The Blues Lesson 5 - Inputting the walking bass. Like lesson 4, this is a DAW based lesson, not a performance based lesson. Students are revisiting a DAW and developing their skills by inputting the learning from lessons 1 2 and 3. This develops their understanding of the DAW but also reinforces their understanding of the Walking Bass. Students should be encouraged to aim high and use the advanced walking bass line where possible.

The Blues Lesson 4 - DAW This unit of the blues introduces/ uses a DAW (I use SoundTrap and it includes SoundTrap terms/ short cuts/ screenshots, but these can be changed to suit your needs). This is not a “performance” lesson however, you could adapt lessons 1, 2 and 3 if you were looking for a performance based unit. The purpose of the next three lessons in the unit is to strengthen their understanding of the DAW and reinforce the teaching in lesson 1 2 and 3. They’ll be inputting the chord progression accurately through midi recording / pencil function in lesson 4 and the walking bass line in lesson 5, using lesson 6 to add a drum pattern, use loops creatively for riffs/ compose their own riff. This promotes composing in a certain style of music and my students enjoy using the DAW to compose music. This is lesson 4/6 of the unit

The Blues Lesson 3 - Putting it together. This lesson is designed to provide students time to develop their keyboard skills and challenge themselves to play the keyboard with both hands. They tasks recap the 12 bar blues and the walking bass pattern before encouraging students to put them together to see how they sound together. There are multiple levels of challenge, from splitting the parts up in pairs, basic root notes in the left hand, simple bass pattern and the advanced blues pattern as well as swinging rhythms and improvising their own bass lines. This lesson is 3 of 6 of the unit.

The Blues Lesson 2 - Walking Bass Students will continue to develop their understanding of the blues by listening for the walking bass line in blues songs. Identifying when the 5th chord happens is an easy engaging task for them. Students improve their keyboard skills by learning a simple walking bass line, understanding that walking bass lines use the chord tones. Simple version and challenge version is on this lesson. At this point, I introduce the concept of degrees of a scale to students so they know that they’re using I III and V as a basic walking bass pattern. Levels of challenge include adding a 7th into the walking bass to make it more interesting, this is included in the lesson. Students should be encouraged to play two handed where possible, taking everything slowly and focusing on the skill, not the amount of bars mastered. This lesson is 2 of 6 of a complete unit.

Lesson 1 - Introduction to the 12 bar blues chord progressions. Performance: Year 8’s would know how to build a chord but they spend time recapping the skill and practice transitioning from C, to F, to G and ensure they’re playing accurately and fluently. Students are then introduced to the chord progression found in Blues. There is emphasis on the correct technique, using fingers 1, 2 and 4 to play chords. Levels of challenge can be applied, from just holding the chords, adding a simple straight rhythm, applying a swung rhythm, applying left hand root notes, applying the root note + the fifth and alternating to the root + 6th. Listening: Videos of songs with blues features are provided, questions are not. They could be identify the elements of music, Identify key features of the blues etc. Lesson 1 of 6, suitable for year 8 and 9 and very adaptable for your schools needs.

Lesson 6 - Keyboard Skills. Students demonstrate their understanding of the keyboard and the skills that were taught during the unit and perform/ record their piano piece. There is a composition challenge task for students to do after their performance / assessment (depending on teaching approach). I ask students to record their work onto a DAW, they have 15 minutes to get a perfect take recorded and then we try the composition challenge before listening to all the performances/ recordings to provide feedback. The composition challenge can be adapted to be a stand alone lesson for those terms that are 7 + weeks long too.

Lesson 5 - Keyboard Skills. Students rehearse a piece of music ready for assessment in lesson 6. Students new learning includes exploring the concepts of major and minor. Students learn that major sounds happy and minor sound said. You could use the pieces in the book to ask students if they sound major or minor or use chords to challenge their understanding of this. This task can be scaffolded using pieces of different difficulty and or chunking pieces into smaller bars/ phrases. Students can also be challenged by applying their left hand too if they can and should be promoted to use the correct finger system from lesson 1.

Lesson 4 - Keyboard Skills. Students continue to apply their understanding of the finger system from Lesson 1 and develop their understanding of pitch and notes on a stave. New Learning - Students learn about the black notes on the keyboard. Misconceptions include these being major/ minor. make it crystal clear these are just extra notes on the keyboard for students to use in their playing. Accidental mountain is a nice story for students to see that sharp rises and flats lower the pitch of the note. The pieces in the lesson are carefully picked to practice using the black keys. the Wii Mii theme tune and Hall of the Mountain King develop all the skills the students studied in lessons 1-3 and introduce them to using the black notes. This task can be scaffolded by breaking the music into small bars and focusing on the right hand melody Students can also be challenged by applying their left hand too if they can and apply an appropriate tempo/ dynamic changes.

Keyboard Skills Booklet This booklet is designed to be used along side the Keyboard skills lessons 1-6 Each lesson is clearly listed in the book with the “Do Now” and Lesson number making it clear for students which lesson they should be on. The songs are designed with the tasks in mind and develop the skills taught in each lesson. Skills should be revisited and retaught when appropriate to ensure students retain new learning. This is part of a skill based curriculum that explores the elements of music and develops students keyboard skills. There is an editable powerpoint version and a pdf version. To print the powerpoint as an A4 book, save it as a pdf with 2 slides per page.

Lesson 3 - Keyboard Skills. Students recall finger system and pitches on the stave from Lesson 1 and 2 continuing to use phrases to help them learn the notes on the lines and spaces of a musical stave. Students learn about the concept of chords being two or more notes played at the same time, creating harmony and build their keyboard skills by applying chords to a piece they already know. Ode to Joy uses G major and D major, and Little Playmate uses C major, G major and F major. These tasks can be scaffolded by using root notes only and splitting the melody/ harmony role in pairs and likewise, students can be challenged to play both hands together and composing a more interesting rhythm. This lesson aims to promote good practice and demonstrate to students that piano is not as hard as they think it is if they practice slowly and accurately.

Lesson 2 - Keyboard Skills. Students recall finger system from Lesson 1 and develop their understanding of pitch by learning two phrases to help them learn the notes on the lines and spaces of a musical stave. Students learn a piece but they have to apply this new learning by working out the note names to unlock the piece. This task can be scaffolded with the phrases being printed and given to students, or chunked into smaller bars/ phrases. Students can also be challenged by applying their left hand too if they can.

Lesson 1: Mastering the finger technique. Students learn about scales, pitch and the correct finger technique. They practice simple scales, this can be simplified to a simple five finger scale for those who need it, and students can be challenged by learning the scale with both hands. Task: apply the finger technique to a song on the piano.