Recreating Old Town Road by ear

Hello, and welcome to today's lesson entitled, "Recreating Old Town Road by ear." My name is Mr. Norris, and today we're gonna be looking at how we can recreate music learning it by ear, and we're gonna see if we can put together our own version of this song. So let's get started. The outcome for today's lesson is that I can work out a simple melodic line and bass line by ear. Our keywords. The first is hook. A hook is a short, memorable musical idea that recurs in a pop song. It's designed to catch the ear of the listener, so it needs to be something memorable. Bass line, this is a low-pitched part that supports the harmony and the melody. And then finally, timbre. And the timbre is the distinctive sound of an instrument or voice. The first part of today's lesson is looking at working out a melodic hook. Working out and recreating music by listening to it is a key skill as a musician. And there's sometimes a bit of a misconception that this is a special gift you have to do to be able to work out music by ear, but it's really like any other skill. It just takes practice and the right strategies, and anyone can do it, and that's what we're gonna be learning today. In many musical styles, this is how musicians learn music, not through notation, but by ear, by listening to, and working things out themselves. With the correct strategies and practice, any musician can learn to do it. The key aspects to consider are rhythm and pitch, and we're gonna look at each of those in turn. I'd like you to listen to the rhythm of this short melodic idea. How many different notes are played? Let's have a listen. (instrumental music) I'll play it one more time. (instrumental music) So hopefully you identified there that there are six notes in that example. And this is just the first stage of working out the rhythm. We're gonna listen again, and this time I'd like you to tap the rhythm once you've heard it. How could you describe the rhythm in terms of long notes and short notes? Here we go. (instrumental music) So tap it back to yourself and think about how you'd describe this rhythm. I'll give you a few seconds. Okay, so we could say that there's a long note, three shorter notes, and then two long notes. So when we're breaking it down into long and short notes, it's gradually starting to develop our understanding of this rhythm. Let's check your understanding. I'd like you to listen to this melody and tap the rhythm to yourself. Then I want you to work out which of these options correctly taps the rhythm. Here's the question. (playful music) I'll play it one more time. (playful music) So tap the rhythm to yourself, I'll give you a few seconds. And now, which of these correctly taps that? Here's option A. (playful music) Option B. (playful music) And option C. (playful music) So choosing your answer. And the correct answer was option C. That was this one. (playful music) Well done if you correctly identified that rhythm. Let's try another one. Let's hear the question. (playful music) I'll play it one more time. (playful music) Tap the rhythm back to yourself, I'll give you a few seconds. And now let's hear these options. So which one of these correctly taps that rhythm? Here's A. (playful music) Here's B. (playful music) Here's C. (playful music) So quickly working out which one you think is the correct rhythm. And the correct answer was B. That was this one. (playful music) Well done if you correctly identified that. This first step of just tapping rhythms back to yourself is a really important step when we're working out music by ear. So when we're working out a melody, we also need to listen to the pitch. So we've already looked at rhythm, now we're gonna focus in on pitch. To describe the pitch of a melody we can use these words. We can describe it as ascending, so going up in pitch. Descending, going down in pitch. And we can also say it's conjunct, which means it moves by step, by small intervals. Or disjunct, moving by a leap, and that's bigger intervals. So we can use any of these words to help us describe a melody accurately. I'd like you to use those four words to describe this melody. Let's have a listen. (playful music) I'll play it one more time. (playful music) So quickly thinking about how you would describe that melody using those four terms. So we could say that the melody descends through the first four notes. ♪ Da da da da ♪ Then ascends in the last two. ♪ Da da ♪ And it finishes slightly lower than it started. If you manage to pick that up, really well done. And it moves by small conjunct steps. So there are no big intervals, no leaps between notes. It's all notes that would be next to each other on an instrument. So well done if you got that as well. Listen to this melody. Which example correctly describes the pitch. (playful music) I'll play it one more time. (playful music) So have a look through those four options and you can pause my video while you're working out your answer. And the correct answer here then is the melody ascends by leaps, then moves around by step. Listen one more time, see if you can hear that now. (playful music) We're gonna listen to it again, and then this time I'd like you to identify which example correctly recreates the pitch. Here's the question. (playful music) And now, which one of these three correctly recreates the picture of that? Here's A. (instrumental music) Here's B. (instrumental music) And here's C. (instrumental music) So quickly choosing your answer. And the correct answer then was option B. That was this one. (instrumental music) Well done if you correctly identified that there. So let's go back to the string melody we've been looking at so far, that was this one. (playful music) Now this is all the