Creating music
Creating music is great fun! There are lots of different ways we can do it.
Music is usually created with musical instruments. Instruments come in all different shapes and sizes.
We can combine them together to make musical groups like bands or orchestras.
Watch: YolanDa and her band
Watch Yolanda introduce the different musical instruments in her band.
Listen carefully, how many instruments have you heard before?
Music plays
YolanDa: Hi, I'm YolanDa and welcome to my big band jam.
Now come in a little bit closer so you can meet my amazing band.
This is Talbert and he plays the drums.
Drums solo
Listen how he plays the beat of a song to keep us all playing together.
Drums and bass guitar
This is Caleb and he plays the bass guitar.
Bass guitar solo
Oh, the bass plays really low. Did you hear how low that went? It's great.
band plays
And this is Eilidh, she plays the electric guitar.
Electric guitar solo
She can play really rocking solos on the electric guitar and notice how it sounds different to the bass guitar.
Band plays
And this is Andy and he plays the keyboard.
Keyboard solo
Ahh yeh. The keyboards can play fast and slow, high and low.
Band play
And I'm YolanDa and I play the saxophone.
Saxophone solo
And when we play all together, this is what it sounds like. Here we go. One two, a one two three four.
Band playing
Band: Oooh ooh. Band jammer and a big bang boo. I said a band jammer and a big bang boo. Band Jammer and a big band boo.
Sting: YolanDa's bad jam
YolanDa: Now you've met my amazing band, the Band Jamminals. What would your band be called? Goodbye for now and keep on jamming.
All the instruments have a different sound.
The drums play the beat or pulse of the song to keep the band playing together.
The bass guitar plays low pitch sounds.
The electric guitar can play much higher pitch sounds.
The keyboard can play both - it plays high and low pitch sounds.
When YolanDa joins in on her saxophone all the instruments play together to create the sound of a band!
What are found sounds?
It can take time to learn to play different instruments as well as these musicians can.
The good news is that you can begin to create music yourself by using things that you can find around your own home or school classroom.
Found sounds are sounds that you can make using objects that you have found. A tin can be used as a drum, or a packet of rice as a shaker.
Let's explore more with YolanDa!
Watch: Search for found sounds
YolanDa is going to show us how to explore different places, to find sounds that we can use to create music.
In this first video she’s exploring outside. What do you think she might find?
Remember to watch YolanDa explore other places for sounds in the rest of the 'How do we create music' guides!
Saxophone playing
YolanDa: Hi everybody, I'm YolanDa and I play the saxophone.
If you look and listen carefully, you can find new instruments all around you.
You just need to explore and use your imagination.
Can you think of anything around me that would make a great sound?
Boing, boing, boing, boing
What about if we tried to play my bike as an instrument? Would it make some interesting sounds?
How about here? or here? or maybe even here?
Tapping sound
Ooh, this is a cool sound.
Let's have a listen to the sound of my chain.
sound of chain
Or even the bell on my bike.
bell ringing
I'm on a mission to find different sounds and to discover how we can make instruments out of all sorts of things around us. I'm going to explore places we go to every day and send my ideas back to my expert team, the might music makers. They will create a new instrument every episode so keep watching and you can find your own sounds and make your own instruments too.
Did you think that a bicycle could become a musical instrument?
What words would you use to describe the different sounds it can make?
Ringing the bell or tapping the bike with a pencil makes a high pitched sound.
Tapping the seat or tyre with your hands makes a low pitched sound.
Why don't you look around your own bedroom, classroom or local area to see if you can find objects that make interesting sounds?
If you can find something, you have taken your first step towards creating your own music!
Glossary
Here are the meanings to some important words.
Found sounds - Sounds that are made from objects which can be found around you.
Musicians - People that play musical instruments.
Orchestra - A large group of musicians who play string, brass, wind and percussion instruments together.
Pitch - How high or low a sound is.
Pulse - The steady beat that runs through the music.
Activities
Quiz
Play BBC Bitesize games! game
Fun, interactive games for children aged 4-11, with maths, English, science, history and many more subjects.
More on Creating Music
Find out more by working through a topic
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