Lesson video

Hello and welcome to today's music lesson.

My name is Miss Al-Hanoush and in today's lesson, We're going to be exploring how we can communicate a song effectively by using expression.

So, let's demonstrate this with a quick warmup and this is a singing warmup so you will need to be on your feet.

Before we begin doing some singing today, let's just stretch out our bodies.

So, can you touch your toes? Excellent.

And reach up to the sky.

And can you touch left all the way stretch, and right and can you draw some big circles, do some windmills for me with your arms and the other way.

Excellent.

Well done.

And can you look up to the sky? And can you look to the left? And to the right? And look down for me.

Brilliant.

Our bodies should be now nice and loose.

Make sure our singing posture is correct.

So your feet should be shoulder width apart, and you should have your arms by your sides.

Imagine an invisible string, like a puppet if you like, holding you up, and your posture should miraculously go a little bit straighter.

By now, I would like you to try and focus on breathing and using your diaphragm to breathe.

So when I ask you to breathe in for four counts, I don't want to see your shoulders go up.

I want to see your belly go out and in.

So go in when we breathe in and out when we breathe out.

Okay? Here we go.

So breathe in for four.

Again.

One more time.

Well done.

Okay.

Copy me.

Bring me little water, Sylvie.

Bring me little water now.

Bring me little water, Sylvie.

Every little once in a while.

Okay, copy me.

I'm now going to add pitches.

Bring me little water, Sylvie.

Your turn.

One, two, three, four.

Bring me little water, Sylvie.

Bring me little water now.

Bring me little water now.

Bring me little water, Sylvie.

Bring me little water, Sylvie.

Every little once in a while.

Every little once in a while.

Brilliant.

Okay, let's see if we can put all four phrases together after four.

Here we go.

One, two, three, four.

Bring me little water, Sylvie.

Bring me little water now.

Bring me little water, Sylvie.

Every little once in a while.

Well done.

And there's our warmup.

Let's see what else we can add to Bring Me Little Water, Sylvie in our lesson.

Hopefully, you are now nice and warmed up.

In today's lesson, you will need a piece of paper, a pencil, your body, and some water.

You will also need a quiet space to work in and to make sure that any apps or notifications are turned off on any electronic devices so you won't be disturbed during the lesson.

Pause the video now and go and collect any equipment that you need and then resume once you're ready to start.

Let's take a look at today's lesson agenda.

You're going to begin by exploring what expression is in music.

You're then going to sing Bring me Little Water, Sylvie with expression.

And then compose a second verse and body percussion part.

And then perform with added expression.

Let's begin by exploring what expression is in music.

I'd like to start by asking you to listen to Lewis Capaldi's 'Someone you loved.

' How does this song make you feel when you listen to the lyrics? How does Lewis make you feel the pain he is feeling? And is he communicating his lyrics effectively? And if so, how? ♪But it's never the same ♪ ♪ I guess I kind of like the way you numbed all the pain ♪ ♪ Now the day bleeds into nightfall ♪ ♪ And you're not here to get me through it all ♪ ♪ I let my guard down and then you pulled the rug ♪ ♪ I was getting kind of used to being someone you loved.

♪ So how does he make you feel when you listen to the lyrics? And how did he make you feel the pain that he's feeling? Was he communicating his lyrics effectively? Well, yeah.

He used a lot of expression within his singing there.

He uses long legato notes.

We hear the power in his voice when he really wants to sing about how he's feeling.

He uses dynamics, so the verse was quieter than the chorus.

He sings rather than shouts.

And he pronounces each phrase really clearly.

He pauses at meaningful points and these are all forms of musical expression.

So what is expression in music and how can we communicate the meaning of a song using expression? So expression in music is the art of playing or singing whilst giving a personal response.

It includes the following four things: do you know what they are? Dynamics is the music's volume, so whether things are soft or loud.

Phrasing is each musical line or sentence.

Timbre is whether you're using dull or bright sounds.

So for example, are you shouting the lyrics or are you singing? Shouting would sound completely different than singing.

And articulation.

How you articulate and communicate the piece.

For example, using legato sounds.

So long, smooth held sounds versus staccato sounds.

Short and detached sounds.

Here's a second example.

Listen to Aerosmith's 'Don't want to miss a thing.

