Lesson video

Hello, and welcome to your music lesson today.

My name is Miss Al-Hanoush, and in today's lesson, we're going to be exploring how composers measure metre.

So here's a quick warm-up for you.

I would like you to clap on every first beat of a group of five.

So, for example, one, two, three, four, five one, two, three, four, five, and so on.

And I'm going to clap on every group of a beat seven.

So one, two, three, four, five, six, seven.

one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, and so on.

And my metronome is going to ding on every beat of four.

So every first of four.

So one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four, and so on.

And I would like you, whilst we're doing this activity, to just think about actually what's happening with every time we clap or every time it dings, and how does it change going through the piece that we're playing.

So I'm going to tell you when to start, and I'm going to tell you when to stop.

Here we go.

We'll start with a metronome and we'll give ourselves a counting.

So, one, two, three, four.

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

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

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

Stop.

Did you notice what was happening when we played and continued to play? Well, we actually created something that was called a Polymeter.

So we had lots of different bars of different times.

So you had five beats in your bar.

I had seven beats in my bar and my metronome had four beats in a bar, but layered on top of each other, they created different rhythm patterns and our beats played on different beats each time.

So they created what we call polymeters.

So let's explore a little bit more about how composers use metre within their compositions.

Here we go.

For today's lesson, you will need a piece of paper, a pencil, your body, and a keyboard, or if you don't have a keyboard, you'll need an app.

So I'm about to use a free virtual app and mine is called virtual piano.

If you would like to use an app along with me or a virtual instrument alongside with me, please ask your parent or carer to help you find one.

Mine looks like this and I'm able to play all the notes on here.

That we're going to be playing today.

So please go and get yourself One of those If you don't have a keyboard available at home you will also need a quiet space to work in and you will also need to turn off any app notifications or anything that might contain any electronic devices and disturb your learning.

So please go on and make sure you've got everything for the lesson, pause the video now and go and do that.

And then resume once you're ready.

Let's begin by looking at today's agenda.

You're going to begin by recapping what the time signature is and then explore and learn different metres.

You'll then compose using different phrase lengths and end by performing a variety of different phrase lengths.

So let's begin by recapping what a time signature is.

Let's cut the rhythm on the screen after four.

I'm going to give you a counting of four beats one, two, three, four.

Well done.

If you managed to clap in time with me, why did I give you a counting of four beats before we clapped? Well, that's because there's four beats in the bar.

So well done if you said that, but how did you know that? Well, you know that by reading the time signature at the beginning of the bar.

This is our time signature here.

So what is the time signature? What does the top number there tells us? What does that bottom number tell us? If you did something singing in it, you'll have known that, if not here as a quick recap for you.

So this top number here tells us how many beats are in the bar.

And the bottom number tells us the type of beat that we need to count in so for example, counting in crotchets counting in quavers or minimums, etcetera.

So time signatures overall, tell us how the music is to be counted, which beats we need to emphasise and what the feel of the music should be.

Take a look at the two examples on the screen now.

How many beats in a bar are there in those examples? Well done if you said two for the first one, and well done if you said three for the second one.

And you can tell that by looking at the top number, so two, and then three.

which of these five signatures have we used most throughout this unit? Again Well done If you said three, four.

We used this one throughout the Panasonic unit.

So what would happen then, if there was no time signature? The piece of music didn't have a time signature, what would happen? Well today as might actually go out of time with each other, if you were playing in ensemble, people might not actually know how many beats were in the bar.

There might not even be bars because you wouldn't have bar lines to draw because you wouldn't know how many beats that were before you drew the line.

So it might become a little bit confusing if there was no time signature, there is something called free time.

And occasionally, especially in jazz music, they might say it's in free time, but that will still be associated with a time signature, but they will just play around with the music a little bit more.

So I've already given you a lot of information.

So quick quiz for you just to check your understanding.

What does a time signature tell you? Is it option one, how many crotchets to play? Option two, how many quavers to play? Option three, how to articulate music? Or option four, how many beats there are in a bar? Well done, If you said option four how many beats there are in a bar.

what does the top number in a time signature to tell you? Is it option one? How many beats there are in a bar? Option two, the type the note value of the beat? Option three, the type of articulation used? Or option four the type of speed to play at.

