Lesson video

Hello, my name is Ms. Charatan and I'm really excited to teach you today all about how we can make a stylistic Baroque melody.

Let's begin by having a warmup.

So roll your shoulders back have a nice stretch, and repeat after me.

.

Lovely, we are now going to have a go at swapping around the sound.

So when I do this, you do this,.

When I do this , you do this.

Let's have a go.

You should have done.

That would have been correct.

You should have done.

One last one, let's make it quite hard.

You should have done.

I think.

Let's get started.

In this lesson, you will need the following pieces of equipment.

You will need a piece of paper, a pencil, or something to write with, an instrument or an app, for example, virtual piano on the iPhone, as well as a digital audio workstation, such as Band Lab or Garage Band both of those are free to use.

as long as you follow appropriate guidance.

Pause the video, get those things together and return when you're ready.

Lovely, today we're going to be looking about how we can make melodies more elaborate.

So to start, we will recap our knowledge of melodies and chords.

We will then explore how melodies can be elaborate by analysing various of Pachelbel's melodies.

We will then learn how to create an elaborate melody of your own using passing notes on complex rhythms. We will learn how to use articulation and ornaments to make our melody sound stylistic and then we will perform and share our melodies.

Let's begin by recapping our knowledge of melodies and chords.

So you are now going to fill out this table and fill the gaps with a missing notes from the chords.

Let's do the first one together.

The chord name is D major.

That means the root of the chord will be D.

To count up to the third we just count D, E is the second, the third will be F however it is an F sharp because we have F sharp and C sharp in the key signature.

The fifth we count from F so F sharp is third, fourth, fifth is A.

You can use a keyboard to help you or an online app, or you could do it in your head.

Pause the video and resume when you're ready to check your answers.

Lovely, let's now check our answers, take out a different coloured pen and correct any that you got wrong.

So we have A, C sharp and E for A major.

For B minor we know the root will be B.

For F sharp minor we count up F sharp G and A.

For G major, the same thing, G, A is the second and B is the third.

For D major, we know that one already so it's D, F sharp and A, G, B and D, finally, A, C sharp and E.

And these are all, if you hadn't noticed already, these are all the chords in Pachelbel's "Canon" in the correct order.

The ground bass is basically the root of these chords.

This might be familiar from previous weeks.

We have been doing things together.

So another quick recap, what are the four questions we ask ourselves when we analyse a melody? Fill in the gaps, pause the video and resume when you're ready to check your answers.

Lovely, let's now check our work.

So does the melody move in steps or leaps? Does it ascend or descend? What pitches does it use? And lastly, how long is it? You are now going to be using those four questions to analyse melodies one and two.

I'm going to play them to you so you can remember what they sound like, but it would also be helpful if you played them yourselves on your instrument or a virtual instrument.

Here is melody one, starting with F sharp.

Here's melody two starting on D.

Pause the video, answer those four questions about both melodies and resume when you are ready to check your answer.

Great, let's now check.

So they both move entirely by step, except for the end of melody two which has a very small leap.

They're both mainly descending with a very small ascending phrase at the end, they're both entirely minims. So each note last two beats.

They are also both four bars long and as you can remember from last time, they also only use notes from the chords.

So we look now at the chord grid below.

These are the chords that match up with the notes of the ground bass.

And these match up with the notes of the melody.

We can see that first chord, sorry, the first chord, it uses F sharp and D for melody one and two.

And these are the notes from the chords.

So it only uses the notes from the chords.

So we've recapped our knowledge now.

And we're now going to explore in a bit more detail, how a melody can be elaborate.

So you might have heard the word elaborate in another context.

So you might talk about an elaborate decoration or an elaborate painting.

That means more complicated.

It's the opposite of simple.

So we're going to listen to and play melody three and you are going to answer the question, how is it more elaborate the melodies one and two? Use those four questions we spoke about earlier to help you formulate your answer.

We've just had melody one.

So I'm now going to play melody three for you.

One, two, three, four, Listen to and play this melody and answer the question above.

Pause the video and resume when you're ready to check your answer.

Great, let's now check your answers against mine.

So melody three moves by step and leap.

Melody one and two only moved by step.

It ascends and descends in each bar.

Most importantly, it uses notes that are not from the chord.

So if we look at this first bar here.

It uses the notes from the chord there.

However, the note G is not in chord A.

We know this because generally speaking notes next to the chord name are not in the chord because we think about root third and fifth.

