Music Lesson: Exploring Two Notes

Introduction

So this song uses, again, two notes:

• C with no fingers
• D with two fingers

Don't forget to press that third valve all the way down quite firmly!

Body Percussion

This song also uses some body percussion, which means making up rhythms and sounds with different parts of your body. Here are some examples:

• Click your fingers
• Slap your knees
• Clap your hands
• Do a chest clap

These can all be part of your improvisation section.

Starting Actions

So let's get started! I'm just going to put my trumpet down because you need your hands free.

1. Start with some simple actions.
2. Click your fingers while pushing your hands forward and giving it a psh.
3. Say "ta" each time:

"And every time we say ta or da in this song, you're practicing your tonguing as well."

So, when you get to play the song, your tonguing should be really nice and crisp.

Putting It All Together

The first bit is:

And then we do the title of the song with a crescendo. We're getting louder as we do this. Clapping. Whoa. Yeah. And put your hands up in the air for the.

Yeah! At the end of that, let's put that whole section together:

Count: 1, 2, 3, 4.
Oh, yeah, great!

This goes around twice.

Quick Instrument Transition

When you're doing that with the track, you'll need to pick your instrument up quickly. Practice doing that , putting it into your hand and getting your fingers ready.

Practicing Notes

The song uses two notes and again we've got some words.

1. The first bit is:
   • I'll put my fingers down while I sing it.
   • Play in time.

Count: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
Now, that's quite easy because how many C's am I doing? I'm giving you a big clue.

• You play 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

Let's just practice that bit. Get your tongue working:
Count: 1, 2, 3, 4.

Dynamics

Did you notice I'm getting a bit louder when I play that phrase? We call that a crescendo. Getting louder means you need to blow a bit more air through as you go through those five notes.

Listen to me again and try to get louder through those notes.

Playing Together

Let's play those four bars. Start on D.

Count:
Right after four:
1, 2, 3, 4.
2, 3, 4.
1, 2, 3, four, five.
Here we go.
And again.
Ready? Well done!

Next Part: Piano

The next part of the song, after four bars rest, is quiet.

So we're playing piano, thinking about our dynamics, playing softly.
Count: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 5.

Let me just play this bit:

• It's a D, then a C, then a D, and then we count to five.

Ready?
Count: 1, 2, 3, 4.
Well done!

Creativity Section

So that's the tune of the song. As with every song in this course, there's a section for you to make up your own music.

Sometimes I give you copybacks to inspire you, or you can just make up your own ideas. You can also create your own body percussion ideas.

Copyback Practice

Let's try some copybacks now! I'm going to play something for four beats and then you can copy it back.

Remember, we're only using C and D. Don't forget to tighten up the corners of your mouth when you go for the D.

Get ready to copy me! Trumpet ready? Here I go:
1, 2, 3.
Well done!

When you're listening to the backing track, you can either use my ideas or make up your own. Remember to leave plenty of space; you don't have to play all the time.

You can imagine that you're playing a question phrase and then try an answer phrase using the same two notes.

Well done!