Lesson video

Hi, everyone, welcome to your music lesson.

I'm Ms Friar, and this is our second lesson looking at the unit all around film of music.

I have loved planning these lessons and I can't wait to take you through lesson two.

Let's go straight in.

I'm going to start off by having a think about how we can add different body and vocal sounds to some cartoon clips.

Let's go.

Okay, our first task for today is this, have a look at these three cartoon images, can you create vocal or body percussion sounds to match the action of these images? Pause the video now, take five minutes, not you have four minutes to think of a sound that would match these images, and it can be only body percussion or vocal sounds.

Off you go.

Okay, welcome back.

I wish I could hear some of those sounds.

I'm sure they match these images really well, and I'm sure they sound hilarious, which is what we need for cartoons.

So just to give you an idea, if you weren't sure here are my examples.

So for the top one where Tom is throwing Jerry on a paper aeroplane, I would need quite a high pitch sound.

I want it to sound like the plane travelling so I'd probably do a whistle like a and I think that would probably go really well as a technique, as a sound in that cartoon.

For Luigi from Mario, hitting the hammer down on the table, I would probably do like a thud from a chest sound, which is used lots in body percussion.

So like a, nice low pitch, really deep using my chest.

So that's what I'd do for that one.

And we want hear a funny silly sound for the water balloon, hitting the face of that other character.

So it was going to have to be like a like a rasping sound.

So imagine it or like a.

And again, you can use that using your vocals for the water on the face.

I'm sure you came up with even better sounds than that.

Well done.

Lets go and have a look at what else you're going to need for today's lesson.

So it's really important you have everything you need now for today's lesson to go really well for you.

And these are those three things.

So of course you're going to need a piece of paper or an exercise book, something for you to make notes and answer questions.

You're going to need your pencil for writing and then your different coloured pen, I would suggest, for marking and annotating your work.

And again, we're going to do a lot of work today creating sounds using mainly our bodies and perhaps some other objects.

So just be ready to grab some of the objects around the house or at school or objects you've got around you to create some sounds today for some clips.

If you need to pause the video and go and get any of those items, please do so now come back, press play and we'll carry on.

Let's now have a look at how our lesson is going to be broken down into activities today.

The first thing we're going to do is look at why timing is so important to the Mickey-mousing technique, which is what we looked at in lesson one.

Then we're going to have a go at matching sonority to movement.

Now, hopefully you remember what sonority means from lesson one.

But don't worry, we're going to go through that together today.

And you're going to have a go at playing live to a clip and putting all of that into practise.

Let's do a quick recap.

What is Mickey-mousing? Is it option one, the technique of drawing cartoons, option two, sounds to match the actions on the screen.

Option three to create a mood in music or option four, so the cinema audience have some music to listen to.

Again, these multiple choice are a quick fire round.

So you're going to be writing one, two, three, or four on a piece of paper in five, four, three, two, one pens down.

The answers we're looking for are option two.

Of course, it's matching the sound to actions on the screen that is to make sure that those audience in the cinema or at home have music to listen to, to match what's happening on the screen.

Well done if you got those two, great recap from the last lesson.

All right, let's look into that recap even further and see if you can have a go at a similar activity from the last lesson, but we're going to extend that even further.

You're going to collect anything around you like I said in the intro, that makes a sound and you're going to play along with the clip in the worksheet for today's lesson.

The most important thing is timing.

I'm going to look at why timing is so important when you come back.

Pause the video now, go to the worksheet and have a go at that Mickey-mousing technique again.

Welcome back.

I'm sure you created some brilliant Mickey-mousing sounds to go with that clip, all around Chip and Dale.

There were loads of actions to match for that one.

And I'm sure your Mickey-mousing technique sounded brilliant.

We're going to step back in time a little bit here to what was happening in films and the type of films even before cartoons were around.

And that is something called silent films. I'm going to share a clip of a silent film called the Scarecrow for you now.

And while we watch this clip, I want you to answer the four questions on the left hand side.

Why is that text on the screen? Where is the piano music coming from? How is this different to the Mickey-mousing clips we've been watching before? And do you think timing is more important in this clip or in the cartoon clips? And please give a reason for your answer or need to tell me why you've picked that.

Right now you're going to pause the video to complete your task.

You need to go to the worksheet to watch the video and then answer the questions I've just talked through.

Off you go.

Welcome back, I hope you enjoyed watching that silent film called the Scarecrow and you're ready to go through answers.

Grab your pen of a different colour, and let's go through some of those together now.

So here are the answer to those four questions.

One, the text needs to be there on the screen because as there is no recorded dialogue, it sets the scene and lets the audience know what the characters are saying.

So tick if you got that right, well done or write that out now onto a piece of paper so you'll remember that.

Number two, the piano music is coming from the background, it's recorded separately after the film, and then they add it later on to the screen.

Number three, how is it different to the cartoons? So Mickey-mousing is using sounds specific to certain actions.

Whereas the piano music for the silent movie is sitting in the background and it's more to show the mood of the film.

And number four, timing is more important in the cartoons and the Mickey-mousing technique as the sounds are specific to when certain actions are happening on the screen.

