Playing the melody: Ode to Joy

Hello and welcome to lesson two in the Introduction to Keyboard Playing unit from the Oak National Academy. Today's lesson is called "Playing the Melody Ode to Joy". My name is Ms. Avonjovy, and let's get started. By the end of this lesson, you should be able to play the first two phrases of the melody "Ode to Joy", written by German composer Ludwig van Beethoven as part of his ninth symphony. The key words we'll be using in today's lesson are bar, phrase, rhythm, crotchet and minim. A bar of music is a short beat cycle and a bar is often two, three, or four beats long. A phrase is a section of a melody made up of multiple bars. A phrase often lasts for two or four bars. A rhythm is a selection of long and short note values that are arranged in a pattern. Every melody you hear has a rhythm. If you try to clap the melody of a famous nursery rhyme like "Baa Baa Black Sheep", what you would end up clapping is the rhythm of that melody. A minim is a note value that lasts two beats long. And a crotchet is another note value that lasts for one beat long. In the first half of today's lesson, we are going to be learning the phrases and rhythms used in the melody for "Ode to Joy". In a moment, we're going to listen to an excerpt from "Ode to Joy" by Ludwig van Beethoven. This music is considered the official anthem of Europe, and the text use shows us that the things that unite us are more powerful than the things that divide us. As you listen, try and answer the following question, what makes the music sound powerful? Go to the slide deck and click the listen button. There are a few elements in this excerpt that give that sense of power. One example are the dynamics used. Dynamics describe the volume of the piece of music, and here we could hear that it was very loud throughout. Another example are the pitches used. In the choir specifically, we can hear very high pitches being used by the singers. In "Ode to Joy" our melody is made up of four bar phrases. A phrase is a section of the melody. Below we can see the first two phrases of "Ode to Joy" written out. Time for a check for understanding. How many phrases can you hear in this version of the melody? (medium tempo upbeat trumpet music) (medium tempo upbeat trumpet music) (medium tempo upbeat trumpet music) Is the answer, A two, B four, or C eight? Pause the video now to answer. Well done if you chose B. There were four phrases in this version of the melody. If we have a look at the first phrase of "Ode to Joy" there are two main rhythmic components that we need to understand, the crotchet and the minim. As we mentioned earlier, a crotchet is a note value that lasts one beat long and a minim is a note value that lasts two beats long. Crotchet and minims can be identified by their note heads. The note head on a crotchet is colored in and the note head on a minim is hollow. Go to the slide deck and click the watch button to watch a video showing how crotchets and minims sound when played together. Now have a go at clapping these rhythms over a backing track. Go to the slide deck and click the listen button to clap along. Time for another check for understanding. Name this note and its length. Is the answer A, this is a crotchet and last for one beat? B, this is a minim and last for two beats? Or C, this is a crotchet and last for two beats? Pause the video now to answer. If you chose a well done, you were correct. This is a crotchet and it lasts for one beat. We can tell it's a crotchet because it's note head is colored in. Next question, name this note and its length. Is the answer A, this is a minim and last for one beat. B, this is a minim and last for two beats. Or C, this is a crotchet and last for one beat. Pause the video now to answer. Well done if you chose B. This is in fact a minim, which last for two beats. We can tell it's a minim because it's note head is hallow. Next question, have a listen to each of these melodies below. Which of the following melodies uses only crotchets? Go to the slide deck and click the listen button and then pause the video to answer. The correct answer was B. As we can see, only B had one note playing on every beat of the bar. Let's have another look at the first phrase for "Ode to Joy". There's one more rhythmic component we need to learn to be able to play it. This rhythmic component is located in the last bar. Have a look at the rhythm and then go to the slide deck and click the listen button to hear what the rhythm sounds like. Have a go at trying to clap it back. Now let's put everything we've just covered together to play the first two phrases of "Ode to Joy". Remember, when we're playing on the keyboard, we need to make sure that we first put our hand in the right position. To find the C position on our keyboard, we need to make sure that our thumb is on C. Watch a video to remind you of how the melody should sound. (slow tempo upbeat piano