Mix and match activities to create a fun lesson in which students will learn Verse 1 of the song “Riptide” by Vance Joy. Integrate Solfeg.io in teaching the basics of piano, ukulele, guitar, bass, percussion and singing.
🎲 What’s included in the activities:
💻 Materials:
🕐 Time: 5 min
🎯 Objectives:
🎲 Activity:
Do you know the song?
What is the genre/mood/tempo of this song?
What adjectives would you use to describe this song?
What instruments did you hear?
How would you describe the vocal part? What voice type did you hear?
🕐 Time: 5 min
🎯 Objective:
Tune the ukuleles and guitars
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🕐 Time: 5 min
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🕐 Time: 5 min
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🕐 Time: 15 min
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🕐 Time: 15 min
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🕐 Time: 15 min
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🕐 Time: 15 min
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🕐 Time: 5 min
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🕐 Time: 5 min
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What was the most challenging in their instrumental/vocal part?
How was the experience of playing together (both in smaller instrument groups and the class as a whole)?
🕐 Time: 3 min
🎯 Objectives:
🎲 Activity:
In this lesson, students will learn to sing and play Verse 1 of the song “Riptide” by Vance Joy. The lesson consists of a short warm-up which will equip students with the necessary skills needed in the verse, a song practice session where students will learn to play and sing different instrumental and vocal parts in groups, a band practice with the whole class and a homework assignment.
⏰ Time: 50 min
🎓 Grades: 5-12
🎯 Objective(s): As a result of this lesson, students will be able to...
💡 Required Prior Knowledge and Skills:
💻 Materials:
🕐 5 min - Riptide!
Do you know the song?
What is the genre/mood/tempo of this song?
What adjectives would you use to describe this song?
What instruments did you hear?
How would you describe the vocal part? What voice type did you hear?
🕐 5 min - Tune the guitars and ukuleles
🕐 10 min - Get ready!
Vocal: sing the scale from A3 to E4 and back. You can use the note names or any syllables, for example, sing only vowels from the first phrase of the verse “I was scared of den…” , which would sound as “ah-ah-eh-oh-eh”. Sing each note one beat long, like this:
Percussion: clap or play this rhythm
Guitar, ukulele, piano: play these two chords in this rhythm:
Bass: play these notes like this:
🕐 20 min - Verse 1
In this activity, students will work in groups to learn their assigned instrumental / vocal part of Verse 1.
Each group should have one device - either a computer or a tablet.
Each group should select the corresponding visuals under “Tools” - “Visuals”.
Show them how to loop Verse 1 on their devices (the “Loop” button on the right side of the “Play” button) and where to slow the song down (the “﹣” button on the left side of the “Play” button.
Explain the steps for learning Verse 1 to each group. First, give every group just the first task from the below mentioned lists. Only when students are ready to move on, explain the next step.
First, listen to Verse 1 and read the lyrics.
Repeat Verse 1 and 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.
Sing the melody with lyrics.
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 1 with the vocal track muted - you can mute it under “Controls” - “Volume”.
Listen to Verse 1 and establish what chords are there (Am, G & C).
Learn or recap all three chords, following the chord diagrams.
If there are at least 3 people in the instrumental group, they can take turns to play chords - each person chooses one of the chords and plays it when the corresponding symbol appears at the red line on the screen.
Try to combine all three chords one after another. To practice at an even slower speed, mute all tracks except the four rhythm tracks under “Controls” - “Volume” and play a new chord every 8 beats without looking at the chord symbols on the screen. When you're comfortable with this speed, you can gradually reduce the amount of beats between chords.
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 1 with the ukulele track muted - you can mute it under “Controls” - “Volume”.
Mute all the tracks except the rhythm tracks under “Controls” - “Volume”. Listen to the rhythm section.
Split into 4 groups and choose one rhythm track each. Choose rhythm instruments that suit best to each track.
Play Verse 1 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!
Listen to Verse 1 and find the three notes of the bass line on your bass guitar.
Play along to Verse 1.
If comfortable with the slower tempo, you can try playing the verse at a faster speed and try to reach the original speed!
Walk around the classroom and check how students are doing in different instrumental stations. Guide them by suggesting the next step from the above-mentioned step-by-step learning process when you see that students are ready.
🕐 5 min - Put it all together
🕐 5 min - Discussion
Ask students to practice their part of Verse 1 at home.
Encourage them to learn their part by heart.