Playing expressively: Ode to Joy

Hello and welcome to lesson three in the Introduction to Keyboard Playing unit from the Oak National Academy. This lesson is called, "Playing Expressively, Ode to Joy." My name is Miss Ogunjove, and let's get started. By the end of today's lesson, you should be able to play the full melody of "Ode to Joy," written by German composer Ludwig van Beethoven. Our keywords for today's lesson are quaver, pulse and score. A quaver is another rhythmic note value that lasts for half a beat long. They also often come in pairs. The pulse of a piece of music is the steady feel of the beat. When you listen to music and try to dance to it, the part of the music that you're trying to keep in time with is the pulse. A score is a visual representation of the music you're hearing. Scores are usually made up of multiple staves. In the first part of today's lesson, we're going to be learning how quavers work and how to play the third phrase of "Ode to Joy." Have a look at the third phrase of "Ode to Joy" pictured below. We have a new rhythm we need to understand. This rhythm includes quavers. Watch the video below to see how these quavers sound. Go to the slide deck and click the watch button. As we mentioned earlier, a quaver lasts half a beat long. They can be identified by the tail on the end of their stems. We also mentioned that quavers are often grouped together in pairs. When this happens, their stems are joined together by a line. Watch the video below to have a listen to what quavers sound like compared to crotchets and minims. Go to the slide deck and click the watch button. Now that you've had a listen to what quavers look like, have a go at clapping the following rhythms over the backing track provided. Go to the slide deck and click the listen button. Time for a check for understanding. Name this note and its length. Is the answer, A, this is a quaver and it lasts for one beat. B, this is a crotchet and it lasts for half a beat. Or C, this is a quaver and it lasts for half a beat. Pause the video now to answer. If you answered C, well done, you are correct. A quaver lasts for half a beat, and quavers are identified by the tail on the end of their stem. Next question. Match the correct duration to the note symbols. Pause the video to answer. Here's what the correct answer looks like. We can see here that minims can be identified by their hollow note head. Crotchets have a note head that's colored in. and quavers have a tail coming off their stem. Now it's time to have a go at practicing playing the third phrase of "Ode to Joy." In order to do this successfully, there are a few things we need to make sure we cover. Make sure that before you play, you arrange your hand in the C position. Do this by finding where C is on the keyboard and making sure that's where your thumb goes. You can use the finger prompts and the notation to help you identify what order the notes should come in and also what rhythms you should be playing. Practice playing at a slower tempo to start to make sure you're playing the correct notes and the correct rhythms. In a moment, we're going to watch a performance of the third phrase of "Ode to Joy." As you watch, you'll notice there's a fundamental error in the playing of this melody. See if you can explain what it is. ("Ode to Joy") Let's discuss what we watched. In the performance we could hear that the pitch of the notes was not correct and this was because the player was not in the C position. Their thumb was on D instead of C. Well done completing the first part of this lesson. In the second part of this lesson, we're going to be working on playing the full melody of "Ode to Joy." Here is the score for the full melody of "Ode to Joy." Have a look at each line. Which two phrases are precisely the same? Pause the video now to answer. Here, the correct answer would've been phrase two and phrase four. These two phrases have exactly the same notes for exactly the same lengths of time. Phrases one and two are very similar. However, if you look at the last bar of each of those phrases, the pitches are slightly different. It's very common in various different types of music to see phrases repeated. This helps to give the music structure a lot of the time. It also helps us to spot patterns in a piece and therefore makes it easier to learn. Have a listen to this performance of the full melody of "Ode to Joy." As you listen, you'll be able to hear the beats ticking along in the background. These beats represent the pulse of the music and they are present even when you can't hear them ticking out loud. Go to the slide deck and click the listen button. Now have another listen, and when the background clicks drop out, try to keep tapping the pulse with your finger. See if you can stay in time with the music. Go to the slide deck and click the listen button. Time for another check for understanding. Which two of the following best describe what a phrase is. A, phrases are small sections of a melody which give it structure. B, phrases in a melody will usually be totally different from each other. Or C, phrases will often repeat. Pause the video now to answer. If you chose A and C, well done, you're correct. Phrases are small sections when added together help to give a melody structure. These phrases often repeat, and