Lesson video

So let's start with our mind, getting our mind prepared to sing.

We're going to listen carefully and count the number of sounds you can hear.

So we can close our eyes if you find it easier and listen out for as many sounds as you can around you.

Might be things outside, it might be things inside.

And we'll do that for about 10 seconds.

Okay, I'm not sure about you, but I could hear cars outside.

I could hear my laptop fan.

Moving on, let's have a listen to our own heartbeat.

You might find it easier to listen to your heartbeat if you put your hand to your chest and you can feel your pulse as well.

Let's do that for another 10 seconds.

Good! If you were unable to hear your heartbeat, don't worry, I think you're going to be okay.

Next, let's have a nice big stretch.

So if you're not already stood up, stand up and stretch your arms right up to the ceiling, and then stretch your arms out to the side and try and touch the walls.

Making sure that we're standing shoulder width apart, and now we can relax our arms down by our sides.

Let's make a circle with our head.

Be careful with this one, nice, slow tempo.

So we look up, to the right, and down, and do three big circles each way.

So if you haven't already started going in the other direction, make sure it's equal.

And now let's do some breath work.

We're going to breathe in slowly through our nose and out through our mouth four times.

If you find it easier to do this to counts, we're going to breathe in for eight counts and out for eight counts.

In one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight and out, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

Let's do that again, in two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, and out two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

Big one now in two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight and out two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

Last time, in two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight and out, two, three, four, five, six, seven and eight.

Now take some normal breaths.

You can shake it out, you feeling like you have to, and next is to pant slowly like a dog.

And I'm going to leave this one to you.

I know you know what a dog sounds like, can do that for five to 10 seconds, and then we're going to hiss like a snake.

So another big breath in through our nose.

And then we can exhale using the sound S.

Let's do that together after three, one, two, three in.

And out.

Okay, I just probably had a bit more in the tank there.

I'm just going to wait for those people who might still be hissing.

And we'll do that one more time, let's see if you can beat me.

Nice big breath into the nose after three.

One, two, three, out to hiss.

There we go.

I'm sure you probably beat me in that one.

And let's do some vocal things now.

So we're going to repeat each tongue twister the four times.

I'm not very good at these, but I will give it a go.

So the first one is free fire flows fast.

Let's do that four times, I'll do it twice.

And then you can do it four times yourself.

free fire flows fast, free fire flows fast.

Your go.

And then I'm going to try this next one.

I'll try and do it four times, and then I'll give you some time to do it yourself.

I'm wondering about having a wriggling walk in the woods.

I'm wondering about having a wriggling walk in the woods.

I'm wondering about having a wriggling walk in the woods, I'm wondering about having a wriggling walk in the woods, I'm wondering about having a wriggling walk in the woods.

Whoo! That one was hard.

Give you time to do that one as well.

Good, and finally, we're going to hum with a closed mouth from low pitch to high pitch.

So let's find the nice low hum sound.

Have a go at repeating that twice more, as low as you can go to, as high as you can go.

Okay, good.

well done! Let's get back into a learning position and continue with the lesson.

'Mede brebre masi ta', is a piece of music that is spoken.

There is a solo part, there's a chorus for more singers and a drum accompaniment.

The title means, I go slowly, I walk slowly.

I go slowly, I walk slowly.

If it helps to think, there are six quaver beats in a bar and the tempo is fairly quick.

Now this wouldn't be notated, And it wouldn't be thought of as in six eights in West Africa, or in Ghana where this is performed.

But if it's easy to think, for us Western classical musicians, then we can think of it as it in six eights.

First, let's have a look at the lyrics and also how to pronounce these words.

Another disclaimer, I'm not from Ghana.

I'm not a 100% on my pronunciation.

I'm sure that lots of you out there are going to be a lot better than me, but I have put the lyrics up just over there on my left, and also some tips on how to say some of them.

So the first one is 'brebre', which is like you're saying bread, but without the D.

'Brebre'.

Then you have 'mede', rhyming with 'brebre', and then 'masi ta'.

And then you have 'afe ano ahyia', 'afe ano ahyia', and then 'nyi' and 'ni'.

'Nyi', 'ni', 'nyi', 'ni', 'nyi', 'ni'.

And then finally we have, 'bo akora'.

To hear these lyrics, please go to the worksheets where you can listen to the song.

It might be an idea to listen to the song at the same time as reading through these words.

Let's go through them one more time.

I will say them, and then you can repeat them after me.

So brebre, mede, masi ta, Afe ano ahyia, nyi, ni, nyi, ni, nyi, ni, bo akora.

Have a listen to the song a few times.

Try and say the words along to it if you can, and let's learn the rhythm.