Well done if you said option one how many beats there are in a bar.

And what does the bottom number in a time Signature tell you? Is it option one? How many beats there are in a bar? Option two, the type the note value of the beat.

Option three, the type of temple to use? Or option four the type of dynamic to use? Well done if you said option 2.

It's the type of note value of the beat.

So now we have recapped what a time signature is.

We're now going to move on and explore and learn what different metres are.

If you did the stump and sing unit, you would have seen these times signatures before these are called simple time signatures.

We're going to clap these in time, feel free to move around.

And if you'd rather feel the beats in your feet, feel free to do that.

We're going to perform with the metronome.

And we're going to start with two, four, One, two, one, two one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two.

So two, four, we're counting two beats in the bar.

Let's have a listen to what three, four sounds like.

Here we go.

one, two, three, one, two, three one, two, three, one, two, three.

And let's have a listen to what four, four sounds like.

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

So they're quite easy to count.

Simple time signatures are the easiest to count because a one, two pulse in a piece of music feels the most natural to a listener and a performer.

The beats in simple time are always divisible by two.

We can also have five, four and seven, four time signatures and we can try and clap those out loud too.

So how many beats would have to pass before you clap on a beat for five, four? That's why five, And we did that in the warmup.

So let's just try that.

I'll count us in what's our counting going to be? Five, Okay, here we go.

One, two, three, four, five.

One, two, three, four, five.

One, two, three, four, five.

One, two, three, four, five.

One, two.

And so on.

And what about seven, Four? If you can remember, I did that one in the warmup.

That's why it's just going to be seven beats in the bar.

So that means I just need to give you a seven beat counting.

Here we go.

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

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

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

One.

And so on.

So simple time signatures are divisible by two.

Here we have what we call compound time signatures.

In compound time, the beat is divisible by three.

The bottom number of our time signature means that we are counting in quaver beats.

So in six eight, there will be six quaver beats in a bar in nine eight, there would be nine beats in a bar.

And in 12, 8, they'd be 12 quaver beats in the bar.

To make it easier, we group the quavers in threes which is equivalent to a dotted crotchet.

Let's take a look.

Here's our six quaver beats in 6,8.

So a half plus a half is one plus another half equals one and a half, which is the equivalent to a dotted crotchet.

And we have two of these because we have six waivers.

So 6,8 is equivalent to two dotted crotchets in a bar.

Let's take a look at nine eight, we have nine quavers.

And if we group them in threes, we get three dotted crotchets.

And in 12, 8, we have 12 quavers.

And if we grouped them in threes, we have full dotted projects.

Because they were two in 6,8 We call this triple time because there were three dotted crotchets in nine eight, you call this triple time.

And because there are four in 12, 8 we call this quadruple time.

Let's take them a look at the difference between the simple time signature and a compound time signature.

So in three, four, we have six quavers per bar.

one, two, three, four, five, six.

And in 6, 8 we have six quavers per bar.

one, two, three, four, five, six.

But look at the way that they've grouped.

In simple time, we group our quavers in twos.

In compound time, we grouped them in threes.

And that gives a very different feeling to how we play our music and how we feel the beat.

So in three four, we say one and two and three and whereas in six, eight, we would say one and a two and a let's just clap the difference between those.

So one and two, and three and, then in six eight.

One and two, and a.

So you can hear the difference.

The time signature makes a feel of a piece of music.

For your first pause task on your piece of paper, can you answer the questions on the screen? Are you able to explain what a time signature is to a household member, and if they understand great if not, you need to rewind and listen to my explanation again.

As an extension, can you describe the difference in a sentence between simple and compound time signatures? What are the time signatures do you know? And if you already play an instrument, what time signatures have you played before? Pause the video to complete your task and then resume once you're finished.

Now that you've explored and learned different metres and time signatures, you're now going to compose using different phrase lengths.

So why do composers choose different time Signatures? I'd like you to listen to "Take five".

You might remember this from when we looked at melody in a compliment in lesson nine of this unit.

I'd like you whilst you're listening to think about how many beats are in the bar.

