Lesson video

Hello, everyone.

Welcome back to you unit seven, looking at fusion music, we are on lesson three and today we're going to be focusing on tango.

I love tango music and I love to watch tango dancing.

I'm not very good myself, I wish I was.

Maybe I'll start having lessons, but as a dance, it's really exciting.

It's really passionate.

And the music reflects that.

And I can't wait to look into our lesson and to teach you all about this style of music and how it's fused with technology.

Right, we're going to start our lesson with a rhythm activity to get our ears in tune with thinking about some of the rhythms that we would find in tango music.

There's two first to learn, and then we're going to do an activity.

First is tango rhythm, I'll call, I'll leave time for you to respond.

Call, response.

Here is tango rhythm one.

And again.

Great, hopefully we've got tango rhythm one locked in our brains.

Pa, pa, pa, pa, pa, pa, pa, pa.

Here's tango rhythm two, so we've got two to remember for our activity.

This one sounds like this call, response.

And again.

Well done, let's see if we can do tango rhythm one and tango rhythm two together, and then we've got everything we need to start playing our game.

I'll do both Tonga rhythms and your copy back.

Here we go, tango rhythm one, tango rhythm two.

Great, good job.

Now, we're going to see if we can play a game called Switch.

I love playing this game.

It really gets us thinking and you're going to need to know these rhythms really well.

So, this is how it's going to work.

I will start paying a tango rhythm one.

And then when I count you in, you're going to need to start playing tango rhythm two, at the same time.

Then when we're saying switch, we need to swap around.

So, then you'll be playing tango rhythm one and I'll be clapping tango with them two.

Let's give it a go and see how we get on.

One, two, three, four.

One, two, tango two, go.

Keep going.

Time to switch.

Get ready to switch and one, two, three, four, finish.

How did it get on? It's tricky isn't? Sometimes trying to think of clapping one tango rhythm, having the next one in your mind.

Cause you know, I'm going to say switch in a minute.

So I mean, it really gets our brain working and thinking about those syncopated rhythms in tango music.

Let's turn into a bit body percussion.

So, this might make it a bit easier.

Let's try, so what we'll say is that tango rhythm one we'll do on our laps.

Tango rhythm two, we'll do with our hands.

So, when I yell switch, you're either going to be tango rhythm one on your thighs or tango rhythm two on your hands.

I'm going to start, the same as before.

I'll start with tango rhythm one on my lap, I will count you in.

You do tango rhythm two, over the top in your hands and get ready to hear switch.

Here we go.

Good luck.

One, two, three, four, and come with tango rhythm two.

Switch, switch, switch, switch, switch, switch, switch.

How did he get on? Even I started to get a bit confused with which one I was doing then, but it's always great fun to play games like that and get us ready, playing some rhythms. Okay, let's look at our agenda for the rest of lesson three.

Great, everyone it's time to get organised.

It's really important that you have everything you need at the start of a lesson so that we can be really successful today.

You're going to need either the worksheet that comes with the lesson, a piece of paper or a booklet to write some notes and some illustrations in.

And you've also got to stage a pen and a pencil.

Pencil's really important for today's lesson.

We're going to be writing some notation and if you change your mind, it's easier just to rub it out than it is to start again, but bring a different colour pen so that we can mark and correct our work as we go along, you're also going to need your body for body percussion, or if you're a drummer or if you have a drum, you can bring that with you as well.

Or you can explore some of the apps that are available on Android or an iPhone to explore how to make drum sounds using your phone or tablet.

Great, let's go.

Okay, it's really important.

We look at our agenda for today.

First thing we're going to look at is what are the features of tango music so that you know exactly what type of music sounds like, and you'd be able to recognise it straight away.

Then we're going to be doing a bit more work exploring those traditional tango rhythms that we played with earlier on.

We're going to look at neotango, which is a development of tango, a more modern version.

And then you're going to have your go at creating your own electro tango drum pattern.

Right, pen and paper at the ready.

