Exploring Reggae
and Syncopation |
This unit begins by exploring
the origins of Reggae music from Mento, Ska and Rock Steady and looks at the
famous Reggae musician, Bob Marley, and his influence on a worldwide
audience. The unit uses two Reggae
songs as case studies to explore the musical features of the genre: “Yellow
Bird”: a Caribbean song, and “Three Little Birds”. Pupils learn about the
different textural elements that make up a Reggae song: bass line riffs,
melodic hooks, offbeat chords, syncopated rhythms and the vocal melody line. Pupils harmonic language is
extended and developed constructing chords I, II, IV and V in F Major
(“Yellow Bird”) and chords I, IV and V in A Major (“Three Little Birds),
performing these in the traditional offbeat Reggae style. The
unit ends with the option of an extended Reggae arrangement of “Yellow Bird”
and a brief exploration into the themes of Reggae lyrics with pupils creating
their own short set of lyrics using Jamaican speech-style on a specific
subject e.g. Black Lives
Matter, School etc. or by taking a
well-known melody or song (of their choice) and researching the lyrics,
chords etc. and creating a Reggae arrangement of it using the different
textural layers explored during the unit. |
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Offbeat - Scheme of Work
and Lesson Pathways |
Offbeat - Scheme of Work
and Lesson Pathways Includes Scheme of Work Overview,
Unit Learning Objectives, Learning Outcomes and Lesson Pathways. |
Offbeat - 5 Minutes Silent
Reading For teachers who prefer to begin
their lessons with quiet, focused openers.
All contain “Questions to Think About” which can also be used as Cover
or Homework tasks. |
1. How Reggae
Developed 2. What is
Reggae? 3. All About
Bob Marley 4. History of
Reggae 5. Reggae and
Rock Steady 1 6. Reggae and
Rock Steady 2 |
Offbeat - Plenary Review
Activities A series of lesson reviews where
pupils review their learning and understanding. |
Offbeat - DOITNOW
(Starters) and Plenary Activities |
Offbeat - “DOITNOW”
Presentation Cutting down on printables, file
storage and media files, the “new look” Musical Contexts “DOITNOW” Offbeat lesson openers Presentation
contains a wealth (only two samples
shown here), of effective “DOITNOW’s” when delivering the Offbeat unit in just one place - all audio
and video files are embedded and there’s accompanying Teacher’s Notes in the
“slide comments” section. |
Offbeat - General Reggae
Resources |
Offbeat - Case Study
Reggae Song Resources |
Offbeat - Cover and
Homework Activities |
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Key Words,
Concepts and Musical Knowledge |
Reggae, Mento, Ska, Rock Steady, Rastafarianism,
Lyrics, Offbeat, Strong Beats, Weak Beats, Syncopation, Riffs, Simple
Harmonies: Primary Triads (Tonic, Dominant and Subdominant Chords), Textural
Layers, Chords, Call and Response. |
Music Theory |
Syncopation Primary Triads (I, IV & V) |
Links to GCSE
Music |
Popular Music Vocal Music Conventions of Pop |
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Exploring the Bass
Line Riffs in Three Little Birds Includes simplified performing sheet and answers.
Three Little Birds Audio - Listening for Chord Changes
Three Little Birds MIDI1 - Introduction Bass Line Riff Pattern |
Three Little Birds Complete Performance MIDI |
Evaluating Three
Little Bird Reggae Arrangements (Peer Assessment) |
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Bob Marley Fill in
the Missing Words Can be done without using ICT. |
Can be done without using ICT. |