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.
Stefani: During this activity, you will learn about quarter notes, eighth notes, and whole notes. 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. 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.
Stefani: We are going to be jamming out to a song that always makes me feel like I'm at the beach, no matter what time of year it is, "Watermelon Sugar." Before we begin learning this activity, I'd like to gently remind you that all the moves I've chosen to do for this video are what work best for me and my body, but you should feel free to do the moves that work best for you and your body.
Stefani: Let's talk about how I'm going to count my moves throughout the song. As you'll notice during this video, I am always counting to the number four. That's because I am going to be counting something called a quarter note. A quarter note acts as one fourth of a measure, and a measure is what helps us divide our song into smaller parts so that we know where we are. A quarter note also helps us feel the groove of a song. Let's try clapping while I sing a snippet of our song to feel what a quarter note sounds like. 1, 2, 3, 4.
Stefani: (SINGING) Tastes like strawberries on a summer evening, and it sounds just like a quarter note.
Stefani: (SPEAKING) Exactly. What you just heard and felt was the quarter note beat. I think you're ready to learn the moves. Let's start with the verse, or the part of the song that tells us the story.
Stefani: I'm going to start by shrugging my shoulders twice and then clapping once. My shoulder movements will be fast, and my clap will be long. It'll go something like this. Shrug, shrug, clap. Shrug, shrug, clap. Shrug, shrug, clap. Shrug, shrug, clap. Now let's try it together as I count with my movements. 1 and 2, 3 and 4. 1 and 2, 3 and 4. Wonderful job.
Stefani: Now I'm going to move on and do the same rhythm by tapping my legs and then clapping my hands. Tap, tap, clap. Tap, tap, clap. Tap, tap, clap. Tap, tap, clap. Let's try it together, with me counting. 1 and 2, 3 and 4. 1 and 2, 3 and 4. Great work.
Stefani: We've got two more variations. You ready? This time, I'm going to shake my booty twice and then clap. Here we go. Shake, shake, clap. Shake, shake, clap. Shake, shake, clap. Shake, shake, clap. Let's try it together, with me counting. 1 and 2, 3 and 4. 1 and 2, 3 and 4. Awesome.
Stefani: And for our last one, I'm going to stomp my feet twice and clap. Here we go. Stomp stomp, clap. Stomp, stomp, clap. Stomp, stomp, clap. Stomp, stomp, clap. You know the drill. Let's try it with me counting. You can even try counting with me. 1 and 2, 3 and 4. 1 and 2, 3 and 4. You did it. That was incredible.
Stefani: Did you notice how I sometimes put an "and" after my number? That's because I'm counting something called an eighth note. Every time I was putting an "and" after my number, I was counting an eighth note. An eighth note is twice as fast as a quarter note. So in order to break down my beat, I add an "and" after my number. For this rhythm, I made beats one and three eighth notes, while beats two and four stayed as quarter notes.
Stefani: We are on to the prechorus of our song. This is the part of the song that prepares us for the part we all know and love, the chorus. This part of the song is a bit more mellow. It's getting us excited for what's to come. I'm going to be doing some legato movements here. That means smooth and connected. First, I'm going to roll my shoulders back twice, each time counting to four.
Stefani: Let's do it together. 1, 2, 3, 4. Let's do that one more time. 1, 2, 3, 4. Next, I'm going to be circling my torso twice each to a count of four. Now, if you're standing, you could try it with your hips as well. Let's do it together. 1, 2, 3, 4. All around. Let's do it one more time. 1, 2, 3, 4. Beautiful job.
Stefani: Now I'm going to do an arm circle twice each to a count of four. Let's extend our arms out to the side and circle for a count of four together. Here we go. 1, 2, 3, 4. Once more. 1, 2, 3, 4. Last but not least, I'm just going to take a deep breath in for four and out for four. Let's do it together. Breathe in, 2, 3, 4, and out, 2, 3, 4. So relaxing. That was a beautiful, beautiful job.