Let's start to have a look at features of Argentinian tango, below are images that show musical features of the Argentinian tango.

First thing I want you to do is label those images.

Remember to keep your presentation neat, definitely put a heading features of Argentinian tango.

Numbers in your margin or on the side of your paper, One, two, three, four, five and get labelling those pictures.

I'm going to play a really short clip for you now.

And I want you for number five to tell me which of the instruments above is playing the main melody of the music we have just listened to.

And hopefully you'll know that main melody, it means the tune of the music.

Here we go.

Great, I hope you enjoyed listening to that Argentinian tango clip.

If you're ready to go ahead, we're going to go through the answers now, but if you'd like to pause, cause you want a bit more time to finish writing your answers, please do that as well.

Great, let's go through those answers together.

Different coloured pen at the ready, number one, the image is a guitar.

Number two, is a clue to the type of dance the tango is, and that is a paired dance.

Number three, the instrument we're looking for is a violin.

Number four, the bandonen and well then anyone who got the correct answer for that one.

You might have seen similar instruments that look like this, they're called accordions, but in tango they have a special type of accordion called a bandoneon.

Do make a note of that in your piece of paper, that's going to come back later on in our lesson.

And number five, was that clip, which of those instruments was playing the main melody, guitar, violin or bandoneon.

And the answer we're looking for is, the bandoneon.

Even if you haven't heard a bandoneon before you might have recognised that it didn't sound like the violin or the guitar and so you worked out.

Well done if you did, make any notes you need for the answers and your corrections, make sure you give yourself a big tick for the ones you got right? Lovely stuff let's carry on.

Right, before we can start looking at how to compose some of our own tango.

What's really important with fusion music.

We go back to looking at where this style of music became or where it came from.

I'm going to read through the text on the left hand side of your screen, follow with me.

In the 19th century people from different countries and cultures migrated to an area called, Rio de la Plata, looking for better jobs with the hope of happier lives.

Unfortunately, this was not the case.

And so people turned to playing music.

In the music halls of the slums of Buenos Aires, African and South American styles blended together with European dance.

And eventually the tango was born.

So, the tango in itself is a fusion piece of music, because we know that, that's different styles from different traditions, from different cultures coming together.

And here we've got African, South American and European features from each of them coming together to create tango music.

And there's a picture of the Rio de la Plata.

What I love about that information, it's the fact that these people turned to music for comfort.

And I think lots of people do that.

I think listening to certain styles of music can help change your mood, can help you reflect and you celebrate and help you do something that you enjoy.

That's why we all do music.

Alright, let's take a look at our agenda.

We've done quite a lot already.

So, we did that activity on the features of tango music.

We've heard a little bit where it came from, now we're going to explore some of the traditional tango rhythms. Now, if you remember the rhythms we played for our switch activity in our intro, you're going to know these already, but this is what they look like written out in notation.

Tango rhythm one, see if you can follow along.

It's four beats in a bar, four over four.

So, we count in four and start to clap.

One, two, three, four, One, two and three, four.

One, two, and three, four.

Do you want to have another go? I'll count you in, one, two, three, four.

One, two and three, four, three, four.

Good, let's recap tango rhythm two as well.

Again, it's in four, four, four beats in a bar.

I'll do it.

And then you can have a go to remind yourselves of what it sounds like.

Tango rhythm two, here we go.

One, two, three, four.

One, two, three, four.

One, two, three, four.

You have a go, I'll count you in.

One, two, three, four.

One, two, three, four.

One, two, three, four.

Great recap, well done.

Syncopated ostinato is a really key word.

A key phrase for tango music.

Hopefully you might remember this.

If you've looked at other lessons in our fusion unit.

Syncopated ostinato means that it is off the beat.

The notes are not always on the strong beats of the bar.

So, for example, this note here is not on the strong beat of the bar.

One, two, and three, four.

Same with this note here, one and two, four.

Ostinato means a repeating musical pattern.

So, basically tango rhythms are made up of lots of syncopated rhythms that repeat.

