rock.

Do you recognise that band at the bottom? That is The Beatles, one of the most influential bands of all time and they were from Liverpool and are incredibly popular even today.

Then we have the 1970s and 80s.

We have more metal, more punk and hardcore rock.

We have glam rock.

Can we see the band at the bottom? Do you know who they are? They are Queen and they are a glam rock band and they really pushed the genre in terms of their interesting sound choices, song structures, instruments, et cetera.

Then, we go into the 90s and 2000s with emo, alternative rock and brit pop.

You can see here the Red Hot Chilli Peppers and we can also see that with the introduction of technology we have some more changes to the lineups.

So, let's now look more closely at these four bands I mentioned before.

What do they all have in common? Take a really careful look.

So, what they all have in common is a very similar setup with one or two guitars, a drum kit and a bass guitar.

So, this is that four-piece setup.

This has prevailed for decades in rock and pop genres.

So, we would typically have a guitarist, who would also double as a vocalist.

They would generally be on rhythm guitar.

We would have a bassist, a drummer and another guitarist.

The bass guitarist would play bass.

The drum kit would play the rhythm and then we'd have the lead guitar, which would often play more exciting solos and more exciting melodic parts.

This setup has been so important for many genres of music, particularly rock and pop.

We're now going to look in more detail at how the band setup has changed over the years by doing some listening.

I'm going to play you four extracts from four different songs across the decades.

When you are listening, I'd like you to identify which description fits.

If you can, could you even suggest a band or a decade which it was written in? Take a moment now to familiarise yourself with the descriptions below.

Pause the video and resume it when you are ready.

Okay, let's listen to our first song.

♪ So don't stop me now ♪ ♪ Don't stop me ♪ ♪ Because I'm having a good time ♪ ♪ Having a good time ♪ ♪ I'm a shooting star leaping through the sky ♪ ♪ Like a tiger defying the laws of gravity ♪ ♪ I'm a racing car passing by like Lady Godiva ♪ ♪ I'm going to go, go, go ♪ ♪ There's no stopping me ♪ ♪ I'm burn ♪ Great! Did you spot which setup this was and can you suggest a band and why? So, you may have spotted it was this one here.

We could notice that because it had a piano.

It had a four-piece setup, but it did not have both guitars.

We also had Freddie Mercury singing.

So, you might notice his voice there.

So, Queen did some really amazing stuff with technology and instruments, which we might explore in greater depth at some point.

Let's now listen to the second track.

♪ Oh yeah I'll tell you something ♪ ♪ I think you'll understand ♪ ♪ When I say that something ♪ ♪ I want to hold your hand ♪ ♪ I want to hold your hand ♪ ♪ I want to hold your hand ♪ So, who was that? You might have guessed.

It was The Beatles in 1963 and I heard that really typical four-piece setup there with two guitars.

They shared out their vocals as well.

So, they didn't always have the same lead singer and they did lots and lots of backing harmonies.

So, The Beatles really defined that sort of four person setup in a band.

Let's listen to this one.

We've now got a choice of two.

♪ The sail ♪ ♪ I'm the master of my sea ♪ ♪ Oh ooh ♪ ♪ The master of my sea ♪ ♪ Oh ooh ♪ ♪ I was broken from a young age ♪ ♪ Taking my sulking to the masses ♪ ♪ Writing my poems for the few that look at me ♪ ♪ Took to me, shook to me, feeling me ♪ ♪ Singing from heartache from the pain ♪ ♪ Taking my message from the veins ♪ ♪ Speaking my lesson from the brain ♪ ♪ Seeing the beauty through the pain ♪ ♪ You made me a, you made me a believer ♪ ♪ Believe ♪ So, you might even know that song already.

Can you guess which setup it was? It was this one here.

So, Imagine Dragons, "Believer", 2017.

So, you could hear that use of technology and sampled sounds, which was really different to the previous two that we've listened to.

The band here, multi-instrumentalists.

That means they can play lots of different instruments.

They don't always play the same instrument for every song or even every concert.

So, our last piece.

We obviously know what this one is.

This is The Verve, "Bittersweet Symphony" and I'd like you to listen up.

Listen for those sampled recordings and sounds that are mentioned.

What instrument is playing? Is that sampled recording? ♪ Because it's a bittersweet symphony this life ♪ ♪ Trying to make ends meet ♪ ♪ You're a slave to the money then you die ♪ ♪ I'll take you ♪ So, you could hear there that we had that violin riff at the very beginning.

So, it what makes this song really famous and noticeable and they wouldn't have all played the violin.

So, they would obviously got that sound from somewhere else.