So what can you count? I would personally try and clap.

When you think it's beat one and then count the beats in between.

Let's see how you do it.

How many beats did you count? The answer is five, four.

It was actually titled after the time signature, take five.

This piece, was actually one of the first pieces of jazz with a time signature other than the standard four, four or three, four.

And there are actually five quadrants in the bar here.

I'd like you to listen again, but this time I'd like you to listen to the tremor which actually makes this time signature really obvious for us because we hear the bass drum on beat one each time.

Have a listen again? Did you hear at that time, if you want to rewind it and listen to it again and dance to it, try and dance to it.

I'd like you to see whether you think it's easy or hard.

I think it's much harder to dance to music which has a time signature, which can't be divided by two or three.

And that's why a lot of music, especially Western music including pop and dance is in the time signature four, four.

A time signature can completely change the feel of a piece of music.

And that's why composers choose different time signatures to compose it it depends on how they want the music to feel.

I'd like you to think back to Debussy 'La fille aux cheveux de lin'.

And I'd like you to think about what you think the time signature is here and how this piece made you feel.

Have a listen.

So that makes me feel quite dreamy makes me feel really relaxed and quite tranquil.

If you compare that to take five where you've got five four, five beats in a bar it makes it feel quite jumpy as if we're skipping a beat or casually late or something.

The beat is in three four and it's got a completely different feel to it.

If you think about queen, if you know queens, we are the champions that's in six eight and you can listen to that and count one, two, three, four, five, six in times of that music.

And again, it gives it a completely different feel again.

So I'd like you to think how the music you listened to makes you feel and how the time signatures can impact us.

Come for the first part of this composition task.

We're going to think about which time signature we want to perform in, or composing.

So I'm just going to try a variety to start off and you can do the same when you move on to your pause task in a minute.

So I'm going to start with four, four.

And I'm going to use the G flat major pentatonic to adjust my black keys.

And I'm going to just compose a four bar phrase in four, four.

Here we go.

So there was my question, answer, question, answer phrase that was in four four.

What about if I do a six, eight? Let's hear the difference.

So it's a play in six eight we need to think about how we counted the compound time earlier.

So one and two and or one, two, three, four, five, six.

So here's my counting and let's pay in six eight.

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

So I've just shown you two examples, one in four, four, and one in six eight.

You can choose to do whichever one you want.

You don't have to do the either, either of those you can choose whichever time signature you want to compose in.

I suggest putting a Metronome too when you do that.

And the phrases that I played, they were actually quite balanced and they have the same kind of number of beats in each phrase.

However, composers don't always do that.

So I'm going to play you an example from Adele.

And she uses a regular phrasings in her song, chasing pavements.

And most times this is, this is in four, four but the chorus has three and a half beat phrases and then a three beat phrase and then a five beat phrase as well.

So there's lots of different phrase lengths going on in her song.

Let's see if we can take a listen and see how she does this in the chorus.

♪ Should I give up ♪ Or should I just keep chasing pavements? Even if it leads nowhere Or would it be a waste? Even If I knew my place should I leave it there? Should I give up.

Were you able to hear that in Adele's music? If not, maybe rewind and see if you can count how many beats are in each of her phrases in the chorus.

Adele isn't the artist to do this as well.

Other examples include OutKast if you know their song Hey ya! And they actually have six beat phrases and then four beat phrases and they then change their time signature throughout as well from two, four to four four.

And what they try and do as well is make things sound a little bit more upbeat and fun.

But when they do their counting of one, two, three, four, they don't start on beat one.

They actually start on beat four.

So you could be quite playful with your different phrase lengths and get different feelings out of the music depending on what you want the listener to feel.

So I'm going to try now and compose again G flat major pentatonic but I'm going to use different phrase lengths.

Let's see how that sounds.

Which was longer my first phrase or my second phrase.

My second phrase was longer than, than my first phrase.

Let's do another one.

Which was longer my first phrase or my second phrase.

My second phrase.

Okay.

So you can try and compose phrases using different phrasings.

You can either try and count how many beats is in each phrase or you could try and make your question or your answer shorter or longer than the other one have a play around and see if you can compose some different phrasings.