These are called passing notes.

Let's look at passing notes in more detail.

Passing notes are notes that are between two pitches to make a smooth melodic line.

They do not need to be in the chord, but they are still from the same scale as the melody.

So let's have a look at a passing note here.

We are in a D major scale.

So we have D, F and A.

Without the passing note, it would sound like this.

However Pachelbel chose to put in the passing note to make it smoother between the A and the F sharp so rather than having this we have this as a passing note.

G is in the D major scale, it's the fourth degree of that scale.

So that is a good passing note to use.

It would sound very strange if an incorrect passing note was used.

For example, I could replace the G with a G sharp.

We know that's not in the D major scale.

So if I did that in the context of melody three, That would sound really, really strange.

Passing notes also need to always move by step.

We can't really have a passing note which is a leap because it's not going to help us pass the between one note and another.

So we can't have a passing note like this.

That's not a passing note.

We also can't have one like this.

That is not a passing note because it's not right in between.

I'm already showing you a passing note here, which is the G.

Can you spot any more passing notes in this piece of music? I'm going to play one more time for you and try to identify two more passing notes.

Okay, pause the video if you need to have a bit more time, otherwise let's check our answers.

So we have a passing note here.

E, D, that goes between those two notes and one here as well, B, A, and G.

So passing notes move by step.

They can move up or down, ascending or descending.

These ones obviously are descending examples.

Let's now do a quick quiz to check our understanding of passing notes.

So you're going to need to find a passing note to help out these melodies.

So what would be the passing note to get from D to F sharp? For your stretch write this out using staff notation.

Pause the video, complete the work and resume when you're ready to check your answers.

Great, let's now check.

So from D to F sharp we need to have an E, D, E, F sharp.

That's just like alphabet.

D to B we need our A 'cause remember we go back to the beginning, we don't go to an H, that would sound very strange.

Then for C to A we'll need to go down.

So you have C, B and then for A to F sharp we also need to descend.

So it'll be A, G, F sharp.

Well done if you've got four out of four and even better well done if you wrote this out using musical notation.

Great, let's now go on to look at melody four.

How is it more elaborate than melodies one, two, and three? I'm going to play it to you but it will be helpful if you played it too 'cause that's going to really help you analyse a melody in better detail.

Think about our four questions that we looked at earlier.

Pay special attention to the rhythms in this one.

So pause the video, answer the four questions that we normally use to analyse melody four, and think about how is it more elaborate than melodies one, two, and three.

Resume the video when you're ready to move on.

Great, let's check our answers.

So you might have noticed the following things about melody four.

It also uses passing notes These are all, this one's a passing note here.

F sharp, E, and D and we have the same later on, D, C sharp, and E.

We had really varied rhythms. So melody three had all crotchets, but these ones we've got quavers, we've got minims and dotted with rhythms. So remember dotted rhythms, and we have a longer note and a shorter note, So we had two dotted rhythms in melody four.

We had one here, and we also remember we had these passing notes as well.

So as even a more elaborate than melody three.

Just to remind you about dotted rhythms. So the dots tells us to add half of the first note, half of the note onto the first note.

So a dotted crotchet is one and a half beats.

So that means, we'd often have a quaver after it to fill it up to that two beat duration.

Same with a dotted minim, a dotted rhythm would be a minim plus a crotchet which is half a minim and that makes three beats.

As we saw in a previous lesson, the carol, "Silent Night" has a dotted rhythm in it.

Just like on this screen here.

So let's have a recap.

What is a passing note and can you play it an example on your instrument.

Pause the video to do that.

Let's check our work.

So a passing note is a note that passes between two other notes.

So a passing note would be something like this, Or moving by step.

What is this rhythm called and how do you clap it? It is called a dotted rhythm and you would copy it like this one, two, one, two.

We have worked so hard so far, and we have explored how a melody can be elaborate.

Now it's your turn to create an elaborate melody using passing notes and complex rhythms. Here is your next task.

You're going to create an elaborate melody in a Baroque style.

So you'll need to use our knowledge of the scale of D major and the chords being played to improvise the phrases that use notes of the triad, passing notes and contain dotted rhythms, or other interesting rhythms. You'll need to use the table below to help you.

Let's just go back and think about what improvise means.

So normally it would mean to kind of make up something on the spot, which is what you'll be doing, but improvise also means to create.

So once you're happy with what you've made up, write it down because it'd be easy needing to use it later.

