Today we continued with our Music topic, EXPLORING LYRICS AND MELODY.
We listened again to Hard Times Blues and talked about the characteristic feelings of blues songs.

We then tried clapping the PULSE (the steady beat of the piece). There were 8 BEATS per bar and we had to keep the TEMPO (the speed at which the music is performed) steady.
This was harder than we imagined.
We then learnt a simple blues CHORD (three or more notes played at the same time) sequence.
Each group was given three different chords and each member of the group had a part to play. We had to follow the music, playing the correct chords at the correct time.

Corey was our quality checker and was in control of the digital camera.
We played our chords while Mrs Davies counted the beat. We had to really concentrate to make sure we came in at the correct time.

We played back our performance and APPRAISED it:

'We all kept the same beat,' said Chelsea.
'We performed it sensibly,' said Charlie.
'To improve we could try playing without Mrs Davies counting the beat for us.' said Jessica.
'We could try to be more accurate with our beaters,' said Ioan.

Next we played our chord sequence with the backing track of Hard Times Blues.
We listened to the music to feel where the chord would change.

Again Corey was our quality checker. Once again we played back our performance for appraisal.
'I thought the beat was generally steady,' said Mahrooshay.
'We could hear when the chords were changing,' said Mercedes.
'It was better because Miss wasn't counting,' said Daniel. (Thanks!!!!)
'We could improve by playing all the notes of the chords together,' said Ewan.

Next week we will be IMPROVISING some blues rhythms.

Look on the Blog later for the videos Corey made of both of our performances.