music) (slow tempo upbeat piano music) Time for another check for understanding. In which picture is the hand in the C position? Is the answer, A, B, C, or D? Pause the video now to answer. Well done if you chose D. As we can see in this picture, the thumb of the performer is on the C key. In a moment, we're going to have a go at practicing the first two lines of "Ode to Joy" on the keyboard. Before we do this, there are a few things to note to make sure we're successful. Make sure that your hand is in the C position before you start playing. You can do this by locating C on the keyboard and making sure your thumb is on the C key. Using the finger prompts in the notation will help you make sure you are playing the notes in the right order and playing the notes for the correct amount of time. Make sure to practice slowly at first to ensure you are playing accurately. To answer these questions, we need to think about a few things. In the performance was the hand in the C position, so was there thumb on the C key were the pitches of each note accurate and were the crochets and minims held for the correct length? (slow tempo upbeat piano music) (slow tempo upbeat piano music) Let's discuss what we just watched. In this performance there were a few inaccuracies. The first one was seen in the last note of the first line, which was held for four beats instead of two. In the second bar, the second line, we could also see that an extra G was added to the melody. Congrats on completing the first half of this lesson. In the second part of this lesson, we're going to be working on refining our performances of "Ode to Joy". Have a listen to the following performance. In this performance, the player is trying to add expressions for performance by emphasizing the pulse and phrases. How do they do this? Go to the slide deck and click on the listen button. There were a few ways in which the performer tried to emphasize the pulse and the phrases in the performance. The first beat of each bar was played slightly louder than the rest of the piece. This helps to feel the pulse. The last bar of each phrase was also played slightly quieter, which is often known as phrasing off. Have another listen to the performance and see if you can spot these techniques. Go to the slide deck and click the listen button. Time for another check for understanding. Which two of the following are ways of showing phrases in a performance. A, playing the first beat of the bar slightly louder. B, playing quietly. C, playing the end of the phrase slightly quieter and D, playing the end of the phrase faster. Pause the video now to answer. Well done if you chose A and C. Playing the first beat of the bar slightly louder and playing the end of each phrase slightly quieter are both ways we can emphasize the phrases in a performance. In a moment, we're going to have a go at practicing to play the first two lines of "Ode to Joy". Before we do this, there are a few things we need to make sure we're aware of to make this a successful process. As you play, try and emphasize the first beat of each bar by playing it slightly louder. Also, try and phrase off at the end of lines by playing the last bar of a phrase slightly quieter. Once you can play the notes and the rhythm of the melody correctly, as well as adding these phrasing techniques, try practicing the performance at slightly faster tempo. Have a listen to these two performances of "Ode to Joy". As you listen to each one, think about which one you feel brings out the phrases more clearly. Why do you feel that way? As you listen, remember the following, in order to bring out phrases clearly. The first beat of each bar should be played slightly louder, and the last bar of each phrase should be played slightly quieter. Go to the slide deck and click the listen button for each performance. Let's discuss what we just listened to. The first recording was the more successful of the two, as there were clearer phrases due to the first beat of each bar being emphasized by being played slightly louder and the ends of phrases were phrased off, meaning they were played quieter. The second recording was less successful because there was some unexpected loud notes thrown out throughout the performance and the ends of phrases were played slightly too loud. Let's summarize what we learned today. Today we learned the first two phrases of the melody for "Ode to Joy". Each phrase is made up of four bars of music. All melodies are made up of pitches and rhythms. Rhythm is created by using different note links and arranging them into different patterns. The main note links we use in "Ode to Joy" are crotchets and minims. Crotchets are notes that last one beat long and minims are notes that last two beats long. We can tell the difference between them because the note head of a crotchet is colored in and the note head of a minim is hollow. Congratulations on completing lesson two in this unit.