Someone else recorded it and they mixed it down.

So, there were lots more samples and much more technology there as well than The Beatles and Queen.

So, we've mentioned technology.

So, how has it influenced that band setup? Can you think of four ways? Okay, I'm going to give you the answers.

So, they used samples of instruments.

So, they might have included violins even though there wouldn't be any on stage.

Much more complex tracks.

You can hear the last two tracks we heard have many, many more complex layers, not just the four that were on stage or on a laptop screen.

Some new recording techniques.

So, you could hear the recording sound fuller.

There was much more emphasis can be put on their voices and the balance and the mix and lastly synthesisers.

So, synthesisers are basically electronic instruments and they didn't really exist in the 50s or even in the early 60s in mainstream popular music and they became much more prominent in the 80s and 90s.

Now today in many rock bands would use synthesisers in their performances as well.

So, let's recap what we've learned so far.

Pause the video and answer the following question.

How has the band setup changed since the 1950s? Resume when you're ready.

Okay, we're going to now move on.

Okay! Briefly go over your answers.

You should have said that there's much more technology used in later years although that four person setup has not changed a great deal.

Let's now strip it back even further.

Out of the rhythm, bass line, chords and melody, which parts do you think we could get rid of? So, there's actually two parts you can get rid of.

We could lose the rhythm.

That's not absolutely essential and we can actually lose the base line.

We don't need to have a separate base player and in recent years there's been a particular move towards having more solo intimate to this, partly because they can do a lot more.

Let's now listen to a brief track from Bruno Mars to demonstrate this.

What roles is he playing on his own? ♪ Same bed but it feels just a little bit bigger now ♪ ♪ Our song on the radio but it don't sound the same ♪ So, we could hear there that he was playing chords with the piano.

You had a bit of base line in the piano as well and was singing the melody himself.

So, there's now increasingly more people who sing solo and accompany themselves on the guitar, for example, with the help of digital techniques.

So, using samples and synthesisers, as well as just solo singers on something like the piano.

So, we don't necessarily need this four person setup, although we do need the basics and we do need chords and melody in whatever way we can.

So, we've learned about how the band setup has changed.

So, we're now going to explore some different band setups on a digital audio workstation.

The following demonstration uses a piece of free music software called BandLab for Education.

You can use BandLab for Education if you're under 13 years old, but only after seeking permission from your parent or carer.

If you need help setting up BandLab for Education, please speak to your parent or carer or the school.

I'm going to explain your task to you and then I'm going to show you what to do.

So, on a digital audio workstation, you're going to create three contrasting band setups.

So, you're going to create a traditional four piece one, a four or five piece setup and the band that you might hear in the charts today.

You're then going to write a sentence explaining which setup you prefer and why? I'm now going to show you how to do this on BandLab for Education.

So, on BandLab for Education, you need to go to My Library, which is this button here.

and then you can either choose a previous project opening it like this or start a new project.

I'm going to start a new one today just for clarity for you but I encourage you, if you've done one already with me, to use that one because you'll have some ready-made music in there to play.

So, you're now going to create three different band setups.

So, the first one, we're going to create a typical four piece.

So, to do that, you will need to get your first track and choose the instrument, which will be a guitar, and I'm going to stick it on acoustic guitar for now.

We want two of these.

I'm going to label it four piece guitar one, rhythm.

Then, I'm going to duplicate the track.

So, I'd right click and duplicate like this, rename to lead.

Okay! Then, you'll need to add a couple more instruments.

You know the ones for a four piece band and I'm going to let you do that yourself by just doing add to track, et cetera.

Then, to make it a five piece, you could decide what to add there.

It could be an additional guitar.

It could just be a space of vocals.

It could be piano or synths.

Then, for a more modern setup, you could then think about using synths here, which will be more modern or it could be something really stripped back, just like piano and vocals for example, because you've got voices here, remember! So, if you've already got music in here, then obviously you'll be able to experiment around what sounds it like.

If you don't, don't worry.

You can record something in to hear it or just experiment with what these setups look like.

Remember to label them and, lastly, if you don't want to hear them, you press mute.

If you want to only hear it, you press solo.

Pause the video to complete your task.

Take 10 minutes.

Wonderful! We are now going to move on to looking about different drum patterns, because that's going to help us decide what band setup to use and what each version of work we are writing in.

So, let's have a recap about the sounds of the drum kits.

Which part of the drum kit sounds like this? If you said bass drum, you were correct.

Well done! Which part of the drum kit sounds like this? That was a really quick one, but I'm not going to play it again.

Oh, I am! That was a hi-hat cymbal.

