Ed Sheeran LIVE Records New Song with Kids Using His Loop Pedal

Hello Julian. Welcome back to school. Are we sitting on the small chairs or the big chairs? This is Ed Sheeran, musician, dad, and one of the best-selling artists of all time. But today he's the music teacher for a class of third graders in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, teaching about rhythm and sound by creating a song with a looper he's designed. And, as a surprise, Amazon will be helping clear the school's classroom lists. I'm your host Julian, and this is Celebrity Substitute. Alright Ed, you are here today at elementary school, and you are going to be these kids' music teacher. How are you feeling about that? I think today is going to be chaos. Probably not the best substitute teacher, to be honest. Or the best substitute teacher, because sometimes you don't want... You know when the substitute teacher came into school when you were at school, and you were just like, you're not my f***ing real teacher. Like, don't tell me what to do. Do you feel like you command authority? No. I feel like I kind of still am a kid in many ways. I think even with my own kids, I am kind of like their mate sometimes. I love Pokemon. Still do Pokemon. Who's your favorite? I love Squirtle. Breaking news. Yeah, well, yeah. And, mate, I know this sounds weird, but I don't evolve Squirtle. I love Squirtle having a massive hydro pump and just knocking people out. I want to talk about this guy right here. Pre-finding out that having red hair was a bad thing. What'd they call you? Oh, mate, all sorts. Firecrotch, Ginger Minj, all that sort of stuff. Like, as soon as I left school, you get out in the real world and no one cares. So what I try to tell kids when I see them who are having a hard time at school, As my mom's always said to me, the weirdos make the coolest adults. Can we just talk about what cool this is? What were you playing? Probably just one note. I think I made lots of terrible music that led to making lots of good music. I wasn't age four writing The A-Team, you know? Did you have a celebrity crush when you were a kid? I remember being in high school, like 11, and being obsessed with Avril Lavigne, like obsessed. She was looking for a skater boy, and I thought that could have been me. I want to talk for a second about the new album. So many different types of influencers from around the world. I really want to make really fun music. I want it to be explorative. In my mind, it was just Technicolor. It just has to feel bright. So, can you talk to me about your lesson today? You're going to be teaching kids how to use a looper. It's either going to go really well, and you'll be like, that was great, or it will really fail, and you'll get a lot of clicks. Have you taught kids how to use a looper before? No. I taught Jimmy Falun how to use a looper. He's kind of like a big kid. Yeah. Are you ready to meet the teachers you're going to be subbing in for today? Yeah. Hello. Welcome. Hi. Mr. Chung says he's been teaching since the dawn of time. Well, translation, 25 years. Dance is a huge part of his life, and has the meanest moonwalk this side of Brooklyn Bridge. Mr. Hampton's been teaching music here for 23 years. He's a basketball and jazz lover who used to play both. Y'all have looked over Ed's lesson plan. Is it doable? As long as the kids are happy. What's the worst that can happen? I think it's ambitious. Do you all have any advice for Ed? Get everyone's attention first. Do your thing your way. All right. We're going to go in there, but before we do, can you please bequeath Ed with his official Celebrity Substitute name tag? I love the word bequeath. Bequeath me. Cheers. Good luck, Ed. I leave at once, so this is like, it's either fun or it's not, and then I'm out. I set them both up at the teacher camp, where they'll be watching Ed's lesson degrade his teaching skills. We're going to cut you down. I'll be back for y'all soon. Enjoy. Ed's lesson includes teaching kids the concept of rhythm before helping them find a sound that fits their personality so they can play it into Ed's looper live in a final performance for their teachers. You think Ed can handle it? Your two hours start now. Kids, come on in. Hey! Hey, everybody. How we doing? Good! Hey, guys. My name is Mr. Ed, and this is called a looper. The way that it works is you can press record, and when you press play, it plays back. So I'll show you how it works. I really like his music that he plays. I'm not the biggest fan. So then when you press play, it plays through these speakers, and then you can add rhythms on top of it. So we're going to do a little bit of that. I'm going to show you how it works by playing one of my songs, if that's all right. Yeah! Yeah, this is a song called Photograph. I saw him in a book once. It was about Taylor Swift, and there was a picture of him. I don't know why. I like music a lot. Do you know who Mr. Ed is? Not that much, but if I need to, I will. That's the only thing that I know So you can keep me Ed's not pretty, but... In the pocket of your ripped jeans Holding me closer to life Soft voice, totally 5-star. You won't ever be alone Wait for me to come home Wow! So that's how that works. I like his accent. He's from England for sure. Does anybody have any questions for Ed? Where are you from? I am from England. My friend Archie, he was the fastest player on my soccer team, and then he moved to England. Theo's mind is a bit elsewhere today, but let's see if Ed can win him over. What are you the most excited about for today? Soccer. Because I do have soccer today. What color is your hair? My hair, it is strawberry blonde. This is Lorelai. She's always got the tea on what's going on at school. We have a big bee problem here. It's because the bee hides on the top of the roof that we have. The bees come down. I'm not afraid of them. How long have you been playing guitar? I started playing guitar when I was 11. How old is everyone? 8, 8, 8, 8! Devon, if you all start guitar now, you'll be much better. Okey dokey! Meet the other Julian. He's got a lot of energy. I'm only good at singing. I would say in life you only really need to be good at one thing, like really good at one thing. So if you're really good at singing, just carry on doing that. I'm in so silent! Guys, we are going to learn about rhythm. Two types of main rhythm that you can know, and one is a kind of waltz rhythm, which is like 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, and the other is what we call 4, 4. I already know rhythm because I do drums. It's kind of the base level for all songs that you listen to, primarily. So the 3, 4, remember was like the waltz. Has anyone ever seen Ballroom before? You must have seen in Disney films where they do the big ballroom dance scenes. You know like that? 