Stefani: Now, when I was rolling the different parts of my body, I wasn't moving to every beat, even though I was counting every beat. I would start at beat one, and I would finish on beat four. This is something called a whole note. A whole note takes up an entire measure or the whole measure, meaning it's a very slow note that has either four quarter notes in it or eight eighth notes in it.
Stefani: You are all such amazing learners. Are you ready for the chorus? Our chorus is the part of the song that contains the main message of a song. It's also the part of the song that repeats and repeats and repeats and repeats.
Stefani: We are going to be counting the number of syllables in our chorus and creating a rhythm based off that number. A syllable is the beat of a word. Let me give you an example. Let's count how many syllables or beats there are in my name. "Ste-pha-nie." You got it. It's three.
Stefani: Now let's count the number of syllables in watermelon sugar. "Wa-ter-me-lon su-gar." Six, that's absolutely correct. Let's try and tap the six beats on our legs. Watermelon sugar. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Nice work.
Stefani: The final part of this move is raising our hands up for the word "high." Let's put it all together. Watermelon sugar high. Watermelon sugar high. That was fantastic. You all have been doing such a great job. I think you're ready to do it with the song. We're going to start with our shoulders.
Description: "Watermelon Sugar" by Harry Styles begins playing
Stefani: Shrug, shrug, clap. Shrug, shrug, clap. Now tap, tap, clap. Tap, tap, clap. Hip, hip, clap. Hip, hip, clap. Stomp, stomp, clap. Stomp, stomp, clap. Let's count it out. 3 and 4. 1 and 2, 3 and 4. 1 and 2, 3 and 4. 1 and 2, 3 and 4.
Stefani: Now shoulders. 2, 3, 4. Shoulders. 2, 3, 4. Torso. 2, 3, 4. Torso. Count those whole notes out. Arm circles. 2, 3, 4. Arm circles. 2, 3, 4. Breath in. 2, 3, 4, and out.
(SINGING) Watermelon sugar high.
(SPEAKING) Bring it up.
(SINGING) Watermelon sugar high. Watermelon sugar high.
(SPEAKING) Let's count it out, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Up. Beautiful.
(SINGING) Watermelon sugar.
Stefani: (SPEAKING) Shrug, shrug, clap. Shrug, shrug, clap. Now tap, tap, clap. Tap, tap, clap. Now hip, hip, clap. Hip, hip, clap. Now stomp, stomp, clap. Stomp, stomp, clap. Now shrug, shrug, clap. Shrug, shrug, clap. Tap, tap, clap. Tap, tap, clap. Hip, hip, clap. Hip, hip, clap. Stomp, stomp, clap. Stomp, stomp, clap. Now shoulder. And torso. Arm circles. Get ready for that chorus. Beautiful work.
(SINGING) Watermelon sugar high.
(SPEAKING) Bring it up.
(SINGING) Watermelon sugar high. Watermelon sugar high.
(SPEAKING) Sing it with me.
(SINGING) Watermelon sugar high.
(SPEAKING) I could sing this all day. That was beautiful.
(SINGING) Watermelon sugar high. Watermelon sugar high. Watermelon sugar high.
(SPEAKING) Beautiful. And shrug those shoulders. 1 and 2, 3 and 4. 1 and 2, 3 and 4. 1 and 2, 3 and 4. 1 and 2, 3 and 4. Now shoulder. And shoulder. Torso. Torso. Try and count those whole notes. Arm circle. Arm circle. 2, 3, 4. Breathe in. Breathe out. Get ready for that chorus.
Stefani: (SINGING) Watermelon sugar high. Watermelon sugar high. Watermelon sugar high. Watermelon sugar high.
Stefani: (SPEAKING) I'm having so much fun. This is amazing. Try it on your own. Wow. Beautiful. You guys, I'm having so much fun. I just want to dance out to this song to end it off.
Stefani: Just move your body any way that feels good for you. Maybe you can move your shoulders. Maybe you can move that torso. You guys, this has been so, so fun. Let's just tap watermelon sugar one last time. Here we go.
Stefani: (SINGING) Watermelon sugar.
Stefani: (SPEAKING) Amazing. That was as groovy as a watermelon on a beach. Is that groovy? I don't know. I hope you had just as much fun as I did. 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