these repeats can help us analyze patterns in the melody. Next question. What term describes keeping to a steady beat? Is the answer A, tempo, B, rhythm, or C, pulse? Pause the video now to answer. If you answered C, well done. The pulse is the steady beat in a piece of music. In a moment, we're going to have a go at playing the full melody of "Ode to Joy." To make sure we do this successfully, there are a few things we need to make sure we do. Use the finger prompts and the notation to help you identify the order and the rhythm of the notes you'll need to play. Keep to a steady pulse. This is easiest done when you play at a slower tempo. Make sure your hand is in the C position. Have a listen to this full performance of the melody for "Ode to Joy." As you listen, see if you can answer the following question. In which bar does the player lose the pulse? It might help you if as you listen, you lightly tap the pulse on your knee. Go to the slide deck and click the listen button. Let's discuss what we just listened to. Well done if you accurately identified that the player lost the pulse in bar 11. Up until that point, they had been playing in time with the beat of the music. However, they slightly hesitated when they got to bar 11 and therefore lost the pulse. Well done on completing the second part of this lesson. In the third and final part of the lesson, we're going to learn about and understand different expressive devices used when playing. When we think about expression in music, we can often mean that we want to emphasize the strong beats of the bar or end the ends of phrases quietly to give the phrase shape. We can also mean that we want to use dynamics, the volume at which we play, and tempo, the speed at which we play, to help give that expressive quality. We can try to consider the meaning behind the piece of music to help us identify how we would use these expressive devices. Beethoven's orchestral version of "Ode to Joy" was inspired by words of a poem of the same name, written by Friedrich Schiller. This poem expresses themes of uniting against adversity and division and would've been a source of comfort at a time when Western Europe was often at war. How does the performance use dynamics and tempo to reflect the poem? Go to the slide deck and click on the listen button. Let's discuss what we just listened to. In terms of the use of dynamics, we can hear that the piece is quite triumphant, so playing loudly would be very appropriate in this case. When it comes to tempo, we can hear the piece has a very grand essence about it, but it's also quite upbeat, and therefore that quick pace that we hear is also appropriate. Let's do another check for understanding. Listen to the first phrase of the melody of "Ode to Joy" and finish the following statement. The strong beats occur A, on the second beat of every bar. B, on the first beat of every bar. Or C, on the third beat of every bar. Go to the slide deck and click on the listen button and then pause the video to answer. Well done if you chose B. The strong beats of "Ode to Joy" occur on the first beat of every bar. Next question. Listen to the clip below and answer the following question. How do the dynamics and tempo create an expressive performance? Is the answer A, the dynamics are loud and the tempo is fast. B, the dynamics are quiet and the tempo is slow. Or C, the dynamics are quiet and the tempo is fast. Go to the slide deck and click the listen button and pause the video to answer. Well done if you chose C. The dynamics in this clip are quiet and the tempo is fast. We're now gonna have a go at practicing to play the melody of "Ode to Joy." There are a few things we need to note to make sure we're successful when we do this. Adding a gentle emphasis on the first beat of each bar will help us add some expression to our performance. Playing at a loud dynamic will also help us reflect the meaning of the poem behind the music and using a fairly quick tempo will help if you can keep a steady pulse. Let's have a listen to this performance of the melody of "Ode to Joy." As we listen, think about the following questions. What's the dynamic of the performance? How well were each of the phrases played? Was the tempo suitable? Why? Go to the slide deck and click the listen button. Let's discuss what we just listened to. The dynamic of this performance was quiet and most of the phrases had slight emphasis on the first beat of each bar. However, the tempo used for this performance was too fast, and that meant that there was some inaccuracies when it came to the pitches of some of the notes and the pulse. Let's summarize what we've learned today. Playing a piece of music with accuracy and expression is really important when it comes to the performance of the music and helping to convey the music's meaning. The pulse of a piece of music is the steady feel of the beats. You should only play as fast as you can keep a steady pulse as this will help with your accuracy. Make sure the dynamics and tempo you choose to play with are appropriate for the piece and help you to play expressively. The third phrase in the melody of "Ode to Joy" uses quavers. Quavers are a note value that last half a beat long and can be identified by the tail on their stem. Congratulations on completing lesson three in this unit.