The CoMMUNITY SINGer

Hi, and welcome back to The Community Singer. This is episode six - the two core elements of music rhythm and pitch.

So what is rhythm? Well, first of all, we need to understand what pulse is. Pulse is a uniform collection of beats at a consistent tempo or speed that provides the scaffolding for any rhythm. This is a pulse.

We can have a fast pulse.

We can have a slow pulse.

And once we've got that, then we can hang a rhythm on it. So, now we've got a pulse, let’s think about what a rhythm is. So rhythm is a pattern of sounds with relative space between them. So, if I click my pulse, and I could put a rhythm to that.

Now when you're beginning to sing, having an awareness of rhythm will really help you gain confidence as you learn. Let's try a short rhythm exercise.

Remember, keep your ears open and follow what I do. Okay. I want you to repeat the words after me:

Walk walk, walk, walk.

Jogging, jogging, jogging, jogging.

Walk, walk, jogging, jogging.

Good. Okay. So we've got walk, walk, walk, walk, which follows our basic pulse, walk, walk, walk, walk and we had our jogging in, which is double that rate, but still fits with our pulse. Jogging, jogging, jogging, jogging.

Now that's a subdivision of that pulse. Okay? So that gives us options for our rhythm. Let's add another subdivision.

So we've had walk, we’ve done jogging. Now we're going to add running faster, running faster, running faster, running faster. What we're gonna do now is we're gonna try going between those three different rhythms. Okay?

So we've got walk, walk, walk, walk, then we've got jogging, jogging, jogging, jogging nnd then, finally, running faster, running faster, running faster, running faster.

Okay? So all I want you to do is say the words. Don't worry about clicking. Don't do anything.

Just As I change, just follow me.

Walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk.

Jogging, jogging, jogging, jogging, jogging, jogging, jogging,

walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk

jogging, jogging, jogging, jogging, jogging, jogging, jogging

running faster, running faster, running faster, running faster, running faster, running faster,

That's good. So walk, walk, walk.

Now jog. Jogging. Running faster, running faster, running faster. Good.

Walk, walk, walk, walk, jogging, jogging, jogging, jogging, running faster, running faster, running faster. Good I think you’ve got it. So, what I want you to do now, whether you can click, whether you can tap, is I want you to do the pulse element as well. So you are going to keep the pulse, but also change your rhythm. This is really good practice for singing because if you can do two things at once, that means when you start to learn songs and you hear other things going on, you're gonna be really well equipped for that.

So here's the pulse with me.

We're gonna do walk, then jogging, then running faster, and then we're gonna freestyle. So just keep up. Here we go.

Walk, walk walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, jogging, jogging, jogging, jogging, jogging ready now.

Running faster. Running faster. Running faster. Running faster.

Running faster. Running faster. Running faster. Running faster.

War. Walk, walk jogging.

Running faster. Running faster.

And jogging.

And stop. Great.

This is really simple rhythmic practice. But if you can get this right, then when you start learning songs and you start singing, you're going to feel really confident.

Great. So now we've covered rhythm. Let's look at pitch. The other core element of music.

Pitch is when sounds resonate at different frequencies. For example, the note that an orchestra tunes up to is four hundred and forty hertz, a concert A. Or, the pips that you hear before the BBC World Service News are a thousand hertz. The higher the frequency, the higher the sound.

So, why is pitch so important for singing?

Well, that sounds like an obvious question, but unless it's thought through, you can end up with some serious tuning issues. We use intervals to help keep us aligned with the tonal centre. Intervals are the distance between pitches. We generally use an eight note scale as a basis for these intervals.

Think of these intervals as steps along that scale, one to eight. Have a listen to this.

That's One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight - eight steps.

Now that scale I've just played you is what we'd call the major scale, and that is a really common scale in a lot of the western music that we hear and we sing. There are another couple of scales that are really useful for us to know about. And when we start to explore these, and the major scale, we'll use them in warm ups. There are three main modes or scales that you will find used in most songs. They are the major scale that you've just heard. And a minor scale, which goes like this and a pentatonic scale, which is a five note scale.

It's useful to practice warm ups using these scales over different keys. So your voice has a degree of muscle memory and agility.

For now, we're going to focus on the major scale and I want to go through the intervals. So I want to use different songs to help demonstrate. For example, you have an interval of a fourth and that would be used, for example, in a song, London's burning, London’s burning.

Another tune that demonstrates a very strong interval of an octave or an eighth, which is a very big jump, is Somewhere over the Rainbow.

It's useful to practice warm ups using these scales over different keys. So you can add a degree of muscle memory and agility to your voice. We'll add some into the warm up for later on, but here's a useful exercise to demonstrate and experience those intervals.

Here it goes.

One, one, two, one, two, three, two, one, one, two three four three two one. One, two, three, four, five, four, three, two, one, one, two, three, four, five, six, five, four, three, two, one.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, two, three, four, six, seven, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, Let's try that again, but a bit slower so you can really hear it.

I'm going to play and I want you to sing it. Here we go.

One, two, three. Very good.

Very good.

So how does this help us? Think about intervals as you sing, gives us a sense of intention on a melody or phrase. Basically, a solid understanding of where you're headed. These core foundations and music, rhythm, and pitch are all you need to begin your singing journey.

The rest, you can discover along the way.

See you next time.

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