Juliana: Thank you for joining us! We're excited that you're here! At Daniel's Music Foundation, we believe in meeting our musicians where they are most comfortable, whether in-person at our New York City Music Center and our online Zoom events and classes, or through on-demand video library. Check out the description box below for all the ways you can join us and participate. Now, please enjoy the video, and we appreciate you tuning in.
Description: The Daniel's Music Foundation logo is shown, a treble clef next to the name of the foundation, stacked. A woman is standing in a turquoise room, in front of a selection of conga drums and bongos. She has short brown hair, and a red t-shirt that reads "Just Call Me By My Name".
Stefani: Hello, my name is Stefani, and I'm an instructor at Daniel's Music Foundation. I'm so excited to be teaching this activity to you. In this activity, we're going to learn about all the different types of beats in music. If you enjoy these videos and would like to see more of them, please click the Subscribe button down below to help us grow our channel.
Stefani: And just a quick reminder, if you would like to skip ahead to the activity portion of this video, take a look at the description box down below for the exact time the activity begins. If you'd like to learn the moves, stay right here with me. We're going to be exploring the different beats in a song that always lifts me up, "Your Love Keeps Lifting Me Higher and Higher."
Stefani: Before we explore all the different beats, let's talk about what a beat actually means. The beat is what gives music life, what your body immediately feels when you hear a song. If we put our hand on our heart, do we feel it beating? Ba-bum, ba-bum. This constant pulse is our heartbeat, like a clock ticking, tick-tock, tick-tock, it's something constant that keeps us going.
Stefani: Let's explore the different ways we can feel the heartbeat of this song. We're going to start with the downbeat of the song. The downbeat is the first beat of every measure. This song has four beats per measure, so in order to accentuate the downbeat of the song, we're going to clap on 1 of 1, 2, 3, 4. Let's just try that together. 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4. Clap, 2, 3, 4. Clap, 2, 3, 4.
Stefani: Now, to make it more interesting, let's try feeling the downbeat in four different parts of our body. Let's start by shrugging our shoulders, next clapping our hands, after that, tapping on our legs, and lastly stomping our feet. I'm going to be using both my arms and my feet to demonstrate this last move.
Stefani: Now I'm choosing to do these moves because they feel good for me and my body. But you should do the moves that work best for you and your body. We'll repeat this sequence throughout the first verse. Let's try it together. I'll count us in. 1, 2, 3, 4. Shrug, 2, 3, 4. 1, 2, 3, 4. Shrug, 2, 3, 4. Shrug, 2, 3, 4. Clap, 2, 3, 4. Clap, 2, 3, 4. Clap, 2, 3, 4. Clap. Now let's tap. Tap, 2, 3, 4. Tap, 2, 3, 4. Tap, 2, 3, 4. Tap. And then we'll stomp. Here we go. Stomp, 2, 3, 4. Stomp, 2, 3, 4. Stomp, 2, 3, 4. Stomp, 2, 3, 4. Excellent job!
Stefani: The next beat we'll be discussing is the upbeat. This is the opposite of our downbeat, meaning we accentuate the fourth or the last beat of the measure. A fun fact about the upbeat and downbeat is that they reflect the movements of a conductor when leading an orchestra.
Stefani: On the first beat, their hands come down, on the second and third, their hands move side to side, and on the last beat their hands come up. Should we try together? Let's be conductors together. We're going to bring our hands down for the downbeat, side to side for beats 2 and 3, and up for our fourth, last, upbeat. Let's try it all together. Down, side, side up. Down, side, side, up. 1, 2, 3, 4. 1, 2, 3, 4. That was majestic!
Stefani: Let's try accentuating the upbeat by shrugging our shoulders, clapping our hands, tapping on our legs, and stomping our feet. I'm going to count us in. 1, 2, 3, 4. 1, 2, 3, shrug. 1, 2, 3, shrug. 1, 2, 3, shrug. 1, 2, 3, shrug. 1, 2, 3, clap. 1, 2, 3, clap. 1, 2, 3, clap. 1, 2, 3, clap. 1, 2, 3, tap. 1, 2, 3, tap. 1, 2, 3, tap. 1, 2, 3, tap. 1, 2, 3, stomp. 1, 2, 3, stomp. 1, 2, 3, stomp. 1, 2, 3, stomp. Amazing job, everybody!
Stefani: The last type of beat we're going to be discussing in this song is the backbeat. The backbeat of the song highlights beats 2 and 4 in our measure. Beats 2 and 4 are usually the unaccented beats of a measure, so this creates something called syncopation in music. The backbeat helps drive the song forward, giving it momentum.
