Hello and welcome back. I'm Joseph Hoffman.
Today we are learning how to compose your own original song using a haiku.
For this lesson it may be helpful to use the activity page for lesson 93,
which you can download as part of the complete materials for Unit 5.
So let's get started composing your own song.
A haiku is a short poem with just three lines.
The first line has five syllables,
the next line seven syllables, and then it finishes with five more syllables.
A Haiku is traditionally about something in nature, but it really can be about anything.
Here's a haiku that I wrote.
Mt. Hood is a majestic mountain which on a clear day you can see from where I live in Portland.
Once my two boys asked me how can it have snow on top even in summer.
Well, to explain that we're going to have to have a mini science lesson.
That's right! Did you know I love science almost as much as I love music?
So, remember that the earth is covered with air. It's the air you breathe
and it creates a kind of blanket around the earth called the atmosphere,
trapping in the heat from the sun and keeping you warm.
Well Mount Hood is so tall, and the snow is so deep that even the summer sun isn't enough to melt it all.
That's why it's always white.
Now I'd like you to press pause and try composing your own haiku about whatever you want.
Remember, five syllables, seven syllables, and then five syllables.
Press pause to do that, then press play when you're ready to go on to step two.
It's often useful to use the heartbeats to figure out a rhythm.
So let's come over to the worksheet and take a look.
Here's the activity page for lesson 93.
You can see I've already completed my step one,
and you should have by now also written your haiku.
Now we're ready to focus on step two.
Now let's try to figure out a rhythm for my haiku, and then I'll let you do the same for your haiku.
You'll see we have three rows of 4 beats each.
Each line of our poem will fit in one row of beats.
Now remember that a beat isn't the same as a syllable or a sound.
We've got to somehow fit five syllables in 4 beats,
which means that one or more beats will have to have more than one sound.
It wouldn't work to go Mount Hood tall, and now we're out of beats.
So, what the Frog is suggesting is try saying the words out loud to find their natural rhythm.
So let's try that. Mount Hood tall and proud.
Did you notice which beat had more than one syllable in it?
Mount Hood tall and proud. It was right here.
So my rhythm would be Mount Hood tall and proud.
Here's a shorthand way
to write rhythms. I left off the note heads because all I'm really worrying about right now is the rhythm.
So we have TA TA TI-TI TA It's a much faster way to draw rhythms.
Now let's try the second row.
My rhythm would be: Always capped with cold white snow.
Now my rhythm is TI-TI TI-TI
TI-TI TA
Always capped with cold white snow.
Even in summer.
Which beat had more than one sound in it?
Even in summer.
It was right here.
The first syllable of the word e--
even was right here, and then
the next syllable goes over into this beat: Even in summer.
Now I have the rhythm for my haiku.
Since you're composing this, there's not necessarily a right or wrong,
but this to me felt like the most natural way
to do the rhythm that matches the words of my haiku.
Now on your own, I want you to try saying your haiku out loud and find the rhythm that sounds best.
Draw it in your heartbeats. press pause to take the time to write your own rhythm.
Then press play when you're ready to go on to step three.
Okay now we're ready to compose our melody.
This is going to involve some experimentation.
First thing is choosing a pentascale.
Once again there's no right or wrong.
It's whatever you choose.
So for my composition I'm going to choose the A minor pentascale.
You're free to choose whatever pentascale you want for your song.
Now, with my hand in the A minor pentascale, I'm ready to just experiment
and find some notes that sound good with the words.
My words on the first line are Mount Hood tall and proud.
So I might try: ♫Mount Hood tall and proud♫
But I didn't like that so much, so I'm going to try something else.
♫Mount Hood tall and proud♫
Still not totally happy.
So I keep trying, and it may take you five or even ten tries before you find something that you like.
♫Mount Hood tall and proud♫
Oh I did like that one.
Now remember in music you've got stepping notes to choose from
and repeating notes, or skipping notes.
Now that I know which notes I want for line one, let's add the letters to the heartbeats.
Here's what I chose for the notes of my first line
I liked: A E D E C
And so I wrote that in here.
Now if there was a note I didn't like I could just erase it and change it with something else.
The most important thing is that you like it.
So I have ♫Mount Hood tall and proud♫
Then for my next line here's what I chose.
D E C B D C B
and the words there are: ♫Always capped with cold white snow♫
And then on line three I chose these notes:
E A C B A
And that's for: ♫Even in summer♫
Now press pause and I'd like you to come up with your own melody for your haiku.
Remember, keep experimenting, try out different notes until you find exactly what you like.
Once you've done that, write in the letters and then press play to go on to step four.
Alright the point of this step is to try the whole thing from start to finish,
and see if there's anything you want to change, or if you're happy with it.
So I'm going to play my whole composition.
♫Mount Hood tall and proud, always capped with cold white snow♫
♫even in summer♫
Now, I think I like that. So I'm going to stick with it.
When you do this step yourself, if you hear something you're not a hundred percent happy with
go ahead and change it. You're the composer.
So press pause, try playing your whole composition from start to finish,
listen and see if there's anything you want to revise.
When you're ready you can press play again to go on to step five.
This step is not absolutely necessary, but I think music always sounds cool
with chords and some kind of accompaniment
Now you've learned lots of different ways to do chords. We know how to do blocked chords,
You also know about the I chord and the V7 chord.
It's totally up to you.
Blocked chords would mean playing all the notes at the same time,
but a broken chord would be where you take the notes and you play them one at a time like this:
Remember, you're the composer so whatever you choose is fine as long as you like it.
For my song I'm going to do a two note chord,
and so adding chords would sound like this:
♫Mount Hood tall and proud, always capped with cold white snow♫
♫Even in summer♫
Now, if I wanted to do that same thing with V7 chords,
it could sound like this:
But I didn't like that as much, so I think I'm going to go back to the two note chord.
It sounds a little bit more primal and open.
The right sound that I want for this piece.
And since I'm the composer I get to choose.
Now on your own press pause and then try adding chords.
When you're ready, press play again to go on to step six.
This is probably the best step of all. It's when you get to share your music with other people.
Once you have a great piece of music that you've composed,
it's so fun to be able to share it and play it for others.
So take your song and play it for someone that you love.
Play it for your friends, or your family, your mom.
Even a pet might enjoy listening to your song.
On our website if you click on recital hall, you'll find a link where you can upload your composition
to our recital hall and share it with the whole world on the Internet.
Have lots of fun composing. Thanks for watching, and I'll see you next time!
Would you like to hear my haiku?
Sure!
All right.
Dancing twirling girl, her graceful beauty inspires,
All pause to notice.
Hmm.
What do you mean hmm?
Uh, would you like to hear my haiku?
Sure, remember a haiku has five syllables, seven--
I know how to do a haiku.
Okay.
Here I go.
Bugs, bugs, bugs, bugs, bugs, I like bugs because they're cool,
bugs, bugs, bugs, bugs, bugs.
Well?
Uh, it was inspiring.
Bugs, bugs, bugs--- Ah! A bug!
Cool let me see!