Kōkiri Learn

Week 2 of 5

Experiment with drones, intervals, chords and ukulele

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  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5

Session 1 · CREATE: Experiment

Drones, thirds and fifths

  1. 7 minWarm-up: posture, breath, sirens, and echo-singing short patterns.
  2. 18 minDrone discovery (see activities): half the class holds a drone on C while the other half sings up the C major scale. Which notes sound restful over the drone? Find the 3rd (E) and the 5th (G).
  3. 10 minMini-lesson: intervals are the distance between two notes. Unison, a 3rd and a 5th sound sweet together. Now change the drone to A: the same tune feels more like A minor. Major often sounds bright, minor darker.
  4. 10 minSing a short melody over a C drone, then over an A drone. Vote: which suits a lullaby? Which suits a celebration?
  5. 5 minCool-down. Write in your part map: the notes C, E and G make a C major chord.

Session 2 · CREATE: Experiment

Four chords on the ukulele

  1. 7 minWarm-up, then tune the ukulele together (G, C, E, A: 'Good Cooks Eat Apples').
  2. 18 minUkulele chord lab (see activities): learn C (one finger), Am (one finger), F (two fingers) and G7 (three fingers). Practise changing between C and Am on a steady count of four.
  3. 10 minStrum a simple down-down-up-up-down pattern on C, then hold it under the class singing the round.
  4. 10 minPairs: one strums C and G7 while the other sings a simple two-chord song. Swap. Notice when the chord needs to change.
  5. 5 minRest fingers. Pīwakawaka asks one question about which chord change was hardest and why; jot your answer.

Getting started

Start with C and Am only: they use just one finger each. Strum four times on each.

Stretch

Sing a 3rd above the melody for one line of a song you know. Then try a line a 3rd below.

Checkpoint

Everyone can hold a drone while others sing, and can play at least two ukulele chords and change between them in time.

Activities for this week

Useful this week