Stefani: Let's try and accentuate the backbeat using the same moves as we did for our upbeat and downbeat. 1, shrug, 3, shrug. 1, shrug, 3, shrug. 1, shrug, 3, shrug. 1, shrug, 3, shrug. 1, clap, 3, clap. 1, clap, 3, clap. 1, clap, 3, clap. 1, clap, 3, clap. 1, tap, 3, tap. 1, tap, 3, tap. 1, tap, 3, tap. 1, tap, 3, tap. 1, stomp, 3, stomp. 1, stomp, 3, stomp. 1, stomp, 3, stomp. 1, stomp, 3, stomp! That was incredible!
Stefani: Not only did we just learn about what a beat in music is, we learned about three different types of beats. Incredible job! Now for the chorus of the song, we're going to learn a little dance. And the dance is going to follow along with the words of the song or the lyrics of the song.
Stefani: When we hear, "you know your love," we're going to stretch our arms and point out then give ourselves a hug. For "keeps lifting higher and higher," we're going to raise both arms above our head, then sway them side to side. The second time through we hear the chorus, the singer extends--
Stefani: So we're going to roll our arms out in front of us to keep in time with the song as we're bringing it above our heads, then swaying our arms side to side again. Let's try and put it all together. Here we go. We're going to start by pointing out--
Stefani: (SINGING) You know your love
Stefani: Give yourselves a hug.
Stefani:(SINGING) Keeps on lifting
Stefani: We're going to bring our arms above our heads. Then we're going to sway.
Stefani: (SINGING) Higher and higher
Stefani: Second time through.
Stefani: (SINGING) Let me tell you, your love
Stefani: Give yourselves a hug. Now let's roll.
Stefani: (SINGING) Keeps on
Stefani: Then bring your arms above your head and sway.
Stefani: (SINGING) Lifting me higher and higher
Stefani: That was outstanding! I think we're ready to put some music to this.
Description: [JACKIE WILSON, "YOUR LOVE KEEPS LIFTING ME HIGHER AND HIGHER"]
Stefani: All right, everybody, let's get into it. I'm going to start by feeling the heartbeat of our song. Kind of feels like the backbeat to me. But let's start with our downbeat. 1, 2, 3, 4. 1, 2, 3, 4. Shrug, 2, 3, 4. Shrug, 2, 3, 4. Shrug, shrug. Clap, 2, 3, 4. Clap, 2, 3, 4. Clap, clap. Tap, 2, 3, 4. Tap, 2, 3, 4. Tap, tap. Stomp, 2, 3, 4. Stomp, 2, 3, 4. Stomp, stomp. And point and hug.
Stefani: (SINGING) Bring your arms above your head
Stefani: Now, sway, sway, sway, sway, sway, sway
Stefani: And then point and hug. Roll your arms above your head. And now we're going to sway, sway, and sway. Let's do our upbeat. 1, 2, 3, shrug. 1, 2, 3, shrug. Shrug, shrug. 1, 2, 3, clap. 1, 2, 3, clap. Clap, clap. 1, 2, 3, tap. 1, 2, 3, tap. Tap, tap. 1, 2, 3, stomp. 1, 2, 3, stomp. 1, 2, 3, stomp. And let's point and hug.
Stefani: (SINGING) Bring your arms above your head
Stefani: Now sway it out.
Stefani: (SINGING) Higher and higher
Stefani: Beautiful. Let's do it again. Point and hug. Roll your arms up. And bring it up above your head and sway. All right, you guys, this is the instrumental break of the song. I'm just going to freestyle. I'm going to do a little twist. Oh, my god, this is so fun. Maybe I'll do a little monkey. Here we go. Up and down. And up and down. Switch, and switch, and switch, and switch. Beautiful, everybody.
Stefani: Let's feel our backbeat. Here we go. Shrug, shrug, shrug, shrug, shrug, shrug, shrug, shrug. Clap, clap, clap, clap, clap, clap, clap. Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap. Stomp, stomp, stomp, stomp, stomp, stomp, stomp. Beautiful. Do the chorus on your own! Here we go!
Stefani: (SINGING) Keep on lifting me higher--
Stefani: Beautiful job, everybody.
Stefani: --higher
Stefani: I said your love keep on, keep on lifting me higher and higher
Stefani: You guys, that was it! Let's twist it out for the end. And twist it out for the end. Do a little monkey at the end. Do a little monkey at the end. And sway your arms above your head. And sway your arms above your head. Beautiful job!
Stefani: Hooray! That was so fun! I hope your spirits are as lifted as mine right now. And just a gentle reminder, if you enjoyed this video, please click the Subscribe button so we can continue to celebrate the joy of music together. Have a wonderful day filled with joy and music. Till next time!
Description: The Daniel's Music Foundation logo, as well as the links to the foundation's social media channels:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/danielsmusicfoundation/ Instagram: http://instagram.com/dmfmusic Twitter: https://twitter.com/DanielsMusicFdn YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCp30ob_W2ec2ok8mfitep8A