Lesson video

In this lesson, you will need a piece of paper and a pencil to write notes with.

Towards the end of the lesson, we are going to be making some instruments out of household objects.

So some things you might want to think about getting would be a bowl, elastic bands, mug, a glass of water, tape, and rice.

So let's warm up with a quick improvisation called a response exercise.

I'll improvise four beats, you improvise four beats.

Use any body percussion sounds you would like.

Here we go.

One, two, three, four.

One, two, three, four.

One, two, three, four.

One, two, three, four.

One, two, three, four.

One, two, three, four.

One, two, three, four.

One, two, last one.

Great.

Well done.

Let's move on.

Percussion instruments.

Percussion instruments include any instrument that makes a sound when it is struck, shaken or scraped.

The picture on the right is a standard percussion section of an orchestra.

Pause the video now.

What instruments can you see? Write a list.

You may have written down: timpani, woodblocks, xylophone, cymbals, snare, tom and gong.

Percussion instruments are found in music throughout the world.

Tuned versus untuned percussion.

Tuned percussion.

Produce sounds with an identifiable pitch.

The role is to produce harmony and melody.

Examples include xylophone, piano, and glockenspiel.

Untuned percussion.

Produce sound with an unidentifiable pitch.

The role is to provide rhythm.

Examples include timpani, djembe, and maracas.

Percussion instruments in West Africa.

List the instruments you see on screen now and write down whether you think that instrument is tuned or untuned.

How do you know? Repeat the task with the instruments on screen now.

Out of the instruments you see, which ones do you think is being played in the following clip? Role of instruments.

Instruments can have different roles and functions in an ensemble.

Melodic: provides the melody for the music.

This is the role of tuned or pitched instruments.

Usually high pitch instruments that can play an improvised melody.

Harmonic: the role here is to accompany the melody, usually with chords.

This role is played by tuned and pitched instruments.

Rhythmic: adds rhythmic interests, performed by untuned instruments, establishes the tempo and keeps players in time.

Copy the table below.

Your task is to put the West African instruments into the right box.

Remember, melodic instruments will be tuned, rhythmic instruments will be untuned, and some instruments might go into two boxes, like the balafon.

As a stretch, do the same exercise with the instruments in a typical standard rock band or orchestra.

Making homemade instruments.

The following video will demonstrate some ideas on how to make instruments at home.

Remember, percussion instruments are instruments that are hit, shaken, or scraped.

Get creative with your homemade instruments, but they can be very simple.

Even some rice in a mug makes a good shaker! Composing with texture and sonority.

On screen now you see a table.

I have labelled eight beats and three different instruments: a rice shaker, a drum, and a kora.

I want to try and compose a very short piece of music, I use these different textures and sonorities.

This is how I've decided to notate my music.

The table shows if I want the rice shaker to be playing the whole eight beats.

For my drum pattern in beat one, I would like two notes that make our low sound, on beat two or bar two I would like to have a higher pitch sound and just have one sound.

In bar or beat four, there's going to be no sound at all in the drum part.

And to read the kora parts of my three strings, I've labelled one pink, one blue, and one darker blue.

You do not have to notate your music like this.

You don't even have to notate your music at all, but your task is to compose a short piece that uses different textures and sonorities.

You might want to experiment with having more instruments or less instruments.

Maybe one instrument just plays at the beginning and then drops out.

Once you've finished your composition, try performing it.

If you can't perform it by yourself, try and get one of your friends or family members to help you with it.

Share your work with Oak National.

If you'd like to, please ask your parent or carer to share your work on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter, tagging @OakNational and #LearnwithOak.