Composing a melodic variation to a theme

Hi, everybody, and welcome to our lesson on "Composing a melodic variation on a theme." It's from our "Compose and Create" unit, "creating melodic variations based on a theme." My name's Mr. Croughan and I'm gonna guide you through today as you get to compose your own melodic variations. Here we go. In this lesson, you will be making a melodic change to the theme to create a melodic variation. Let's look at our keywords for today then. First of all, theme. A theme is a short, recognizable melody that's the main musical idea for a composition. A melodic variation is where the melody of the theme is altered. A melody is a combination of notes that can make a memorable tune. And decoration. A decoration, something we add to something. This is when the melody is embellished with extra notes. We know how important it is to warm up so we will do that right away! Please join in with the theme and variations song. Here it comes. (piano music) ♪ Here's a theme and some variations ♪ ♪ Different versions of one idea ♪ ♪ There are so many permutations ♪ ♪ Changing aspects of what you hear ♪ (slow string music) ♪ Here's a theme and some variations ♪ ♪ Different versions of one idea ♪ ♪ There are so many permutations ♪ ♪ Changing aspects of what you hear ♪ (jazz music) ♪ Here's a theme and some variations ♪ ♪ Different versions of one idea ♪ ♪ There are so many permutations ♪ ♪ Changing aspects of what you hear ♪ (cheerful piano music) ♪ Here's a theme and some variations ♪ ♪ Different versions of one idea ♪ ♪ There are so many permutations ♪ ♪ Changing aspects of what you hear ♪ (dramatic piano music) ♪ Here's a theme and some variations ♪ ♪ Different versions of one idea ♪ ♪ There are so many permutations ♪ ♪ Changing aspects of what you hear ♪ (bright piano music) ♪ Here's a theme and some variations ♪ ♪ Different versions of one idea ♪ ♪ There are so many permutations ♪ ♪ Changing aspects of ♪ ♪ Changing aspects of ♪ ♪ Changing aspects of what you hear ♪ (piano music) ♪ Here's a theme and some variations ♪ ♪ Different versions of one idea ♪ ♪ There are so many permutations ♪ ♪ Changing aspects of what you hear ♪ Excellent. Excellent. And now we have our 1, 2, 3, 4 and 1, 2, 3, 4 challenge. I will wager you are getting better and better at this every time. Stay focused. See how neat you will deliver it as a class. And then we'll have our thumbs up, thumbs down, and I'm imagining you're pretty solid on noticing how quickly that changes from major to minor and back. Here come those now. Are we ready? Make sure you've got a space. Let's go. ♪ Ready, steady, off we go ♪ ♪ 1, 2, 3, 4 ♪ ♪ 1, 2, 3, 4 ♪ ♪ 1, 2, 3, 4 ♪ ♪ Clap on number one ♪ ♪ 1, 2, 3, 4 ♪ ♪ 1, 2, 3, 4 ♪ ♪ 1, 2, 3, 4 ♪ ♪ Clap on number two ♪ ♪ 1, 2, 3, 4 ♪ ♪ 1, 2, 3, 4 ♪ ♪ 1, 2, 3, 4 ♪ ♪ Clap on number three ♪ ♪ 1, 2, 3, 4 ♪ ♪ 1, 2, 3, 4 ♪ ♪ 1, 2, 3, 4 ♪ ♪ Clap on number four ♪ ♪ 1, 2, 3, 4 ♪ ♪ 1, 2, 3, 4 ♪ ♪ 1, 2, 3, 4 ♪ ♪ 1, 2, 3, 4 ♪ Harder version. ♪ Ready, steady, off we go ♪ ♪ 1, 2, 3, 4 ♪ ♪ 1, 2, 3, 4 ♪ ♪ 1, 2, 3, 4 ♪ ♪ 1, 2, let's go ♪ ♪ 1, 2, 3, 4 ♪ ♪ 1, 2, 3, 4 ♪ ♪ 1, 2, 3, 4 ♪ ♪ 1, 2, 3, 4 ♪ ♪ 1, 2, 3, 4 ♪ ♪ 1, 2, 3, 4 ♪ ♪ 1, 2, 3, 4 ♪ ♪ 1, 2, 3, 4 ♪ ♪ 1, 2, 3, 4 ♪ ♪ 1, 2, 3, 4 ♪ ♪ 1, 2, 3, 4 ♪ ♪ 1, 2, 3, 4 ♪ ♪ 1, 2, 3, 4 ♪ ♪ 1, 2, 3, 4 ♪ ♪ 1, 2, 3, 4 ♪ ♪ 1, 2, 3, 4 ♪ (piano music) (piano music continues) (piano music continues) (piano music continues) (piano music continues) (piano music continues) Hopefully now, we're more prepared and focused, ready for music. Are you internalizing that beat? You'll be able to tell if you are because you'll all be moving at the same time. And are you recognizing quite accurately now those major and minor tonalities? Lucas says, "I feel alert and ready to focus." I hope you do too because we are about to press on. There are two learning cycles in today's lesson, and the first one is Melodic variation in "Ah vous dirai-je, Maman," and the second one is Composing a melodic variation. So we'll begin with the melodic variation in "Ah vous dirai-je, Maman." So many artists are inspired by what they see and hear around them. So whichever art form, whether that's painting, choreography, photography, musicians, we are inspired and we borrow ideas. Now composers, many composers borrow themes from other composers when they compose their theme and variations. Now, Benjamin Britten, his theme that we hear in "The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra" was composed by an English composer called Henry Purcell. Now, Britten admired Henry Purcell, he's a famous English composer from the 1600s, and he believed Purcell's music was powerful and beautifully written. We're going to listen to the original theme in the Rondeau from Henry Purcell's "Abdelazer" suite and then we will listen to Britten's version again. It's important to know while you're listening, in Purcell's