Well done! What about this part? This is more tricky.

A slightly harsher drum sound.

That is a snare drum.

And can we remember our beats? What beat was this and how do we know? The correct answer there was a reggae beat and we know because it has a strong two and four and a syncopated hi-hat.

How about this one? That was a rock beat and we knew because it had very simple hi-hat rhythm and that da, da, da-da, da rhythm on the bass and snare.

How about this one? That was a house beat because of that syncopated hi-hat and the regular bass drum beats, which normally would be four on the floor.

So, let's now look at a drum machine.

So, this is what the drum machine looks like on BandLab for Education where we can type in beats and have them played.

On here, one of them is a reggae beat and one of them is a house beat.

Which one is which and how do you know? Look really, really carefully! So, on the left, we have my house beats and I know this because I have the kick drum on every beat.

This one is reggae because it's only on two and four.

So, each beat is divided into four semiquavers.

This is going to be really important for inputting later.

So, here are three more beats and these are going to be on a worksheet, so you are able to copy them.

Your task next is to input an appropriate drum beat to your digital audio workstation.

So, you're going to choose your favourite band setup and you'll delete or mute the other tracks and you're going to create a suitable drum beat for this style of music that they would be playing.

You also need to remember to choose a suitable kit.

I'm now going to show you how to do this on BandLab for Education.

So, on BandLab for Education, you will need to add a drum machine track.

So Add Track, Drum Machine.

This is my drum machine pattern.

We're going to click on the machine, which is here, and this brings up my drum machine pattern.

These two are full but this one is empty.

So, I'm going to use this spot.

I'm going to create a house beat.

What beats does the bass drum have in the house beat? Yes, every single bar.

How about the snare drum? So, the snare drum is going to be up here.

I can actually also change it to something I don't like.

That's different.

I'm actually going to change it to a clap, because that's quite clubby.

So, that's on beat two and four and then my hi-hat.

So, this one's closed.

This one's open.

That's closed.

Sorry, this one's a crash.

So, I'm going to use this closed one and let's remember it's off the beats and do it halfway through every bar.

Then, I can play it to see what it sounds like.

If you like it and you're happy with it, you're then going to click Add C and it will add to your project.

When you're happy with it, move the cursor to where you want to add it, so be careful not to do it over another drum pattern and click Add C, which is the one that you put in.

If you go to C, here it is and then I can play it.

So, that's a house beat.

For the other beats, look on the worksheet to help you.

Remember a trap beat would have a lot of complicated hi-hat figures and it would be quite syncopated.

So, I've just guessed this, but and maybe without so much of this , so you might experiment around.

So, once you're happy with something and what suits your setup, you can just add it in.

Remember to change the kits.

If you're not doing a modern piece, you should be changing it to a different type of kit.

So, we've got pad kits.

These are electronic and drum kits.

These are more acoustic.

Pause the video to complete this task.

Read the instructions carefully.

Take 10 minutes.

Once you've finished, resume.

Excellent work! I'd be really interested to hear which setup did you choose and why, and which drum beat did you choose to input and why? How did you do that? And how did you make sure it suited your band setup? Pause the video.

Answer these three questions and resume when you're finished.

Great work! So, hopefully you changed the drum kit to make it sure it suited your setup and chose an appropriate beats pad.

Wow! So, we're finally going to learn how to share our work.

We've come a really long way this lesson.

So, you now need to share your project, so you could show it to somebody at home or you could even play along with an instrument.

Send it to a friend or family or share it with your school.

I'm going to show you how to do that on BandLab briefly now.

Great work and I really hope you want to share it.

So, you need to click Save on here and name it as well and to share it and download it, you need to go to File, Download, Mixdown As.

It will then load and it will give you, oops! It will then give you an option to choose MP3 or some other things.

Choose MP3 and download it that way.

Fantastic work today and I hope you had some good feedback for whoever you shared that with.

We're now going to return to our learning for today and we're going to consolidate that by answering these three questions.

Pause the video.

Answer the following questions and resume when you're ready to check your answers.

Lovely! So, let's check our answers together.

So, the four parts are drum kit, two guitars and a bass.

The band setup has changed in many ways, but three main ways are technology, variety of instruments and the instruments, the ensembles have got both bigger in larger bands or smaller and now we can strip it back and just have a solo performance more easily using synthesisers.

How can a drum beat tell us what style of music we're listening to? It indicates the style through the use of four and a floor, for example, with house music, that one drop beat for reggae and even the drum kit that has been chosen.

Well done today! All that's left for me to say is don't forget to do the quiz and show off what you have learnt.

Take care and I'll see you next time.