Tuesday, January 5, 2010  Objective – Learn about some basic characteristics of Disco Music and understand how it helps to shape our understanding of today’s music.  Bell Ringer  Name one artist that we have covered in the Motown unit that has influenced Disco.  Write a 4 measure rhythm that uses all of the following:  3 dotted notes  2 ties  2 slurs  3 beams  Movement Warm Up  Disco – Wrap up Disco Introduction and take a look at some of the basic fundamentals of the musical form.  Music Notation – read through a melody.  Provide letter names for each note  Make effort to learn particular melody on xylophone or piano

Disco Intro  Disco music combines a number of different musical styles  Jazz  Soul  Funk  Calypso  Rock  New Electronic Music

A Mixture of All Styles  Additionally, this musical genre features a number of different instruments.  Strings  Woodwinds  Guitars  Drums  Vocals

Four on the Floor  Disco Music accentuates the ‘Four on the Floor’ beat pattern  Four on the Floor – Beat pattern that is usually used by the bass drum. It is a four beat pattern and its ‘on the floor’ name comes from the fact that the bass drum is usually the lowest note heard on a track

Four on the Floor  A great example of the ‘Four on the Floor’ sound is featured in a popular disco song: ‘Le Freak’  Also, let’s take a look at the notation of this beat pattern.  You’ll notice the simplicity of the sound, it’s just four quarter (1 beat) notes underneath a series of different, varied beat patterns.

Other Beat Patterns in the Disco Sound  In addition to the ‘Four on the Floor’ beat pattern, Disco borrows rhythmic patterns from other Latin American genres  Cha Cha Cha  Rhumba  Samba

Popular Early Disco Artists  A number of artists have been credited with the development of disco.  Larry Levan  Walter Gibbons  Tom Moulton  Jimmy Hendrix (early disco elements)

Music Notation  On a sheet of staff paper, copy down this melody.  Then write the letter names underneath each note  If time permits, work on the piano or xylophone and determine the tune.