' How does Aerosmith use expression and can you hear those expressive qualities we just talked about? ♪ Every moment spent with you is a moment I treasure ♪ ♪ Don't want to close my eyes ♪ ♪ I don't want to fall asleep because I'd miss you, babe ♪ ♪ And I don't want to miss a thing.

♪ ♪ 'Cause even when I dream of you ♪ ♪ The sweetest dream would never do ♪ Which expressive qualities below did you hear in that example? I particularly heard his use of dynamics, going quite loud when he wanted to really emphasise something and also his use of phrasing, the way that he put little commas in within his musical sentences, and the way that he really expressed that brilliant voice of his as well with his timbre and changed the last kind of words at the ends of phrases.

He also used articulation and made some of those notes really legato as well, to express what he wanted to say.

Here's one final example.

Have a listen to Pharrell Williams' 'Happy'.

Do you think Pharrell is smiling or looking sad when singing this song and why? ♪ Because I'm happy, clap along if you feel ♪ ♪ Like a room without a roof ♪ ♪ Because I'm happy, clap along if you feel ♪ ♪ Like happiness is the truth ♪ ♪ Because I'm happy, clap along if you know what ♪ ♪ Happiness is to you ♪ ♪ Because I'm happy, clap along if you feel like ♪ ♪ That's what you want to do.

♪ What did you think? Of course he's smiling.

Think about the song title.

If you don't believe me, watch his music video and see for yourself.

So this makes such a difference to your singing.

Imagine when you answer the phone to somebody and they're smiling.

You can hear it in their voice when they're happy.

Or when they're sad.

Again, you can hear the expression in their voice.

It comes across in singing, too.

So if you're singing in an upbeat, happy song, make sure that you smile so your expression shines through.

For your first pause task, I'd like to take 5 minutes and on your piece of paper, write down one sentence to describe what expression is in music.

And give 4 examples of ways we can be expressive.

Pause the video to complete your task and then resume once you're finished.

Now that we've explored what expression is in music, let's see if we can sing Bring me Little Water Sylvie with expression.

For the next part of the lesson, we're going to revisit Bring me Little Water Sylvie and see if we can put in some of the expression that we have just learned about.

So let's revisit the song first and let's perform it in unison.

Bring me- where's your starting note? Bring me.

Here we go.

One, two, three, four.

Bring me little water Sylvie Bring me little water now Bring me little water Sylvie Every little once in a while.

Well done.

Okay so, thinking about this song and the phrases that are on the screen, where do we breathe? After each phrase.

So bring me little water Sylvie.

We take a breath.

Bring me little water now.

Take another breath.

Bring me little water Sylvie.

Take another breath.

Every little once in a while.

So we breathe after every single phrase.

Now why don't we just go on to the next phrase? So for example, bring me little water Sylvie.

Bring me little water now.

Bring me little water Sylvie.

Every little once in a while.

Well one, it would be really hard because we'd run out of breath.

But we would also lose the meaning and the importance of the phrase before it.

So we really want that to come across.

So we add almost at the end of our phrases, almost like a comma, a mini pause point if you like, and before we move onto the next phrase.

So bring me little water Sylvie.

Bring me little water now.

Bring me little water Sylvie.

Every little once in a while.

And it makes such a difference when we phrase our music.

So that's one form of expression that we put in.

The second is what is Ledbetter singing about when he's singing these lyrics? Well he's singing about his uncle wants some water and he's asking his wife to bring him some water.

So would you ask for water in an angry way? A happy way? Would you be demanding and shouting? How would you ask for water? Well, surely you would ask nicely.

Do you really think that he would get water if he was demanding? Would you go and get someone water if they were demanding? No.

So at least, let's smile whilst we're singing this and ask nicely for water.

Let's try it together in unison.

Here we go.

Bring me little water Sylvie.

Bring me little water now.

Bring me little water Sylvie Every little once in a while.

And we get a totally different sound.

So if we sang that demanding: Bring me little water Sylvie.

It actually changes the articulation as well when we do that.

So smile when you're singing and you're singing a nice, upbeat melody.

So how many times does he ask for water here? Three.

Okay.

So if he's asking for water three times, maybe he's a little bit desperate for water.

