What is Music
Tap, tap, tap-tap-TAP! Did you know you can make music right now, with just your hands? Clap a beat: clap-clap, pause, clap-clap. You just made music! Music is sounds put together in a way that feels good to hear. It can be fast or slow, loud or soft, happy or sleepy. Let's find out what makes music, music.
What You'll Learn
In this lesson you will: 1. Learn that music is sounds put together on purpose. 2. Feel the BEAT, which is like music's heartbeat. 3. Hear how sounds can be HIGH like a bird or LOW like a big drum. 4. Find out that your own voice and body can make music.
Music Has a Beat
Put your hand on your chest. Feel your heart go thump... thump... thump? That steady thump is like a BEAT. Music has a beat too. It is the steady tap you can clap along to. When you hear a song and your foot starts tapping by itself, your foot found the beat! Try it: clap slowly like a turtle, then clap fast like a bunny. Both are beats, just at different speeds.
Next time you hear a song, tap your foot or nod your head. When you tap along at the same steady speed, you found the beat. Every song has one!
High Sounds and Low Sounds
Some sounds are HIGH, like a tiny bird going 'tweet tweet.' Some sounds are LOW, like a big bear going 'grrrr.' Sing 'ee' in a tiny mouse voice. That is a high sound! Now sing 'ooo' in a big giant voice. That is a low sound! Music mixes high sounds and low sounds together, like a bird and a bear singing at the same time. That is why songs are so fun to hear.
You Can Make Music!
You do not need a fancy instrument to make music. Your body is an instrument! You can CLAP your hands. You can STOMP your feet. You can PAT your legs, pat-pat-pat. You can hum with your voice, mmmmmm. Put them together: clap, stomp, pat, hum. That is a little song made by YOU. Musicians in a band do the same thing, just with drums and guitars too.
Match each thing to the kind of sound it makes.
Terms
Definitions
Drag terms onto their definitions, or click a term then click a definition to match.
Rain on the roof, birds singing, a spoon tapping a bowl. If you listen, you can hear little bits of music all around you every day!
Your foot starts tapping all by itself when a song plays. What did your foot find?
Which one makes a HIGH sound?
Make a Body Song
Step 1: Stand up and get ready to be a one-person band! Step 2: Make a pattern with your body. Try this one: CLAP, CLAP, STOMP! Then do it again: CLAP, CLAP, STOMP! Step 3: Now add your voice. Hum a happy 'laaa' while you do it. Step 4: Do your body song three times so it feels like a real little tune. Deliverable: perform your body song for a grown-up or a stuffed animal! Bonus: make up a NEW pattern, like PAT-PAT-CLAP, and teach it to someone in your family.
Flashcards — click each card to reveal the answer
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