The Layer Cake of Sound
π― Today's mission briefing
We are learning to compose layered music β a steady beat, a repeating ostinato and a melody stacked on top β and to write our music down in our own invented notation so someone else can play it.
You'll know you've got it when:
- I can keep a steady beat while a different rhythm happens over the top, and explain the difference between beat and rhythm
- I can compose an ostinato and layer a melody over it to build a piece with at least three layers
- I can invent a way of writing my music down that another person can actually follow, and name the layers I hear in someone else's music
Every song you love is a stack
Connects to what your guest already knows and makes them curious. Activating prior knowledge is one of the strongest predictors of new learning.
Do this right now, before anything else: put on any song you love β any song at all β and listen to it the WRONG way. Don't listen to the singer. Listen underneath. Somewhere down the bottom there's a steady pulse going boom... boom... boom. On top of that, something short keeps repeating β a drum pattern, a guitar riff, maybe four notes going round and round like a ferris wheel. And only on top of THAT does the tune float. Congratulations: you've just discovered that music isn't a single thing β it's a layer cake. Today you learn to bake one.