It's really for dancers that the musicians do that, it helps them work out where they are with their feet, where they are in the music.

Okay, let's play a game.

On the left hand side, tango rhythm one, on the right hand side, tango rhythm two.

I'm going to clap for you now.

I will want you to tell me which one, am I clapping? Tango rhythm one, tango rhythm two.

You can either write it down or say it to the screen.

Let's go.

And as quickly, three, two, one.

It was tango rhythm them one.

Well done if you told me, or if you've written it down on your piece of paper, Let's have another go.

Which one am I clapping? Writing your answers down.

Ready to tell me.

Three, two, one.

It was neither, well done anybody who spotted.

I didn't clap either of those.

I clapped a completely different rhythm to see if I could catch you out.

All right, let's do it one more time.

Ready with your answers? Three, two, one.

Yes, it was tango rhythm two.

Well done, if you got that.

Great tango rhythm recap, I think that really stuck in our minds now, ready to start composing some of our own.

This is how we are going to write your own tango rhythms. We're going to put them in a grid.

So, it's easier for us to see where the syncopation is.

First thing you're going to need to do is copying out this grid onto your piece of paper or in your booklet.

If you've got the worksheet, great.

You've got it ready to go.

But if not, pause the video now and roll this out.

Nice and neat so it's really clear.

Also make sure it's big enough.

Cause we can write notes in those boxes.

Okay, now we've got the grid.

We're ready to go.

And what you're going to do is you're going to put either dotted crotchets.

This one here.

Crotchets, this one here or quavers this one here into the box, underneath the pulse.

This is our pulse one, two, three, four.

And you're going to put the combination of notes that you want into this row here to make a full bar tango rhythm.

One, two, three, four.

Remember the top tip number two, the rhythm needs to be syncopated.

So, some notes need to be in the plus boxes.

Also they need to be rhythms that you can repeat that you can either clap or do through body percussion.

So, if you feel every box or make it sound too complicated, it might be hard to repeat.

In my example, I've put a dotted crotchet on the first beat.

I've put a quaver on the end and a crotchet on the three, that is actually part of the traditional tango rhythm one.

And you can do that too, if you like, I've then taken the first part of traditional tango rhythm number two, because I know these sound really stylistic to tango.

Remember I said, they're ostinatos so they need to repeat.

So, what I've done is I've made bar one and bar three the same, and then I've made bar four different to create a bit of interest.

Another top tip, attention please.

This is really important.

A dotted crotchet will fill three boxes.

You can leave more of a gap of you if like, you could leave four or five boxes, but you must leave at least three, because that's how many beats of the bar a dotted crotchet will use.

Crotchets are two boxes and quavers are one.

So, what are you going to do now is write in your full bar tango rhythm, using dotted crotchets, crotchets and quavers and then I want you to practise it.

You can use body percussion or even a drum app.

They're really cool to use.

Just a reminder the final time, your rhythm should repeat and be syncopated, have fun, composing your own four bar tango rhythm and clapping or playing it through.

Off you go.

How you can use one of the drum apps to compose that four bar tango rhythm.

Like in my previous videos, I'm going to be using GarageBand but there are lots of different apps that you can try out.

I open up GarageBand and I select the drum option.

This brings me, oh, tah-dah.

And remember you're just using it to compose.

You're using it as a way to show the rhythms that you've composed.

You can change the different kits on this app and you can do it with those of others.

I'm going to use that Tom sound, just to practise my four bar tango rhythm.

So, I'm going to remember the one that I had written out, the example I showed you, and then I'm going to count myself in and then there's always a great option to record on these apps as well.

So, it was duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh.

Bar three, duh, duh, duh.

Bar four, duh, duh, duh, duh.

So, that was my four bar tango rhythm.

Let's have a go doing it on my app.

One, two, three, four, Not bad, you might want to mix it up.

I'm playing it on different parts.

The High Hat sounds quite good.