So here is a really useful table, which has all the chords of the ground bass.

So we can see we've got the first one is D major, then we go to A major then B.

So you can use this to help you come up with your melody so they all fit in with the ground bass.

The most important thing we need to look at is the yellow row, which is the root.

And if you base your melody around these notes, it would definitely fit.

So I might start off with a note, which I know is going to fit in with D so I might choose my F and I'm going to to pay with two hands, 'cause I can do that.

And that means, I know whether it fits in.

Don't worry if you can't do that 'cause you'll be able to check later whether it fits.

So I'm going to start with the F sharp and then I might move to A, 'cause I know that that's going to fit in with my next note in the chord.

I can add a passing note there.

Could I change the rhythm? And then I might move to B because that is my next chord.

And then I might want to move to F sharp, how do I get there? Maybe change the rhythm.

So let's see whether that fits in with the ground bass.

That fits really well so I'm happy with that.

If I wasn't happy, I'd just come back and try again.

Next bit, let's have a look at the G.

I could just go up and down.

Should we see if that fits? That fits really well.

So once you're happy with it, you can then write your melody down.

On your worksheets you've got something which looks like this.

You've got your grid.

You've got a place to write your melody down.

You can even write it using notation.

And at the very top, you have got the ground bass to check your melody against.

You're now going to pause the video to complete your task, creating an elaborate melody in the Baroque style.

If it's too easy for you, and you do it really, really quickly, could you think about using some other interesting rhythms? Pause the video and come back when you're ready.

If you don't have the worksheet and would like to check your melody, now is a good opportunity to do so 'cause I'm going to play the ground bass.

If you have already checked, use this as a chance to practise the ground bass, practise your melody along with the ground bass.

One, two, three, four.

Okay if that fitted, we're ready to move on.

If it didn't quite fit, go back to the previous steps and try and rework a bit of the melody so it fits with the ground bass.

Look at this checklist and answer the questions below.

Pause the video and resume when you have answered them.

Lovely, so you have created an elaborate melody using passing notes and complex rhythms. We're now going to use the same melody and use articulation and ornaments to make it sound even more stylistic.

Let's now think back to some previous work we did.

How can we make a melody even more stylistic? Look at the images below, write down your answers and resume the video when you are ready.

Let's move on.

So we can make a melody sound more stylistic with articulation.

So staccato and legato.

So we could do something like this Staccato or legato.

And we can also use ornaments to make it sound stylistic.

So we have trills , we have mordents, and grace notes.

You are now going to make your melody more stylistic using the following techniques.

So using ornaments, articulation, and maybe even creating a countermelody.

So you're going to start off just by recapping the first bit of your melody.

Mine sounds like this.

So then I decide firstly, where should I put some ornaments? Maybe there.

Maybe one there.

So I would sound like this.

I didn't really feel that there's enough room for a trill there or grace notes but it might be different with your melody.

Then I would think about articulation.

So what bit do I want smooth and what bit do I want a bit more staccato do I want any slurs as well.

So maybe I'll do the first bit staccato without an ornament.

And the second bit legato.

Obviously your melody will be different than mine.

So you will make different decisions.

Pause the video, make your melody more stylistic and resume when you are finished.

Fantastic, you are now going to go through this checklist and answer the questions.

Pause the video and resume when you're ready.

Great, we have got through so much today already, and we are now going to move on to the final parts of our lesson.

We're going to perform and share our melodies.

So, as I said, in a previous lesson, you can create a melody using audio mixing software.

The following demonstration uses a free music software programme called Band Lab for Education.

You can use it if you're under 13, but you must get permission from a parent or carer first.

Please speak to your parent or carer, or your school for help in setting up the programme.

Your task will be to record your melody into a digital audio workstation for you to share.

That will mean you can come back to it in future weeks in order to create a much bigger piece.

I'm now going to show you how to record it in to a digital audio workstation.

So if you've done the lesson with me on Band Lab before, so lesson 10 of this series where you wrote a simple melody, you might already have work existing and it'd be really good for you to just continue working on that.

So to open it up, you'll need to do click on lesson 10 and open in mix editor.

Otherwise you could start a new personal project if you haven't done this before, or you want to start something new.

So I'm going to open up a previous one, which is going to take some time to load.

And I can see my previous work.

So I don't need to do much setting up.

If you haven't set up already, you need to make sure your tempo is 80 beats per minute and the metronome is on.

So I'm now going to record it in my elaborate melody.