time, 1600s, orchestras were much smaller, much smaller ensemble, mostly made up of string instruments and with a harpsichord commonly playing chords underneath. So you're gonna pause the video here and listen to that original theme. If there's a video you're watching, you might be able to see that size of that ensemble with the harpsichord and the string instrument. So pause here and have a listen to that. Okay, so, have you heard the theme, the one that Benjamin Britten borrowed? Yes. Now, we're going to watch Benjamin Britten's "Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra" and you're gonna see that huge orchestra, the modern orchestra, brass, woodwind, percussion, strings as well. Here comes this one. (orchestral music) And still very much on the theme of borrowing music, for his theme, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart chose a French folk song from the 1700s called "Ah vous dirai-je, Maman" for his Twelve Variations. It was a simple nursery rhyme that children in France sang. And the melody, you'll recognize because it goes (singing in French). And he might have chosen that melody because it was simple, catchy, and it gave him plenty of room to be creative. Question for you. Which instrument did Mozart compose "Ah vous dirai-je, Maman" for? Was it A, the piano? B, the recorder? C, the flute? Or D, voice? What do we think? Is it A, B, C, or D? Who was listening superbly well? If you are pointing at A, you're absolutely right. Well done. It was composed for the piano. Now, Mozart was born in 1756 in Austria. He showed amazing musical talent from a very young age. Started playing music when he was just four. Composed his first piece when he was five! Now, his music belongs, in European terms, in the Classical period. So in European, the history of European music, it's the Classical period, and like many pieces from this time, his themes and variations have a memorable melody, quite simple harmonies, and clever changes. He's altering the dynamics, the tempo, and the texture. Now, the piano was becoming the most popular instrument during the Classical period. One of the reasons for this, before the piano, we heard earlier the harpsichord. Now, the harpsichord, however softly or strongly you try and play the keys, you get the same dynamic. It doesn't go louder or quieter. The pianoforte, those Italian words meaning soft-strong or quiet-loud. The full name for the piano, pianoforte, meant you can play it with a range of dynamics. Now, the Twelve Variations on "Ah vous dirai-je, Maman" was written to show off what the piano could do. Fast finger-work, exciting textures, and dramatic changes in dynamics. Have a listen to the theme. Here it comes. (piano music) (piano music continues) (piano music continues) And now listen to Variation I. When you're listening, I'd like you to listen out for the melody in the right hand, that's the higher pitches on the piano, being decorated with extra notes. There's more twiddly bits in there, essentially. The short takadimi notes embellishing the original tune. Have a listen now. (fast piano music) (fast piano music continues) (fast piano music continues) And as Lucas suggests, we can still hear that melody, even though it's been decorated with those extra notes. True or false? One example of how Mozart creates a variation in his theme and variations is by adding extra notes to the melody. Is that true or false? You've just heard it. What do we think? Absolutely right. It's true. He uses different ways of creating variations, including changing the rhythm, changing the harmony, changing the texture of that original theme, as well as adding extra notes to the melody to make a melodic variation. Well done. Okay, here is your first task. There are three audio clips and there are three descriptions. Your job is to match the right description to the correct audio clip. The first description is a variation that has a decorated melody with takadimi rhythms in the melody. So listen out for that. Another one of these audio clips will be a variation that starts more slowly and has the rhythm of the opening melody changed to include the ta-mi rhythm so that (clapping). Then, one of them is the original theme. Your job is to match them up. So you're going to pause the video here, listen to each one of those audio clips in turn, and give it the correct description. Off you go. Right then, listeners. Very well done. Let's see how you did. So Andeep says, "I remembered that original theme. That was the most simple one. It sounds very much like the Twinkle, Twinkle lullaby." Let's have a listen to check. (piano music) That is the original theme. The next one, Jacob says, "I can hear ta-ka-di-mi rhythm in the higher notes. They were shorter than the notes in the original melody and sounded like a decoration to the theme." Let's have a listen and check. (fast