Riptide lesson 3: Verse 2

Summary

Mix and match activities to create a fun lesson in which students will learn Verse 2 of the song “Riptide” by Vance Joy. Integrate Solfeg.io in teaching the basics of piano, ukulele, guitar, bass, percussion and singing.

💻 Materials:

• Solfeg.io web app best used with Chrome browser
• Solfeg.io mobile app (optional)
• Projector or computer and access to WIFI
• Computers or tablets
• Ukuleles, guitars and/or pianos
• Percussion instruments

Discover Verse 2

🕐 Time: 5 min

🎯 Objectives:

• Understand the building blocks of a song and their function
• Describe different song sections

🎲 Activity:

• Open the song “Riptide” on the screen.
• Listen to Verse 2 and discuss it with the class.

Are there any differences between Verse 2 you just heard and Verse 1 you learned previously?

Are there any new chords?

What are the lyrics about?

Tuning

🕐 Time: 5 min

🎯 Objective:

Tune the ukuleles and guitars

🎲 Activity:

• Distribute the guitars and ukuleles to students.
• Ask them to open the Solfeg.io tuner. You can find it in the home section on the Solfeg.io mobile app.
• Tap on a letter to hear how the string should sound, find the corresponding peg on your guitar or ukulele and turn it to tune the string.
• When the encircled letter turns green and reaches the middle of the screen, the string is in tune.
• Repeat the actions with the other strings one by one until all of them are in tune.

Vocal warm-up

🕐 Time: 5 min

🎯 Objectives:

• Warm up the vocal cords
• Get familiar with vocal techniques used in the song

🎲 Activity:

• Sing this short part from Verse 2:

Rhythm warm-up

🕐 Time: 5 min

🎯 Objectives:

• Warm up the muscles and get ready for the movements of playing the instruments or body percussion
• Get familiar with the rhythm of the song

🎲 Activity:

• Play this short exercise that mixes the 1st and the 4th rhythm tracks. The rhythm tracks can be seen if “Notation” is selected under “Tools” - “Visuals”.

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Piano warm-up

🕐 Time: 5 min

🎯 Objectives:

• Warm up the muscles and get ready for the movements of playing the instrument
• Get familiar with the chords in the song

🎲 Activity:

• Choose an instrument and open the corresponding visuals under the menu “Tools”.
• If you're not familiar with the A, G and C keys, take a look at the chord diagrams in the song player and find the chords on your instrument.
• Play this bass line with your left hand:

Guitar and ukulele warm-up

🕐 Time: 5 min

🎯 Objectives:

• Warm up the muscles and get ready for the movements of playing the instruments
• Get familiar with the strumming pattern of the song

🎲 Activity:

• Strum open strings in this pattern:

Bass warm-up

🕐 Time: 5 min

🎯 Objectives:

• Warm up the muscles and get ready for the movements of playing the instrument
• Get familiar with the bass line of the song

🎲 Activity:

• If you're not familiar with the A, G and C notes on the bass, select “Bass” under the menu “Tools” - “Visuals”.
• Play these notes like this:

Warm-up round

🕐 Time: 5 min

🎯 Objectives:

• Warm up the vocal cords
• Warm up the muscles and get ready for the movements of playing the instrument
• Get familiar with the vocal part, chords, rhythm and bass line of the song

🎲 Activity:

• Divide students in groups: vocal, rhythm, ukulele, guitar and/or piano and bass.
• Mute all the tracks except the 4 rhythm tracks under “Controls” - “Volume” .
• Loop Verse 2 by pressing the “Loop” button on the right side of the “Play” button and selecting it on the dropdown menu.
• Press “Play” and invite the groups to take turns to do their exercise from the aforementioned activities. Groups take turns and change every eight bars.
• You can also invite one student to conduct - show which group should play next.
• Do a couple of rounds until the class has warmed-up and is ready to sing and play the song!

Recap Chorus 1

🕐 Time: 5 min

🎯 Objectives:

• Recap the song section that were assigned as homework

🎲 Activity:

• Click on the beginning of Chorus 1 on the timeline of the song player and invite the class to play along to the part they did in the previous lesson and as homework.
• Hit the “Play” button and have fun!
• Shortly discuss how they were doing.