For your next pause task.

Can you compose your own phrases using a variety of lengths using the G flat major and F major pentatonic scales.

Choose one of them.

It might also help to use a metronome.

Sometimes they use it in built on your keyboard or you could get a household members count the beats out loud for you, and try composing in four, four, five, four, and six, eight.

You'll then start to feel the different way time signatures can change the shape or the feeding of the piece of music.

If you want to challenge yourself, can you compose in seven, four or nine, eight.

You could also compose a left hand harmony part to a company or a right hand melody.

And you could name notate your composition.

Remember to think about how many beats have in each bar and particularly the time signature that he writes at the beginning and where your bar lines would go.

Pause the videos, complete your task, and then resume once you're finished.

Now that you've composed using different phrasings, it's time to perform a variety of phrasing.

Hopefully now you've had to go out to composing your own phrases and you've used a variety of different times signatures to do that in.

And you also try to see if you can compose some phrases, of different lengths.

I'm just going to give you a few different performing tips.

And just so that you can make these even better when you perform them.

So make sure that you are using the correct pitches on the keyboard.

Have you chosen the G flat major pentatonic? Or have you chosen to do an F major? Make sure that your finger position on the keyboard is accurate, So instead of having flat fingers, we've got hands up on the keyboard you can use your left and your right or if you want to try use your left one as a compliment, you'll need to work out the finger pattern for your melodies and phrases in your right hand.

Don't forget about articulation.

So we've looked at staccato and legato throughout this unit as well, So staccato or And also we've looked at dynamics.

So, Stop pianissimo and then move to Maybe forte.

So see if you can add in some of those different things into your composition as well, so that when you perform you give the listener a really good sense of how you're trying to communicate your piece and how you want them to feel.

So here's a quick example.

I will put in some legato and staccato notes, I'll try and put in some dynamics as well in with my phrasing as well.

Here we go.

Now you have it.

Some phrasing, some dynamics and articulation into my performance to communicate how I want my listeners to feel, have a go yourselves.

For your next pause task, Can you perform your composition in time? Performing to a household member that you taught? What a time signature was too, And see if they can guess which time signature you're using.

If you picked a difficult one, you might want to give them some options.

If you already play an instrument, can you transfer your composition on to your instrument? Or you could play with somebody else in the household.

They could create harmony line using the tonic and dominant pitches of the scale that you've used.

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

Hopefully I've given you some food for thought on what you can use in your next compositions.

And also thinking about how different times of niches and pieces make you feel.

Try to remember that for the next time you listen to a piece of music and see if you can work out the time signature, or can you work out that phrase Length as well, and why they've chosen to do those length of a phrase.

So for your pause task on your piece of paper I'd like you to answer the question that is on the green screen at the beginning.

How do composers measure music? Take two minutes to complete this task and then resume when you're finished.

How did you get up? So how did composers actually measure music? Well, they used time signatures and they also use a variety of different phrase lengths.

Time signatures can change the feeling of a piece of music.

So composers use a time signature depending on what they want.

Their listen at a rhythm is usually in four four.

So think about that the next time that you listened to a piece of music and how it makes you feel.

What time signature has the composer used? How do composers measure music? Well, they use a variety of time signatures and different.

How did you get on.

How did composers measure music? Well, they used time signatures and they also use a variety of different phrasings.

Time signatures can help change the feeling of a piece of music.

And so composers choose a time signature which is going to help them convey a certain feeling.

So for example, folk music is often played in three four or six eight because it gives it that kind of jerk feel, where people can get up and do jumpy dances, etcetera.

Whereas dance music is usually in a four, four, because they want that steady beat for people to dance to it.

So think about that the next time that you listen to a piece of music.

And thinking about why you think that composer has used that certain time signature? Is it because they want you to feel something in particular? And can you actually work out what that time signature is? I hope today has given you some ideas for composition as well, when you get back to school or whilst you're at home.

And that is all for me today, and I hope to see you soon.

However, don't forget to go and do the end of lesson quiz now, and see how much you have learnt today.

And I would also like to see your results and see how much you've retained.

So that's all for me today.

Goodbye.

And I'll see you again soon.