Okay, so let's have a go at doing the rhythm.

Now being in this sort swinging, six eight feel, let's actually, I'm going to play a metronome and we're just going to sway to that metronome.

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

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

We're just getting settled into that pattern.

Good! going to keep on swaying, got that in my head.

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

Now, notice that the lyrics actually starts before uh the stump beat.

Let's try that entry nice and slow.

So, one, two, three, four, mede bre.

Let's try that again.

One, two, three, four, mede bre.

One more time, one, two, three, four, mede bre.

Good, and let's try and do that first line.

One, two, three, four.

Do that again.

Me di bre, bre, bre, masi ta.

Now over to you, one, two, three, four, Me di bre, bre, bre, masi ta and again, Me di bre, bre, bre, masi ta.

Okay, now in the song, we do that twice.

So it's one, two, three, four Then we continue to do that section.

So let's try that a little bit quicker.

So our counting is a lot quicker this time.

It's one, two, three, four, five, six, one, two, three, four, five, six, one, two, three, four, me di bre, One, two, three, four, five, six, one, two, three, four, five, six, one, two, three, four, me di bre, I'm going to do the whole thing twice now I'll do that counting.

One, two, three, four, five, six, one, two, three, four, me di bre, bre, bre, masi ta, me di bre, bre, bre, masi ta.

Okay? Your turn, I know it's quick.

One, two, three, four, five, six, one, two, three, four, me di bre, bre, bre, masi ta, me di bre, bre, bre, masi ta.

Good.

That's the hardest bit dump.

Next up, We have 'a fyair no shia' one, two, three, four, five, a fyair no shia, a fyair no shia.

Let's try that with the metronome one, two, three, four, five, six, one, two, three, four, five, six, coming in upto five.

So we'll try the entry.

This time, we'll do 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, a fyair.

And we'll stop that.

We'll just do the entry, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, a fyair 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, a fyair now let's do the whole thing 1 2 3 4 5 6, 1 2 3 4 5, a fyair no shia, 1 2 3 4 5 6, 1 2 3 4 5, a fyair no shia.

So now let's try doing the first page twice, into the second and that what I'm going to do it all one time, and then you can join in with me the second time.

Here we go.

And all we have left to do is, If you really move your mouth, you can get to pronounce this pronunciation, nyi ni nyi ni nyi ni, and then bwah kra.

Yeah.

So let's try that after 6, 1 2 3 4 5 6, nyi ni nyi ni nyi ni bwah kra, again, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 nyi ni nyi ni nyi ni bwah kra, 1 2 3 4 5 6, bwah kra Good.

One more time.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, nyi ni nyi ni nyi ni bwah kra, Very good! Now let's see if we can put that all together.

Here we are, all the way through.

I'll do it all the way through after counting.

I'm just getting into that swing.

I find the stumping really helpful.

Here we go.

1 2 3 4 5 6, 1 2, 3, 4 that's it again? That's it.

That's the one.

I'll pause it there.

If you would like to rewind and do that with me a few more times, then go ahead.

When listening to the song, you will notice that there are two speaking parts and the progression part.

When these three parts play at the same time, polyrhythms are created.

But can you remember what a polyrhythm is? Is it option one, two or more rhythms played different pulses, played at the same time.

Option two, where two melodies interweave with each other.

Option three, two rhythms played at the same time Or option four, a polyphonic texture? Correct.

Two or more rhythms of different pulses played at the same time.

What is six eights.

I spoke about how we could interpret this on being in six eights, although, although it wouldn't traditionally be notated at all, and therefore it certainly wouldn't be notated as the six eights.

But, but what the six eights mean? Is it a time signature with six crotchets in a bar, a time signature with eight quavers in a bar, a time signature with eight quavers in a bar, or a time signature with eight sextuplets in a bar? Correct! Six eights means six quavers in a bar.

In the time signature, the first number tells you, how many beats and the second number tells you, what kind of beat.

'Mede brebre masi ta' Complete both activities: Teach the lyrics of the song to someone in your household.

Sing along to the performance, pause the video to complete your task, and click resume once you've finished.

We're going to look at a song called 'Miwoe Nenyo'.

I've probably, I've probably said that incorrect.

And I do apologise once again.

What I would like you to do first is listen to this song, listen to this song at least once.

Although I encourage you to listen to it more than once and pay particular attention to the rhythms in the introduction and how they are introduced.

Make sure to listen to the song all the way through, as as there is a wonderful melody as well.

Once you've finished listening to the song at least once, come back and we'll talk through these rhythms. Okay! So, rhythm one is grouped into a three and a two.

1 2 3 1 2 1 2 3 1 2 Nice and simple.