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3. Crosby, what's your favourite song in the world? Probably September from Earth, Wind & Fire. Great, so that, if you think, Do you remember the 21st night of September? That is in a 4, 4 rhythm. I was named after the band Crosby, Steele, Nash & Yon. Does anyone else have a favourite song? Styles by Taylor Swift. You got that 1, 2, same scene, look in your eyes. Did they get it? Check for understanding, Ed. Now, can we do both feet and hands, and at the same time say 1, 2, 3, 4 every time? This is going to be super complicated. 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4. That's great. That's a great way of exploring rhythm. What I'm going to do is I'm going to set the beat up and you have a go again. You hear it? You want to go again? I've never experienced anything like this, which is why it's so engaging for them. What's going on here? Say anything. What's going on here? Good job. That's a good base level. All of the contrasting rhythms that you were doing, you hear how they just weaved in and they sounded awesome on it? So, we've done a really good job with rhythm. I'm super happy with that. Now that the kids understand how to make a rhythm, it's time for them to find a sound that suits their personality. And now we are going to find our own sounds. I'm going to set up a baseline beat. Imagine like a pizza base. What we need you guys to do is pick toppings for the pizza. I like eating pizza. Amazon gave us a bunch of instruments that we can use for the lesson today. It's really nice that they have enough instruments for everyone. We always need more instruments. Well, they're in luck because before we filmed today, we asked both teachers what their music program needed most, and Amazon is here to help them achieve that. There we go. It's like I'm in a forest with rabid animals. We are going to break into smaller groups. It feels good to get away from them. The key today is about each one of you picking an instrument, or it can be your body, or it can be a sound that comes out of your mouth. You need to find your sound. You know what? Why don't you give me one of them, and then we're both in solidarity together. There you go. There we go. This is my teaching stick. Great. That's good. That's perfect. What would you love to represent you? Cool. I like that fart sound. The fart sound could almost be used as a really good sub bass. Imagine you're blowing up a balloon. It's like a big... I used to play the drums, and now I'm moving to trumpet. I've never tried it before. Hey! One more time. Yeah! Wait, does she have that sax with no strap? That's not the easiest thing to do. No, these are hard. Well done. Sorry. What's a funny word you could say over and over again? This is Paco, and he's a little bit nervous. I don't feel like sharing. I'm feeling shy today. Want to start with that? Is that okay with you, man? Paco's a little more quiet. What do you do when you get nervous? I only really get nervous when I do music things, because sometimes when I do music things, I'm in front of, like, big crowds of people. If I get nervous, I have to remember just what I said, that I really enjoy it. You've got to kind of go on stage and be there, and if it goes well, then great, you've enjoyed it. If it doesn't go well, you've still kind of enjoyed it because you're doing music. Kind of just part of life, right? I'm really bad at saxophone. A lot of people are. You have to dare to suck. Sometimes it's going to suck. Sometimes it's going to be great. And it's so good to talk about, we're going to have fun making music. It doesn't matter if it sounds bad. That's a very good question. Precisely. Perfect. You've got a note that you're going to hit. That's it. Great. Can you do any... I always think of creative stuff. What's your sound? I don't know what I'll do. Super fair. I love it! I feel like if that energy's channeled, he's going to run the world. I know, he's so cool. That is the thing sometimes about school, is kids are all meant to fit inside the same box. It didn't work for me. No, it didn't work for me either. No doubt we've got some crazy sounds to work with, but because the looper has to be played live, Ed needs to make sure these kids nail this dress rehearsal. How does that work? Lorelei is a percussionist, but she's taken to quite shines at a saxophone. Harder! I just like messed around, sort of. I'm sorry to stop it, but it's time for the final performance. Well, that was a mess. Hopefully they can pull it together for their teachers. I can't wait to see this live. Okay, Mr. Tongue, Mr. Hampton, enjoy. So, presenting the PS20 kids and the morning routine. Let's go! Kids, come out! Very good! We do have to give you your final grade now. I've been graded and it won't. Yes, he was a very good teacher. He was really chill and he was really nice. He'd be a pretty good music teacher. I gave Mr. Ed an A+. I gave Mr. Ed a B+. I just feel like everybody in the world can always improve by a little bit. Thank you. Ed, I was prepared to tear you down and cut you to pieces. I know you were. But you got my heart. You really, you're a musician. You get music. Everyone's having a good time. That's what music is about. The kids enjoyed it. You've seen them enjoy it. It's not easy to be a substitute on the fly. I've always had the utmost respect for teachers. It's an incredibly difficult job, but hugely rewarding. I feel like teachers can either build confidence or destroy it. So, it's amazing how confident these kids are. Thank you so much for having us here today. This was so amazing. And beyond helping clear the school's classroom list, we're making sure you're set up for even more iconic performances. Starting with these brand new subwoofer speakers, new mics, and even more instruments. Plus, your very own Sheeran Looper X. Oh, thank you. Everyone say beans and sausages. Beans and sausages! Thanks so much to PS20 for having us, and to Ed for being the king of Celebrity Substitute. Okay, Ed Sheeran. The day's over. How was it? How was this for you? I feel like with music, the key is just all the kids having fun. And if they walk away from today being like, oh, I like creating music, then maybe they'll try it again tomorrow. I think that's like the first hurdle. It's really interesting how they actually decide who's going to be here. I don't really understand the system, but I'll try to figure it out. Don't forget to like and subscribe, and we'll see you in the next one. Also, quick question. How many more questions do you have?