I'm going to have a go at recording it now, which I suggest you do, because then you can go and share it with somebody at home or with your teacher.

I hit record.

Oh, you can't hear that sound very well with my metronome, but I want that because it's going to keep me in time.

So, I'm going to go back and try again.

I will use the filter.

And that's my four bar tango rhythm.

Have great fun exploring different drum apps.

Well done.

I'm sure you've got some really great recordings of your four bar tango rhythm.

Now, it's time to have a look at how tango has developed in more modern ways.

And this is called neotango.

I love this quote, I think sums up so well, what composers of neotango music have done to modernise it.

"It is about taking the dance we know and love "and moving it into a world of modern music "and modern attitudes to see where it can go next." And one of the main ways that tango has been modernised is through the use of technology.

In particular, looking at drum beats.

Let's look at electro tango and neotango in a bit more detail.

I'm going to read the information on the left hand side of your screen.

It's really important we look into detail about how neotango has been developed.

21st century tango is referred to as neotango.

These recent trends can be described as electro or tango fusion where electronic influences are blended with tango harmony and melody.

Clubs with electro music has been popular for some time now, emerging this with tango seemed a logical path to take, to encourage younger generations, to enjoy tango music.

Groups like Gotan Project, who formed in 1999, create electro tango pieces where they're sound features electronic elements, like samples, beats and synthesised sounds on top of a tango groove.

Right, we're going to watch a video now and you're going to answer three questions for me.

So, we're going to need that piece of paper and our pen.

One, which instruments are from a traditional tango band.

So, we've looked at some of those features right at the start of our lesson.

So, which sound they are, so, which sound like they're from a traditional tango band.

Two, which sounds have been added to create electro tango.

So, think about what we've just read about what the Gotan Project did.

And three, what effects can you hear to make the song sound more modern? Here we go.

If you need to pause the video now and give yourself more time to write, do so, but if you're ready to go through answers, let's carry on, right? So, you need a different kind of pen now, cause we're going to mark, tick and correct.

And we've got three questions to answer and here they are.

Number one, the traditional Argentinian tango instruments are the bandoneon, which is that accordion like instrument we spoke about earlier on and there's a guitar as well.

The more electronic sounds that have made, the more electronic sounds that have been added to modernise it and move it from tango to electro tango, is the drum beat and the bass line, they are sounds that have been made through music technology, through music software, and also the pattern isn't the traditional tango rhythm patten.

It is a more modern electronic drum beat.

And number three, effects that have been added are filtering and phasing.

And I'm just going to read this description for you so that you know what those mean.

A sound music software that creates an effect like the instrument is underwater or like it is far away.

So, at the very start of the piece, the bandoneon, it sounded like it was quite far away or like it was covered the sound wasn't projecting in the same way that it would do if it was a live sounding instrument, okay? And that effect could only be added if the sound has been put into a programme and then a producer has added filter or phasing to that particular sound.

There are loads of effects that producers can apply, using music software, like Reverb, Panning, Automation.

And we'll look into those effects and how to use music technology in future units.

Well done, if you've got any of those, right.

Do write down anything from those answers that you didn't get, it would be good for your notes for revision.

Lovely stuff.

Okay, we are at the final part of our agenda for today.

We've now explored neotango.

We know that, that is tango brought into the 21st century to modernise it.

And a form of that is electro tango.

And that's what we're going to do now.

We're going to apply a more modern pop or hip hop or electronic dance music sound to drum pattern to a tango melody or chord part.

Right, for our final part of the lesson where we'll be composing our own electric tango style drum patterns.

We're going to do that in the form of a remix using music software.

The demonstration that you were about to see uses a free programme called Bandlab.

Please note that Bandlab is for use by over 13 only.

And even if you are over 13, you still need permission to use it from your parent or carer.

So, make sure you get the permission and it's them that connects you to the software.

Once you're logged on, it's great fun to use.

Let me show you, now we are going to create an electro tango fusion today, based around loops.

Loops are pre-made sounds or pre-made samples that somebody else has produced and put into the music software.