Did they practice at home?

Did they manage to learn their part by heart?

How did it sound compared to the previous lesson?

Learning the vocal part

🕐 Time: 15 min

🎯 Objectives:

• Be able to sing Verse 2

🎲 Activity:

• First, listen to Verse 2 and read the lyrics.
• Repeat Verse 2 and this time speak the lyrics out loud.
• Sing the melody with syllables of choice, for example, “lah-lah”, “dah-dah” or just vowels - “ah”, “oh” or other. Since you're already familiar with the verse melody, you can add the lyrics straight away.
• If comfortable with the slower tempo, you can try singing the verse at a faster speed and try to reach the original speed!
• Try singing Verse 2 with the vocal track muted - you can mute it under “Controls” - “Volume”.

Learning the ukulele and guitar part

🕐 Time: 15 min

🎯 Objectives:

• Be able to play Verse 2

🎲 Activity:

• Slow the song down to the slowest setting and solo the ukulele track under “Controls” - “Volume”.
• Practice the strumming pattern you already did as warm-up. First, strum only open strings - don't press any chords with your left hand!
• Time to add the chords! If there are at least 3 people in the group, take turns to play chords - each person chooses either Am, G or C and plays only this chord when the corresponding symbol appears at the red line on the screen. Keep playing the same strumming pattern with your right hand!
• Try to combine all three chords one after another
• If comfortable with the slower tempo, you can try playing the chorus at a faster speed and try to reach the original speed!
• Try playing Verse 2 with the ukulele track muted - you can mute it under “Controls” - “Volume”.

Learning the piano part

🕐 Time: 15 min

🎯 Objectives:

• Be able to play Verse 2

🎲 Activity:

• Play the same bass line with your left hand as you did in the warm-up.
• Add the right hand chords - play both hands simultaneously when the chord symbol appears at the red line on the screen.
• If comfortable with the slower tempo, you can try playing the verse at a faster speed and try to reach the original speed!
• Try playing Verse 2 with the ukulele track muted - you can mute it under “Controls” - “Volume”.
• If comfortable with the chord changes, try to sing along: first, hum along, next, add the lyrics!

Learning the rhythm

🕐 Time: 15 min

🎯 Objectives:

• Be able to play or clap the rhythm Verse 2

🎲 Activity:

• Mute all the tracks except the rhythm tracks under “Controls” - “Volume”. Listen to the rhythm section.
• Split into the same 4 groups you did in the previous lesson and choose the same rhythm track.
• Play Verse 2 again and try to play or clap along.
• Take turns learning the rhythm - you can mute the other three tracks when learning your track.
• If comfortable with the slower tempo, you can try playing the verse at a faster speed and try to reach the original speed!

Learning the bass line

🕐 Time: 15 min

🎯 Objectives:

• Be able to play Verse 2

🎲 Activity:

• Play along to Verse 2 in the same rhythm you did in the warm-up.
• If comfortable with the slower tempo, you can try playing the verse at a faster speed and try to reach the original speed!

Put it all together

🕐 Time: 5 min

🎯 Objectives:

• Practice playing in a band
• Be able to play Verse 2

🎲 Activity:

• Invite students to play Verse 2 together.
• Find a suitable tempo for all, slow the song down if needed.
• Have “Notation” selected under “Tools” - “Visuals”. If the piano, guitar or ukulele players are not comfortable with playing just from chord symbols without the diagrams, repeat Verse 2 with the necessary visuals selected.

Reflection

🕐 Time: 5 min

🎯 Objectives:

• Reflect on the learning process

🎲 Activity:

• Ask these questions to the class and have a short discussion

How did it go with the new strumming/rhythm patterns?

What difference did it make to the overall sound of the band and the general mood of the song?

Homework assignment

🕐 Time: 3 min

🎯 Objectives:

• Improve the song section students learned at the class
• Get ready for the final performance

🎲 Activity:

• Ask students to practice their part of Verse 2 at home.
• Encourage them to learn their part by heart.