piano music) There we are. That's that one. And Sofia says, "Well, I listened out for the slower melody. I could hear the ta-mi rhythm, and it made it sound more jumpy than the original theme." Let's listen to that one. Check you were right. (slow piano music) Brilliant. Very well done, everyone. Time for our second learning cycle where we are now composing a melodic variation. Let's begin by revisiting the theme and playing it on our glockenspiel, keyboard, or any tuned percussion we have available to us. When you look at the music on the board, there is a three-line stave. So this is not treble clef, five-line stave. There are three lines and the symbol on the left shows us where do is placed. So do is C. (glockenspiel tinkling) You can there. So we have (singing). When you practice playing this, don't go too quickly. If you're playing it all together, set a steady temper with a ♪ Ready, steady, off we go ♪ and then you have your (singing). If you're going any quicker than that, we risk not catching the right notes in time or playing our instrument less well. So pause here and play that. There is a video if you would like to play along. Off you go. And those top tips for you there. We are holding our mallets loosely in our hand about three-quarters of the way down. We're playing in the center of the bar. (glockenspiel tinkling) What a lovely sound. And that's making sure the mallet kind of just bounces lightly off. And I'm not pushing the mallet in to the bar and holding it there because that muffles the sound, that stops the bar from vibrating, and then the sound can't travel and deadens the note. Okay, there's your top tips. Let's check who was giving it their full attention. Which top tips will help you make a better sound when playing the glockenspiel? Is it A, always play loudly when you play the glockenspiel? Is it bounce in the very center of the bar? So play in the very center of the bar so the mallet bounces off the bar. Is it hold the mallet near the bottom so you're really close to the bars? Or is it, don't push the mallet into the bar because it muffles the sound and deadens the note? There are two correct answers, and two are wrong answers. What do we think? Did you get them right? I reckon you did. Because you were all paying marvelous attention. Yes, yes, yes! Don't always play loudly when you play the glockenspiel. Your poor teacher in your class. What a coffin of sound. B, yes, play in the very center of the bar so the mallet bounces off the bar! You don't need to hold the mallets near the bottom so you're super close to the bar. About three-quarters of the way down is right. And then we don't need to push the mallet into the bar because it muffles and deadens the note. Now then, we are going to revisit the rhythmic variation that you composed previously. So your rhythmic variation is what you are going to play next. If you don't have it for whatever reason, you could try playing the version that's on the screen. Use the example given and there is a video there if you need to refer to it. So originally, our simpler rhythm was (singing). Twinkle, twinkle, et cetera. And then we got as far as (singing). And there was variations that you composed. So at this point, you're going to pause. You can play your rhythmic variation, or you can play the suggested one on the board. Pause here. Remember, if you're playing the same piece in a group or as a class, set, and even if you're not, still set a very calm ♪ Ready, steady, off we go ♪ before you begin playing. If we start too quickly, there's a high chance of it going wrong, and we always practice slower to begin with for accuracy. So pause here and master that where you are. Now, this part of the lesson is called Composing a melodic variation and that's exactly what we're going to do now. We can substitute some of the notes for other notes that are close by to vary the melody. If we think of our original, with the rhythmic variation, we have (singing). Okay. An example of some notes we can change. So in the green color are the three notes that have been changed. We can now play (singing). Sounds a lot like. ♪ Have you any wool ♪ So we can practice that. All we've changed is three notes, and already, that melody has a different feel to it. There's a melodic variation. The melodic variation changes the melody, but we still can sense the original theme running through it. Here comes a clip of this whole melodic variation being played. ♪ Ready, steady, off we go ♪ (glockenspiel music) (glockenspiel music continues) (glockenspiel music continues) (glockenspiel music continues) Listening to that, we can still hear the original theme. It's still in there and it's been embellished. The new notes that we've added are only just a step away in either direction to the original note. We've not gone way out. They are mainly next-door neighbor notes to