Rhythm two, I've called rhythm of the talking drum, just to help us remember, And it sounds like this.

Rhythm of the talking drum Rhythm of the talking drum Rhythm of the talking drum Now already, I'm getting that six eights feeling again just like in Medi brebre masi ta 1 2 3 4 5 6, 1 2 3 4 5 6 I can emphasise the one and the four, to create that swing.

I can even stump my feet on those beats.

Rhythm of the talking drum Rhythm of the talking drum Rhythm of the talking drum Rhythm of the talking drum.

Rhythm three is a kind of opposite rhythm two.

And we have 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 3 1 2 1 2 3.

And then we kind of have a 1 2 3 4 pause, which creates a polyrhythm with rhythm two, which is in, which has about six eight feel.

We know that a polyrhythm is when two rhythms are played from different pulses.

So if we've got one with a six eight feel and one with a four four field, that's going to create a polyrhythm.

And not just sounds like this 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 Okay! So let's practise these now.

On screen, I've tried to arrange the different beats as if they were to be played at the same time.

But, what I would want, what I want you to do, is pause the video and find objects or different body percussion sounds.

And you're going to need four.

I'll show you what I've got now.

So in front of me, I have a water bottle that is filled up.

I have another one's bottle made out of plastic, which has a completely different sound.

And when the water moves around, it changes the pitch.

So, this is going to be my talking drum sound.

I have a plastic cup with some pasta in it, as a little shaker.

So, I can either hit that with my pen.

Or I can cover my thing and, I think that's going to be my pulse sound.

And I also have an empty cup, which sounds like this.

So, I want to assign a rhythm to one of these sounds and then I'm going to practise playing them.

I'm going to just tilt the screen down a little bit, so you can see the instruments.

a bit more.

There we go on the eagle-eyed or see the Jen bay literally right that, but I'm not going to use the Jen bay.

This is, because I want to make, I want to make use of my homemade instruments.

So, I'm going to decide to play rhythm one, which is 1 2 3 1 2 1 2 3 1 2 using my metal water bottle.

So, here goes Nice and easy Rhythm two, I'm going to play on my water bottles/ talking drum.

Rhythm of the talking drum Rhythm of the talking drum Rhythm of the talking drum Rhythm of the talking drum Rhythm of the talking drum.

It's also a bit of a walking drum as well.

Rhythm of the talking drum There we go.

Rhythm three, I will do with my cup, or my empty cup of coffee.

And that sounds like this 1 2 1 2 3 1 2 1 2 3 1 2 1 2 3 1 2 1 2 3 And then finally, I'm going to have rhythm four, hand over the top.

it's going to be, 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 so let's do a little bit of corner response and playing together with all four of these rhythms before we play along to the music.

So, I'll do one play through of rhythm one and then new copy.

We'll do that twice.

Good.

Same thing for rhythm two.

I will play the rhythm, once.

Then you repeat and I'll play it again, you repeat.

Here we go.

Very good! Rhythm three.

And rhythm four.

1 2 3 4 Excellent! So now we know the rhythms. What I would like us to do is, go back to the song and try and play along with the introduction.

The introduction is fairly long, So you could play all of them.

You can ask their come in you could play the next one.

You could focus on just playing, for example, rhythm of the talking drum for the whole of the introduction.

You could just do the 1 2 1 2 3 rhythm for example, or you could need to get another pen.

Or, if you have another pen we can try and do more than one at the same time.

I might give it a go, is really, it's going to, I'm going to find it very difficult.

Some of you will be able to do it really easily.

Okay! With the video to be a bit of practise.

I think there's only one combination I can do.

I might use rhythm three and rhythm four.

So we have the pulse and 1 2 1 2 3 1 2 1 2 3 So I'll try and do that again and show you what that looks and sounds like.

Okay! One take.

Not too bad! I would encourage you to do three and four as well.

If you can do rhythm two and rhythm four, then you are much better at polyrhythms than I am, and congratulations for that.

Work your way through the song a few times, So you have a go at playing at least all of the four rhythms. And once you've done that, feel free to un-pause the video, click resume when you're ready to move on to the next part.

Listen to 'Miwoe Nenyo'.

Then see if you can play along to each rhythm.

Pause the video to complete your task and click resume once you finish.

The questions to finish off then.

What do you think is cyclic rhythm is? A rhythm that repeats or leaps, a rhythm that changes after four bars, a rhythm that doesn't change at all, or a rhythm that changes after two bars? Correct! A rhythm that repeats or loops, think of a circle.

What is a pentatonic melody? A melody of five bars, a melody of five beats per bar, a melody of five notes or a melody of five pitches? Correct! It is a melody of five pitches.