The two basic tracks that you're going to add now is one a more traditional tango Argentinian band instrument.

So, a bandoneon, a piano, a guitar, something that you were traditionally here in the style.

And then we're going to mix that.

We're going to fuse that with a modern electronic drum beat, and that could be dance music.

That can be a hip hop style.

You choose, but I'm going to pick an electronic dance music, because that's what's so often used in clubs and that was the fusion that composers wanted to make for younger generations to be interested in that tango sound.

So, tango music falls under a big, big umbrella genre of a Latin music because of where it comes from.

And I know there's a great bank of Latin pop loops in Bandlabs.

So, I suggest you go there first and I clicked select.

Right, I'm going to scroll down and I want my more traditional sounding instrument first.

So, there's some guitar there for you to choose from.

There's some percussion sounds.

I'm going to go piano because I think that's going to sound really good with an electronic drum beat.

So, all you do is you click.

Okay, that's the one I'm going to go for.

So I click, I hold it and I drag it over to my first track.

I press play or I hit the space bar.

Now, we do not want a five second piece of music.

So, we're going to need to copy this loop.

There's two ways you can do that.

You can right click, copy, right click, paste and you will drop it wherever your play bar is.

And I want to put it a bit closer, so that there's a nice continual sound.

It's really important.

You match your loops up with the bars and the beats in between.

So, you know, everything's going to forward in time to the pulse.

I'm going to need a few more of those.

The other technique is you press Alt key, that Alt key on your keyboard and you click and you drag.

And there we go, I've now got four of these.

I might even go, two more so that we've got a bit more traditional tango sound to play with and to fuse with.

I think I'm going to go for still a more traditional sound, but maybe something in percussion, something not too complicated is easy as you going to put a drum beat over the top.

Yes, I think that will go in nicely as a bit of a buildup.

Okay, so I'm going to have my piano start then this percussion come in and I'm going to copy that percussion part, I'm starting to layer up now.

Okay, here comes the fusion.

It's time to add an electronic dance beat.

So, I'm going to go for house I know, which he has a type of dance music.

I'm going to go for house.

It's a type of electronic dance music.

And I know that, there it is, here it is.

A really good pack of house loops on Bandlab.

So, I'm going to go through and I want to find the beats and let's have a listen.

Nearly.

Right, that the kind of thing I'm looking for.

I click and drag, notice how they don't all start together.

I'm building up the parts are joining in gradually.

And then as always, I need to copy this one, move my loops out of the way.

Copy this one.

So, it carries on for a little while.

Okay, let's have a listen and see what it sounds like so far.

Do we have an electro tango remix.

Yeah, I think those parts fit well together, but you could hear they're two different styles.

And then we've created this more modern version of tango music.

You're going to spend a lot more time playing and thinking about how you want this to sound, okay? You're making something that's completely your own.

This is just a demonstration to show you how to use the different editing techniques on Bandlab.

So, once you've finished, you want to change the name at the top.

Your name is when you download it, it'll have your name attached to it.

So, that you can play it to somebody else or share it with your teacher.

I'm sure they'd love to see it.

Then you go file.

You go download and mix down as, that means it will download all three of the tracks you've created, or as many as you do, I've got one, two, three.

I'll quickly do it, just to show you what happens.

Take a little while, just be a little patient.

Then you must choose MP3.

That is the easiest one to share.

Now, it's going to download it and here's mine, okay? Now, it's an MP3 that you can email.

You can upload it onto a different website.

You can send it to your phone if you like, if you want to share with friends.

So, you must choose MP3, okay? Right, so that's a bit of a whirlwind talk of how to use Bandlab.

I'm really excited for you to go and have a go at this.

There are so many great pieces you can create using loops.

Have fun and enjoy it.

Don't forget to share it so somebody can hear your brilliant compositions.

I hope you've had a great time exploring Bandlab and creating your electric tango remix, well done today.

And I'll see you for our next lesson.

Bye.