information that we've so far worked out about this melody. It has a long note, then three shorter notes, then two long notes. It descends through the first four notes, then ascends through two. It finishes slightly lower than it started, and it moves by small steps between notes. And now, the next step once we've got all of that information is to work out the notes one by one. So here's how we're gonna do that. We're gonna use trial and error to find the pitch of the first note, and then use the shape of the notes to help identify the remaining notes. Let's look at the process of finding the first note. First, I've chosen an instrument with a timbre that's very similar to the original. I'm trying to recreate the original as closely as possible. Now I'm gonna find the first note. I'll start by having a listen to my audio file that I have open here. (instrumental music) I'm just trying to pick out that first note so I'm not listening to the whole thing. (instrumental music) I'm gonna listen to it a few times. (instrumental music) Now to see if I can find that note by trial and error. (instrumental music) That maybe sounds a little bit too high. Let's compare them. (instrumental music) Yeah, it's definitely too high. Let's try a bit lower. (instrumental music) That sounds closer. (instrumental music) We are getting close, but I'm still a bit too high. (instrumental music) I think maybe I'm too low now. That sounds close. (instrumental music) That's the one, and I know it from listening to the original that it'll last for two beats, so let's record it in. (instrumental music) And that's the first note. Now let's look at how we find the next three notes. If I listen to my audio track, I'll hear that they're all descending below my starting note. (instrumental music) So I know my starting note is here, (instrumental music) so I'm gonna be moving in this direction down the keyboard. (playful music) Down here somewhere. So I'll see if I can find just that first of those three notes. (instrumental music) So that sounds like a small interval to me. (instrumental music) It's not quite right. (instrumental music) It could be that one. (instrumental music) That's the one, so I found the first note. Let's see if I can find the next one. (instrumental music) That sounds right. And then I need one more note. (instrumental music) I think it's that one. (instrumental music) Sounds right. Let's compare it. (instrumental music) So I've found the three notes, let's record them in. (instrumental music) And finally, let's focus in on those last two notes. Now if we listen to the melody, we'll hear that they are ascending, but they don't go back quite as high as my starting note. (instrumental music) So they're stepping back up, but we're not ending up as high as my original note. (instrumental music) That's what we've worked out so far. (instrumental music) Let's see if that's the one. (instrumental music) That sounds better. (instrumental music) That's the one, and then I just need one more note. (instrumental music) I've found them, so I'll record them in. (instrumental music) Now let's compare that whole melody to the original. Here is the original. (instrumental music) And mine. (instrumental music) So there we've accurately worked out the notes on that melody. So that shows you the process of how we work out that melody from hearing it, to recreating it. And now what we're gonna do is we're gonna use that same process to work out the hook from Old Town Road. Let's start by listening to the hook. Pause my video and have a listen. Once we've listened to the hook, we need to find the similar timbre that matches the sound of the instrument. In this case, a banjo is a really good choice. Then we add some reverb and effects to match the original timbre. So we might wanna change the sound slightly to really match the original. And then we need to count the notes and tap out the rhythm. Pause my video and have a listen to this clip. Once we've got that rhythm, we can use trial and error to find and record the pitch of the first note. And getting that first note correct is really important, because to get that one wrong can then make it really difficult to work out the rest of the notes. Then identify if the next notes ascend or descend, and if they move by step or leap. Repeat this for each note, and eventually you'll create the full eight note hook which will last for two bars. Then you wanna loop it so that it'll last for 16 bars, so it should repeat eight times. Which of these shapes correctly outlines the overall shape of the hook? Have a look. The correct answer here is it's that second one there. We've got two notes at the same pitch and then it steps up to a higher pitch for the remaining six notes. So when you're recreating your hook, try and copy that melodic shape. Is this recreation of the Old Town hook accurate? Pause my video and have a listen to this clip. And the correct answer is yes, this is accurate. There are eight notes in total, two notes at the same pitch, and the pitch goes up by a step and plays six notes at this higher pitch. So it's created the correct melodic shape and it's got the right rhythm and pitch. That's what we're gonna aim to recreate now. For Task A, you're gonna work out and record the hook from Old Town Road. You can play it along with the backing track if you choose. We've got two clips there. We've got the hook and we've got the backing track, and that's what you're gonna use for this task. Some success criteria. Make sure you've chosen a suitable timbre, ideally a banjo with effects. Make sure you've identified the rhythm of the hook, counting eight notes. Make sure you've used trial and error to find the first note on the keyboard. And then, work out and record