And if you were desperate for water, what do you think might happen to the volume as you ask? So each time we ask, we might actually get a little bit louder because we're getting a little bit more desperate for water.

So this time when we sing, we're going to add some dynamics, so another form of expression.

We're going to sing phrase one, piano, quiet.

So softly.

We're going to sing phrase two, mezzo piano, so medium soft.

Phrase three, we're going to sing forte because we really want that water.

And then phrase four, we're going to bring it back down to piano for the last phrase.

So let's have a go.

So piano, metto piano, forte, piano.

Here we go.

Bring me.

One, two, three, four.

Bring me little water Sylvie.

Bring me little water now.

Bring me little water Sylvie.

Every little once in a while.

You see the difference that makes when you can build up the expression within a piece of music and then bring it back down? So if you want to have another go at those, you can rewind or you can move onto our pause task.

For your second pause task, I would like you to take 10 minutes to practise singing Bring me Little Water Sylvie using a variety of expression.

How would you want to sing this song if you wanted to express it in the following ways: uplifting, angry, sad? What would you need to physically change to change the emotional response you want your listeners to feel? If there are other members of your household available, can you sing Sylvie to them using a variety of expressive qualities and see if they can guess which emotion or expression you're trying to convey? Pause the video to complete your task and then resume when you're finished.

Now that you've sung Bring me Little Water Sylvie with some expression, you're now going to compose a second verse and body percussion part.

So how will you go about composing your own verse to Bring me Little Water Sylvie? Let's have a look at Sylvie's first verse for inspiration.

How many phrases can you see on screen? Four.

Well done if you got that.

So you will need to compose four phrases to match it.

What is similar about the phrases one and three? They're the same.

And what changes in line two? Only one word, the last word 'now'.

The last phrase is very different.

Each of the first three phrases begins the same tune.

Have a look at my own composed verse.

What do you notice is similar and different? It follows the same format as the first verse of Sylvie.

So why won't you let me help you Why won't you let me help you now Why won't you let me help you Every little once in a while.

And you can sing that to the same melody as Bring me Little Water Sylvie.

Why won't you let me help you Why won't you let me help you now Why won't you let me help you Every little once in a while.

And there you have it- a second verse using the same kind of ideas and inspiration as verse one.

So For your next pause task, I'd like you to take ten minutes to compose a second verse to Bring me Little Water Sylvie.

Don't forget to use four phrases and phrases one and three can be the same.

You can use the same melody.

You can even steal a phrase if you like, like I did with the last phrase for my own verse.

As an extension, can you try singing it? Start with the original verse like I did, and then sing your second verse.

See if you can perform it to a member of your household and see what they think of your composition skills.

Pause the video to complete your task and then resume once you're finished.

Now that you have composed a second verse for Sylvie, it's now time to see if we can compose some body percussion to go with it too.

So in the last lesson, we learned some body percussion that actually went along with that first verse of Sylvie.

So let's just recap that first before we start to put in our own.

So the body percussion for Sylvie verse one went like this: so it's a clap, chest chest stamp.

Rest.

Clap, rest, brush brush.

So remember we brushed backwards and brushed forwards.

And those chest slaps there are half beats as well.

So let's just see if we can do those four different styles to start with.

So clap.

Chest slap.

Stamp.

And then brush and brush.

There we go.

So we got our four sounds, let's see if we can put these in time.

So there's 8 beats worth there.

So it should be one, two, three, four.

Five, six, seven, eight.

Clap, chest chest stamp, rest.

Clap, rest, brush brush.

Try it with me.

Here we go.

One, two, three, four.

Clap, chest chest stamp, rest.

Clap, rest, brush brush.

Well done if you got that.

If you didn't quite get that, you can rewind the video and keep practising with me until you do get that.

Let's see if we can now put that with the lyrics from Sylvie.

So it should sound like this.

Bring me little water Sylvie.

Bring me little water now.

Bring me little water Sylvie.

Every little once in a while.

Let's see if you can do that alongside with me.

It's quite hard to see if you can add expression whilst you're learning this, but if you think you've cracked it, feel free to put some expression in here as well.

Don't forget to smile.

Here we go.

One, two, three, four.

Bring me little water Sylvie.

Bring me little water now.

Bring me little water Sylvie.

Every little once in a while.

Well done if you managed to keep up with that.

