- Hi.
Have you ever wanted to be a code breaker?
Well, here's your chance because we're going
to deal with some musical code in this video.
So, what I've got up here are ten different snippets
of musical notes and these notes spell out words
so this quiz is all about, can you crack the code?
So, have a look at what you think the notes are
for number one, see if it spells out a word in English
and see how you get on.
So if you want to freeze this now
and then just spend a bit of time trying to work out
what you think the words are, that would fill up
a few minutes of your time and when you're ready,
just come back and I'm now going to tell you
what these words are.
So, it's good practise in working
with the treble and the bass clef,
you'll notice, as well, I've got the alto
and the tenor clef on the go for people who know about them.
If you're looking at those thinking,
"Oh, I've never seen those in my life,"
that's fine, ignore them and just do the treble clef ones
or the treble clef and the bass clef ones,
whatever suits you best.
Okay, well let's go through these now and see what they are.
So in number one, we had a B, followed by an E
followed by a D, so "bed".
What does it sound like?
So there we are, if it's time to go to bed,
all you need to do, is to play that little tune
and every musician in the room will understand
what you're wanting to do
and all the non-musicians will go, "What?"
Anyway, so there's the first bit of code.
Now, in the bass clef for the next one,
so, if you know your bass clef,
you'll know the first note is a C, longer one this one,
and then it goes A, then there's a B, there's another B,
then there's another A, then there's a G and there's an E.
Often people's favourite vegetable, "cabbage".
Do you like cabbage?
Well, whether you do or whether you don't,
this is what it sounds like in music.
Of course, you could do it differently,
by putting some of those notes in different octaves
but it's quite an interesting little tune isn't it,
the cabbage tune.
So, next time you fancy some cabbage with your tea,
you just have to play this.
Okay, now the next one is in one of these things
we call a C clef, this is an alto clef
and this is the alto clef, that's the tenor clef,
they're both called C clefs because the middle of the clef
tells us where middle C is so this line here is middle C
and in the tenor clef, this line here is middle C.
So, if you didn't know about those before,
you might want to pause now and have a think about
what you think the notes are in the C clefs
but if you play an instrument like the viola,
you'll be living in this alto clef nearly all of the time
so you'll know it really well but if it's not your thing,
playing the viola, chances are, you haven't come across it.
Some other instruments use it,
sometimes the trombones in the orchestra, for example
but only certain instruments really get involved
in this clef but you can always work it out
because you know that's middle C, so that's B, so that's A,
so the first note's A, then it's going down one to G
and then it's skipping down to E, "age".
So, are you feeling your age, I certainly do sometimes
and the age tune is A, G, E.
So there it is, that's age.
Now, we're going into the tenor clef.
Well, if you're a cellist or a bassoonist,
you might well be playing notes
higher up in the range in the tenor clef.
If you play the trombone in the orchestra,
you might have come across the tenor clef there
but again, not so many people use it
but it's the same principle, you see,
it's the same as this but it sort of starts a line higher
and finishes a line higher at the top.
So this time, the fourth line up is middle C.
So, if that's middle C, then this must be B, that's A
and that's G.
So if you want a "bag", it goes like this.
Three notes, next-door to each other.
Okay, now we're in the bass clef, what have we got here?
Well, the first note's A, then it's C and then it's E.
So if you're a card player, you'll be interested in "ace"
or maybe you're one of those people
who just thinks they're ace.
A, C, E so if you think you're ace, that's your tune.
Okay, number six, oh, a bit of a longer one coming up here,
let's have a look, see what we've got here, treble clef,
B, A, G, G, A, G, E.
It's almost the same as cabbage isn't it,
but this one is "baggage".
So have you got baggage, well, this is what it sounds like.
B, A, G, G, A, G, E.
You could have the G and the E down an octave.
B, A, G, G, A, G, E.
That's even more tuneful, really, isn't it but there we are.
So, amazing how some of these words
make quite nice little musical tunes, don't they?
Back in the alto clef for number seven
so, remember, middle C is on that middle line
so this is just below it, isn't it
so that must be a B, this must be an E, that must be a G
so "beg".
So, B, E, G, spelling out the word beg.
Bass clef for number eight, what have we got here,
we've got F, we've got A, we've got D, "fad".
Lots of people are chasing the latest fad, aren't they,
the latest fashion thing, F, A, D.
So, if you're into fad,
that's how that would sound in music.
Tenor clef again so this time, middle C is here
so this is B, that's A, so what's this then, D.
Oh, let's hope you're not one of those, "bad".
B, A, D.
And the last one, number ten, is in the treble clef
but I've just thrown a lot of ledger lines above the stave,
can you work out your ledger lines this time?
Well, what have we got here, we've got F, we've got A,
this one is actually D and E.
So at the end of the song
sometimes things just "fade" away.
So, here's a fade tune, F, A, D, E.
So, how did you get on with our musical words quiz?
If you got ten out of ten, that's really good
because it shows that you can work in all four clefs
and you can do your ledger lines, which is brilliant.
If you didn't get ten out of ten but that was because
you didn't know about the alto and the tenor clef,
well, that's absolutely fine, you can give yourself
a mark out of something that's less than ten
and we've got four haven't we, so you can give yourself
a mark out of six, if you've done
the treble and the bass clef ones
but if you've learnt a few new notes there
or learnt something about a new clef, that's quite handy.
If this has inspired you to do more code work as a musician,
how many other words can you come up with
that you could write down in music,
you'd be amazed how many there are, actually.
Could you write your own piece of music
that's all in secret code, well, there's a challenge.