the rest of the hook by identifying if the notes ascend or descend, and move by step or leap. So you're breaking it down into that melodic shape. Compare it to the original to make sure it sounds the same. So listen to them next to each other to compare them. And finally, make sure that it'll last for two bars and that you loop it to last for 16 bars in total. So best of luck with this. You can pause my video now and give it your best shot. For the second part of this task, I'd like you to listen to your recording of the hook, answer these questions to help you work out how to make sure it's spot on. You can pause my video while you do this. The second part of today's lesson is focused on working out a bass line. A bass line is a low-pitched part that supports the harmony of a piece. Often these are harder to work out by ear because we can't hear them as clearly due to their low pitch. If you listen to a pop song, the chances are you'll have to listen quite closely to pick out the bass notes. In Old Town Road, the bass line accompanies the melodic hook with the same rhythm but different pitches. So it's an important distinction to make. Let's listen to the hook and the bass line in Old Town Road. Listen closely for the lower pitch bass line. You can pause my video while you do this. Well done if you managed to pick it out there. It's often easier if we can listen to the bass line on its own. So let's listen to it on its own now, and try and pick out the melodic shape and the rhythm. You can pause my video while you do this. So if we can isolate the bass line like that in our head, it makes it much easier to work it out. That's a really useful step to take when you're recreating a bass line. So the melodic shape of the bass line looks like this. We've got four different notes and each one is played twice. So we've got eight notes in total. It ascends with a small leap between the first two notes, and then it descends with a larger leap and then a step. So it's a little bit more complicated than the melodic hook because we've got these four different pitches to work out. I'd like you to listen to the bass line here and listen for those leaps, and then the small step at the end. Try and get used to what they sound like. Pause my video and have a listen to this clip. To work out the bass line for the following steps. Start by using a separate track that has the same timbre as the hook. Work out the rhythm and remember in this case, it's the same as the hook, so using that same eight note rhythm. Find the first note by trial and error, then record that one in. And then repeat this for each note to record the whole two bars and match this melodic shape. So we're ascending to begin with, then descending twice, and we've got some leaps, and then a step to the last note. Loop it to last for 16 bars in total, so that it should match the length of the hook. Then listen back to it, compare it to the original and adjust the pitch, the rhythm or the timbre as necessary to get it close to that original as you can. Let's check your understanding. Why are bass lines often harder to work out by ear than main melody lines? Is it because they use more complex patterns of notes, because the rhythms are more complicated, or because they harder to hear clearly. I'll give you a few seconds. And the correct answer then is because they are harder to hear clearly. That lower pitch often gets hidden underneath the other part, so we have to listen really closely to try and isolate it and work it out on its own. So for this task, you're gonna work out and record the bass line underneath the main melodic hook. There's the audio of the bass line and you're gonna use that as your reference for this. Here's some success criteria. Make sure you've used the same timbre as the hook. You've worked out the first note to begin with. And then you've identified where the pitch ascends or descends and worked out each note individually. So thinking about that melodic shape. Then you've recorded it using the same rhythm as the hook, remembering that eight note pattern that's identical. And you've looped it to last for 16 bars. Finally, make sure you've listened back to the hook and the bass line together to check for accuracy. So you're comparing both of them to the original clips. You can pause my video now and give this task you best shot. Think about this task, we're gonna compare this original to the recreated version of the hook and bass line. What could be adjusted in the recreation to make it match even more closely. So you can pause my video, listen to both clips and answer the question. And let's go through this then. So the timbre of the bass line could be adjusted to make it match the original more closely. That's the main difference there. The rhythm and the pitches were correct, but the timbre didn't quite match, so then we would need to do some adjustment of that to really make it match the original. Well done if you picked up on that. Let's summarize today's lesson. Learning music by ear is an important musical skill that can be developed through practice. Working out the rhythm and the pitch separately helps to simplify the process and break it into more manageable chunks. We can then describe melody using the words ascending, descending, conjunct and disjunct, and then use this process to work out hooks, bass lines, and other musical ideas. So that's the end of today's lesson, thank you very much for taking part. I hope you feel that you're starting to develop this musical skill, which does take time and it does take practice. But I hope you feel like you've got some ideas now as to how you can use this technique and use it to work out music by ear. Thanks for taking part, and I'll see you in another lesson.