Basics of Playing in a Band III

Summary

In this lesson, students will deepen their experience of playing in a band. They will work on achieving a steady pulse. Students will practice playing instruments in groups and try different combinations of singers and players.

⏰ Time: 50 min

🎓 Grades: 5-12

🎯 Objective(s): As a result of this lesson, students will be able to...

• Understand the role of different instruments in a band;
• Play simple chords, bass lines and rhythm.
• Play together in different combinations of singers and players.
• Achieve a steady pulse;
• Prepare for the final performance.

💡 Required Prior Knowledge and Skills:

• Basic notation;
• Basic rhythm values.

💻 Materials:

• Solfeg.io app best used with Chrome browser
• Projector or computer and access to WIFI
• Instruments, such as acoustic or electric guitar, bass guitar, ukulele, piano, drums, percussions

Inspire

🕐 5 min - How did the practice go?

You can use these questions as a starting point:

• Did you practice your part before class?
• How did it go?
• Do you still remember your part?

Warm-Up

🕐 10 min - Achieving a steady pulse

• This can be challenging to achieve with every student in the 3rd week. An excellent idea is to use variations of the 2nd lesson plan to improve and hone these skills. Try these simple methods of improving pulse:
• Identify the most common rhythm and chord patterns in the song.
• Practice clapping basic and more complex rhythms using the metronome.
• Have chord playing groups speak the chord names, while the rhythm group keeps a pulse.
• Use group leaders or other students to keep steady rhythm with a drum while one group plays the chords.
• Use group leaders or strong players to demonstrate good pulse, while also encouraging the ones who are struggling!

Practice

🕐 30 min - Band practice

• Now it’s time to try and put everything together, AGAIN! The more repetition of the chords and rhythms the better they will be playing together. Remember you can always remove, add, lower or raise the volume of the individual tracks.
• Choose one chord progression from the song and have the students play it repeatedly.
• Try layering the instrumental parts. Start with the guitar, then add in the piano and ukuleles. Then it's time for the bass and the rhythm players to join! You can do this in any order, as it allows students to hear the way the different instruments contribute to the sound.
• Encourage one of your strong singers to start adding some lyrics while the class plays. Some might get confused but this trains their ears to listen to more than one instrument at a time.
• Full song playthroughs with singing and instruments. You can do this with the entire class, with smaller groups, or the students can start forming their own mini bands! Start getting them ready to perform the song for the class!

Reflection

🕐 5 min - Discuss

• How did your band practice go? What did you find…

• The most challenging?
• The easiest?
• The most fun?
• What would good practicing habits be?

Beyond the Lesson

Challenge students to go beyond the lesson by...

• Practicing their instruments and parts;
• Playing along the song. For a bigger challenge, they could try muting the track of their instrument.
• Learning their part by heart.

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