At the beginning of this week’s lesson, as it was child’s birthday in class, Lloyd said we’d sing Happy Birthday on the ukuleles to him at the end of the music lesson.
Lloyd then started with a recap of last weeks session. Lloyd then asked the children what they could remember about what soul music is and the types of musicians who perform soul music. Some of the comments included:
“It’s a bit jazzy”
“Blues”
“James Brown”
He also said we’d be looking at some soul melodies this week. Lloyd asked the children if they could remember the two types of soul records; Motown and Stax Atlantic. He told us how they both played a big importance in soul music.
Lloyd then said we’d look at ‘The Pentatonic Scale’ on the ukuleles. Lloyd said the children were going to play a “pull off”, meaning you pick the string once and pull it off with your first finger. Lloyd showed the children how the pentatonic scale works on his own electric guitar. He then asked the children to have a go at playing it on their ukuleles. He said after practise, some children would be chosen to play it in front of the class.
One of the questions mainly asked in todays session was; ‘Who was the first person to create soul music?’ So, towards the end of the session, Lloyd had a discussion about this with the children. He then told the children that we’d listen to a musician called Ray Charles who sang a song called ‘Mess Around’. The children learnt that even though Charles was blind, he still managed to ride a motorcycle!
At the end of the session, Lloyd showed the children how to play Happy Birthday in aid of the child’s special day!