If not, again you can rewind the video and have another go and see if you can play in time with me, adding the lyrics and the body percussion if you're brave.

On the screen, you'll now see that I've added an empty grid for verse two.

This is for you to compose your own body percussion to fit with your second verse.

Here's my example.

Can you see which body parts I've used? So stamp, a clap, and a finger click.

So mine would sound something like this.

One, two, three, four.

Stamp, clap clap click click, rest rest clap clap.

And if I put that with verse one first, so the original Sylvie, we get this: Rest, rest.

So you can use verse one for Sylvie, and then verse two for your own verse.

And if you really want a challenge, you could actually see whether you could do one phrase per line of body percussion.

For your next pause task, I would like you to take five to ten minutes to compose and perform your own body percussion to fit with your second verse.

So once you've composed it, see if you can play or perform it alongside your second verse.

Does it fit? Does it work in time? And if you want an extension, can you perform Sylvie and then can you perform your verse two with your body percussion parts? Pause the video to complete your task and then resume once you're finished.

Now that you've composed your second verse and your body percussion part, you're now going to perform it with expression.

Now you have composed your verse two and your body percussion part to it, it's now time to see if we can put them both together and put in all the expression markings that we've learned earlier.

So on screen you can see Sylvie's verse one and then you can see my own in pink underneath.

What I'm now going to do is show you a performance of verse one and verse two using all the expression that we've looked at earlier and my own body percussion.

So verse one, I'm going to perform the original with the original body percussion, and then verse two I'm going to perform with my own body percussion.

I'm going to really think about my phrasing and making sure I take a breath at the end of each phrase.

I'm going to think about my dynamics, so I'm going to see if I can stick with dynamics that we did earlier, playing piano, mezzo piano, forte, and then piano again.

I'm also going to use a long legato smooth sound so my articulation is going to be nice and smooth, and I'm also going to make sure I'm smiling so the timbre of my voice comes out in my lyrics as well.

So let's have a go and see what happens.

One, two, three, four.

Bring me little water Sylvie.

Bring me little water now.

Bring me little water Sylvie.

Every little once in a while.

Why won't you let me help you? Why won't you let me help you now? Why won't you let me help you? Every little once in a while.

And there's my performance, with my articulation, my dynamics, my timbre, and my phrasing.

How are you going to sing your verses when you perform your Sylvie inspired composition? For your next pause task, I would like you to take five to ten minutes to perform your Sylvie inspired composition to a member of your household.

Ask them to clap the pulse for you as you perform to keep you in time, and can you teach them your lyrics and body percussion part? You can try performing it with them in time.

Re perform it to them again for a second time, but this time add different expression markings.

Can they tell what's changed? As an extension, how can you make the body percussion part more complex? Add two more body percussion sounds to it and try to perform it.

And why have you chosen those sounds? And could you compose a chorus to go in between your two verses? Pause the video to complete your task and then resume once you're finished.

Let's just recap today's lesson agenda.

You began by exploring expression in music and then sang Bring me Little Water Sylvie with expression.

You composed your own verse and added a body percussion part to it and then ended by performing your Sylvie inspired composition with added expression.

Well done.

For your final pause task, I would like you to answer the following question on a piece of paper.

How can we communicate the meaning of a song effectively with our voice? Take five minutes to do this task.

Pause the video to complete and then resume once you're finished.

How were your Sylvie inspired performances? I bet they were awesome.

Let's just finish up this lesson by answering the question on the screen.

How can we communicate the meaning of a song effectively with our voice? Well, by adding expression, of course.

Can you remember the four things that were in expression that I taught you earlier? They were dynamics, timbre, phrasing, and articulation.

Also, don't forget to smile if you are singing an uplifting piece of music, because it really shows through your singing.

And also remember to sing rather than shout because your emotion gets shown and your expression gets shown by the way that you actually physically feel those lyrics and form those lyrics.

So my last request for today is just to say please don't forget to do the end of lesson quiz and show me and yourselves how much you've learned this lesson.

And if you're brave enough to record your performances, I would love to see some of the work you've been doing so please don't be afraid to share your work with Oak National, and ask your parent or your carer to share your work on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter tagging @OakNational and #LearnwithOak if you would like to.

That's all from me today, hope to see you all in the next lesson.

Goodbye for now.