Well done if you got those four right.

Please pause the video now if you need to write any of those up into your notes, otherwise let's carry on.

All right, the second part of our lesson now is looking at how we can match sonority to movements in films, cartoons, and other scenes like that.

All right, let's recap what sonority is.

Sonorities are the different sounds we or an instrument can produce.

For example, if we take vocals, we can use that for beatboxing or singing, okay? So although the instrument is our voice, we can do different things with them, like creating sound effects, beatboxing and singing.

And that's the same with loads of other instruments.

Okay, so you can take one instrument and then create lots of different sonorities or sounds.

I've got two sound clips here for you, and I want you to have a go at describing what the instrument is and what the sonority is.

So what the type of sound is that it is creating.

Here's the first sound clip again.

And here's sound clip number two.

Here's sound clip two for the second time.

Okay, pause the video now and take just two minutes to finish your answers.

What are those instruments and what sonorities are they creating? Okay, let's go through those answers.

Now, grab your pen of a different colour.

So the first sound clip that we heard was a trombone sound and it's sonority was quite sad.

It created a kind of waah sound, waah, waah, waah, waah and the pitch was dipping.

So we would describe the sonority as sad and kind of waah sound and the pitch was dipping.

Well done if you've got any words that are similar to kind of a sad sonority, waah sound or the pitch going down.

And for the second sound clip, we had a trumpet.

So another brass instrument, but the sonority was very different.

It was very bright, very punchy, and definitely the mood was more of a proud kind of sound.

Well done if you've got those, make a note of them on your piece of paper, if you didn't.

And let's have a look at how we can apply different sonorities to different actions on the screen.

There are three boxes on the screen, all with descriptions of a certain action from a cartoon clip.

The first action is there is a drilling sound.

And then the drilling sound is causing books to rattle on the shelves.

What kind of instruments would you use and what kind of sound would they play? You're going to have to really use your imagination here.

The second one is there's cutlery coming out of a drawer.

So it's similar that drilling sound or that movement is causing cutlery.

So that's night forks, spoons to kind of spill out of a drawer.

What instrument would you use and what kind of sound would that instrument be making? And the final action is that is a rubber duck squeezing up and down.

Okay, so picture one of those toy rubber duckies and try to imagine the kind of sound they make when they're being squeezed up and down or squeezed in and out, and have a think about what instrument and think about what instrument could be used to create that sound and how it would be playing.

Pause the video now, and take five minutes to write out which instrument would you pick and what sound would it be doing.

Off you go.

Right, let's go through some of my ideas and see if they are similar to yours.

Remember we're being really creative here and using our imagination.

So if your answers are different to mine, that's fine, as long as you've described why.

So for the drilling side and books rattling in shelves, I would pick a low Timpani drum roll, okay? A Timpani is a big kettle drum used in an orchestra, or if I didn't have a Timpani drum, I could just tap on a table as long as it creates that rolling sound.

It's going to recreate a drill.

And the books in the shelf to go underneath that 'cause I want that to be continuous sound.

I would probably use a brass instrument like a tuba or trombone playing a low pitch not, to sit underneath the rolling sound.

If you've got something similar to that, well done, or as long as you've explained your own creative ideas, that's what it's all about.

For cutlery coming out of the drawer.

Remember knives and forks are going to make a very different sound to books on a shelf.

So for the instruments, I would probably go for like a flute or a high pitched woodwind sound creating kind of like a whistling trail.

Or, similar to what I've used before in the lessons, you could tap on a glass, and that could give the metal sound that we're looking for for the cutlery coming out of the drawer.

Because it's a cartoon, of course, we've got a rubber duck and we want that kind of high pitched, squeaking sound.

I would use a trumpet, playing short notes, or you could use a vocal sound in like a squeaky vocal sound as long as it was high pitch.

I'm not very good at it, but that's a nice example.

Well done for using your imaginations to think about how as composers, we could pick different sororities to match action on the screen.

All right, let's put all of those techniques together now and you're going to have a go at playing live to a clip.

Here's your task.

I would like you to pause the video and go to the worksheet now.

And you are going to compose sounds for one minute of a cartoon clip.

It is a classic Mr. Bean and the composers for music around Mr. Bean used the Mickey-mousing technique and pick some really interesting sonorities.

So it's a great example for you to use.

For this one minute, you must match as many sonorities as you can even the tiniest sounds.

Have a think about what you could use around the house, at school, equipment you've got in your bag, instruments you might have to match all of the different actions.

And you'll notice that's some of the ones we had to go out earlier, matched this clip.

So you've already made a good start.

Remember timing is everything.

And have a go at doing this live and maybe recording yourself doing it.

Have fun with this.

Pause the video now, off you go.

Welcome back and well done.

I'm sure all of this sonorities that you've picked to go with that Mr. Bean or one-minute clip are matching perfectly to all of the actions that you've chosen.

I wish I could hear it.

Remember, please make sure you record yourself doing these things so you can share your wonderful work with your families, friends, and teachers.

Go now and complete the quiz so you can show us everything that you've loved around the techniques from today's lesson.

And hopefully I'll see you in lesson three of our film music unit.

Take care.

Bye.