So I need to add a new track for this, and I'm going to change the instrument to a wind instrument.

Change to the flute.

So I've got my instrument here, all ready to go.

I'm going to need to practise my melody a bit because it's difficult to play it on a computer keyboard.

So I started here so make sure you've got it written down in front of you that'll be much easier.

I need to move my mouse out of the way.

I'm just going to do the first bit of my melody.

You might want to record your melody in bits.

I'm also going to try and put my ornaments in now because it's really difficult to put them in afterwards on Band Lab.

If you're on Logic, Logic Pro or Garage Band, then it's a little bit easier.

So when I'm ready and when I've practised, I'm going to click record.

It will count me in.

Check the metronome is on.

It should be blue.

One thing I totally forgot to do, I'm glad I've shown you that mistake I made.

I don't want these going on at the same time at the moment 'cause it's going to be too distracting.

So I'm going to mute them all.

If you've recorded in a ground bass however, you might want to keep that in.

So I've muted those they're not going to play anymore.

They're not going to be distracting and delete this.

Try again.

You can see, I made a bit of a mistake there.

In some cases I might want to just delete it.

This one is probably fixable.

So I need to take this one out.

And I also annoyingly forgot to put my ornaments in.

So if I wanted to put an ornament here, I might put one here, I might shorten it.

I can then copy it by pressing down alt, click on it and drag and that'll create a new note.

That's quite tricky to do when we are quantizing it however so it might be easier So I'm just going to make this shorter.

So I can put in ornaments like this, but as I've said, it's much better to play them in yourself.

'Cause it just works better with the quantizing.

You can always turn down the tempo, so it's easier for you to play as well.

So when I'm happy with it, I'll select it all, press quantize by 16th and then your melody is ready to share.

I will show you how to share your melody now.

So once you're happy with it, you might want to just share melody if you haven't had time to do a whole ending.

If you wanted to actually make it into a more of a piece, that's great, do share that and spend more time on it.

But imagine I want to just share this now.

I need to make sure I've saved it and you can rename it at the top here.

So actually this is lesson 11.

Going to change this now and then file, download, and you mix down as, so it's just going to save.

We just need to be a bit patient.

And often the system can't straight away annoying me, it should come up the second time I do it.

It might do this for you too.

It's just a funny crack that's the best thing is just do it twice for the option list to come up on how you want to download it.

So when the box comes up, you need to click MP3 because that is going to be the most easily playable version of this, here we go.

So medium quality mp3 and I'm going to click download when I'm ready.

So we're going to now go back to our paused screen for the instructions for you to read.

Read the instructions carefully on here again so you know exactly what to do.

Pause the video, complete your task and resume once you have finished.

Great, well done for recording that in.

I know it was really challenging.

So here a checklist of questions I'd like you to think about.

Pause the video, think about the answers and resume when you're ready.

Fantastic, now is your chance to perform your melody or melodies.

If you record it onto a digital workstation, you can share it with many people.

So you can just show it to somebody at home or send it to somebody else or even send it to your school to share.

If you didn't manage to get into a digital audio workstation, that's okay in this instance, because you can replay your elaborate melody through somebody at home.

Do share it because I'm sure they're able to give you some really useful feedback and will be really interested to hear what you are doing.

Pause the video and in order to perform and share your melodies and resume when you are ready.

We have come to the end of our lesson and you've done a really great job today.

I know creating an elaborate melody is challenging.

So well done for getting this far.

Let's now go back to our key question.

How did you compose a stylistic Baroque melody? You're going to formulate your answer using the words below.

Pause the video, write out your answer and resume when you're ready to check with me.

Lovely, so this is what my answer would be.

Yours might not be in quite the same order, but it will be roughly this.

So you start with a scale.

So I started with my D major scale.

I looked to the chords used and chose notes, some notes from the chords and some passing notes.

I then experimented with different rhythms to make it more interesting, including dotted rhythms. Lastly, I added ornaments, used staccato, and thought about where to put my slurs.

If your answer is something like mine, maybe something's in a different order, that is great.

Well done.

Well done for your hard work today.

It was a challenging lesson and you should be really proud of what have produced.

Before we go, if you'd like to share your work with Oak National, please ask your parent or carer to share it on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter, tagging Oak National and using the hashtag LearnwithOak.

Don't forget to click on in the website and complete the quiz to show off what great things you have learned today.

And all that's left for me to say is well done for today's work and have a great rest of your day.

Bye.