the original note. And sometimes, there's a pattern of notes which gets repeated in the piece. So in the example, the first line of our variation, so the top line is what it was originally becomes and then have a look at the bottom one. Now let's compare those. I'm looking at the rhythm patterns, and mainly in fact, they're all exactly the same. So the rhythm hasn't changed at all. So we're still with our (clapping) and so on. And now I'm looking to see which notes have changed. Let's see if you can spot them too. There are, I think, seven. Let's have a check. Let's see if we can get them together. Have a look along. Which pitches have changed? That one. So our (glockenspiel music) has now become (glockenspiel music) that one. Next one. Oh, yeah, our little "Have you any wool?" section. (glockenspiel music) Nope. That bit. Then the next bar. There, there, there, and there. Yeah, there are seven. Let's have a look. So there, we've still got the takadimi in that last bit. Right. I can see which notes have changed. I'm now ready to have a careful look at playing it slowly. Let's sing and then play the first part of the melodic variation, okay? You're going to do it all together. You can check your playing with the video afterwards, but first, just give yourself a count in and then you're gonna sing (singing). Okay. Practice that together. If it helps, you can tap the rhythm first. The rhythm hasn't changed from before but it might help you, or tap along while you're singing, and the words you're singing are from the solfege, the do, re, do, and so on, okay? When you've sung it, you're going to have a go at playing it. Remember, you're playing it super slowly. No faster than. (glockenspiel music) That is absolutely fast enough. Eventually, sure, we can get quicker, but right now, what we're interested in is the accuracy of the notes and playing the rhythm correctly and the melody correctly. Okay, pause here. Sing first. Play second. Good luck. Very well done. Excellent stuff. Now then, this is your task. You are going to compose your variation. It will be both rhythmically and melodically different from the original theme. We'll still recognize the original theme, because when we're changing notes, we're only changing by a note either side, those adjacent, next-door neighbor notes. Same as before. Each bar has four beats in it. Keep the rhythm that you've already composed. So the rhythm you've composed in the previous lesson, use that. If you don't have it, you can use the one that was on the board before. The melody will be changed. When you choose to change those notes, just change one note away, just a step away in either direction. So if I'm thinking I've currently got (glockenspiel music) I might go. (glockenspiel music) Do I like that? And I can experiment. I go, oh, maybe, oh, well. (glockenspiel music) Maybe I like that more. Have a try, and when you like it, jot it down. You can include some repetition in your melody. Repetition is great, and also, borrowing ideas is great too. So if there's something you've already heard and you think I'd like to nab that, I think that will sound great in my piece, then that's absolutely fine too. Explore, experiment, and very best of luck. Off you go. That is great. That's really impressive. What you've done is you've taken an original theme, given it a rhythmic variation, and then you've added a melodic variation too by using those next-door neighbor notes to alter the melody in some way whilst we can still recognize the theme. That's fantastic. If also you managed to jot down your composition, whether you used the three-line stave and or whether you wrote the note names like C, F, G, et cetera, or do, so, la. If you've got a record of it, it means you can play it again. Laura said that she made sure she kept some notes the same as the original theme. That helps us hear that theme running through. And Izzy said she made sure that the second line had the same melody twice. That repetition is super. Lucas said, "Well, I could rehearse my melodic variation on the glockenspiel. And although the melody had changed, when I was listening to it back, I could hear that original theme running through." You have worked wonderfully hard today. Very well done. Let's have a look at what we've covered. We know that many composers borrow the theme from other composers when they're composing their theme and variations. A composer can change the theme in different ways to create a variation. So a melodic variation, that's when the melody is changed. However, you can still recognize aspects of the original theme in that melodic variation. And then the melody has often changed by adding extra notes in, sometimes notes adjacent to the original or just a step away. That's really wonderful work today. Very well done, everybody, and I look forward to seeing you next time. Bye for now.