Hello and welcome back. I'm Joseph Hoffman.
Today we're learning a new song called "Rain Come Wet Me". Let's have a listen to it.
♫Rain come wet me, sun come dry me♫
♫Keep away everyone, don't come nigh me♫
Sometimes my students ask me about the lyrics of this song.
There's an old-fashioned word in here: 'don't come nigh me', which means don't come near me.
I kind of think this song is about that feeling you may sometimes get when you just want to be alone.
Keep away everyone, don't come nigh me.
It's just saying, hey, I need a break.
I just need some alone time right now.
Just me all by myself with the sun and the rain.
Now, let's figure out how the notes of this song are moving up or down.
I'll sing just the first four notes, and your job is to listen,
and try to show me by moving your hand up or down how these notes are moving.
Here goes:
What did you hear?
If you thought the notes we're going down, you're correct.
Let's sing the first phrase together and move our hands with the notes.
Ready? Try it with me.
Go:
♫Rain come wet me♫
Good, now listen to the next four notes and tell me how they're moving.
♫Sun come dry me♫
Did you notice that those notes were the exact same?
It's new lyrics, now lyrics are the words of the song.
So, new lyrics, but the same notes.
So we have:
♫Rain come wet me, Sun come dry me♫
It makes a pattern.
Let's take a look at what this pattern looks like on the staff
Let's dictate this musical pattern up in the treble staff.
Can you trace with me this treble clef on your screen,
and then trace with your finger the G line.
Remember, this line that goes right through the middle of that swirl is our G line.
And it so happens that in "Rain Come Wet Me"
this is the first note,
which is G
and then
if it were stepping down it would look like this, but the first two notes go: SO
MI, skip down,
and then step down to RE.
Then to step down again, we're going to need a ledger line,
which brings us down to middle C.
SO MI RE DO
Can you point on your screen and sing with me?
Using solfège, go:
SO MI RE DO
And then we have that pattern again. This is ♫Rain come wet me,♫
Then we have: ♫Sun come dry♫ I need another ledger line for middle C.
Now, let's point to each note and sing the lyrics, go:
♫Rain come wet me, Sun come dry me♫
Now, what about the next pattern we have?
♫Keep away everyone♫
Were those notes the same as the first pattern?
No, it's a new pattern.
This time the notes go:
SO MI SO SO MI SO
let's take a look at that pattern on the staff.
Now, remember that SO to MI is a skip down, and I'm going to use a different color
since this is a different pattern. So we have: SO MI SO
Remember that there is this space in between this line and this line,
but if we want to skip, we have to go from this line all the way down to the next line.
That makes SO MI SO
Then we have another SO MI SO
Can you point and sing with me? Go:
SO MI SO SO MI SO
Now, here's the last pattern from "Rain Come Wet Me":
Was that the same as our first pattern or the second one?
If yousaid the first pattern you're correct
Now, let's take a look at the entire song notated on the staff.
Here's the sheet music for "Rain Come Wet Me".
We've got our treble clef on the staff,
which helps remind us of course where the G is, and the first note is G,
and then here's our first pattern that we've looked at: SO MI RE DO
Then that pattern repeats: SO MI RE DO
Then down here we've got our next pattern: SO MI SO SO MI SO
Mark that phrase in purple
so that it's different, and then our last pattern,
the same as the first
SO MI RE DO
So if we're talking about the form of this piece, we could say the form is A,
A,
B,
A,
That's what we'd call the form of this song.
A, A, B, A.
Now, let's practice moving our fingers for this song.
Go ahead and hold up your right hand so it matches mine,
and remember we start with a skip down, SO MI,
and then step down, step down, SO MI RE DO. Now you try.
Good, now let's try it with lyrics.
♫Rain come wet me,♫ Your turn. Sing and move your fingers.
Good, then ♫Sun come dry me♫ Your turn.
Now we have, ♫Keep away everyone♫
Let's actually try that in solfège. We have, SO MI SO SO MI SO, now you try.
Now let's try it with lyrics. ♫Keep away everyone♫ Your turn.
Then, ♫Don't come nigh me♫ Your turn.
Great job.
Now, with your right hand, can you find a C major pentascale and play:
DO RE MI FA SO
Your turn.
Sing and play.
Good, now let's try stepping down: SO FA MI RE DO.
Your turn, sing and play.
Good, now, the first pattern of "Rain Come Wet Me" remember is:
SO MI RE DO
So we just skip over that FA.
SO MI RE DO Your turn, sing and play.
Now let's try it with lyrics.
♫Rain come wet me, Sun come dry me♫
Now your turn. Sing and play.
Good, now, our next pattern is: SO MI SO, then you have to play SO again, SO MI SO
Now you try.
Let's try it with lyrics.
We have:♫Keep away everyone♫
Your turn, sing and play.
Then it finishes with: ♫Don't come nigh me♫
Your turn.
Good! Now you know all the patterns to make this song. So, press pause and on your own,
go through the entire song. Sing the lyrics as you go,
and that will help you listen
and make sure you're playing the correct notes and rhythms.
So, pause to practice the entire piece on your own, then press play to go on.
Now let's try it with your left hand.
Cover up a C major pentascale with your left hand
so your finger 5 is on C, and play: DO RE MI FA SO
Your turn.
Now let's try stepping down.
SO FA MI RE DO
Your turn. Sing and play.
Now try our first pattern.
SO MI RE DO
Your turn.
Good, now let's repeat that. Let's try it together, go:
SO MI RE DO
Then we get to: SO MI SO SO MI SO
Your turn.
Then we finish with: SO MI RE DO. Your turn.
Good. Now press pause and play the entire piece while singing the lyrics,
using your left hand, then press play to go on.
Now, once you get really good at that, you can try a super challenge
of playing both hands at the same time.
Another challenge you can try is transposing "Rain Come Wet Me"
to the D major pentascale.
Remember, we just cover up D E F-sharp G A,
and now SO is here on A, so we have: SO MI RE DO
♫Keep away everyone, don't come nigh me♫
So, lots of different ways you can practice "Rain Come Wet Me".
Once you feel like you have "Rain Come Wet Me" mastered,
I encourage you to practice it with the backing track from our practice album.
And because I really like how "Rain Come Wet Me" sounds in D major,
I know we learned it in C major, but on the backing track you'll play it in D major.
What you'll hear is a little introduction,
and then when you hear four clicks,
after the fourth click that's where you start. You'll play through the song once,
and then there'll be a little bit of time to improvise.
For the improvisation, you can move around to a different D major pentascale if you like,
and then you'll hear four more clicks, and then you'll play it one more time.
And for that second time I like to switch to the other hand or maybe even try playing it with both hands.
Now, let me demonstrate how this will go.
Here's the backing track
So here's this introduction. You can get your hand ready
whichever one you want to use. I think I'll start with my right hand.
2 3 4
And now there's time to improvise.
Now my left heads going to take a turn.
And I finish with both hands.
So, as you're playing along with the backing track make sure you're listening to the accompaniment.
Make sure that your notes fit with the accompaniment as you play.
And then like I said, you can move around higher or lower for the improvisation,
and just have fun experimenting with some notes
that sound good to you.
there's no right or wrong when you improvise.
Great job today learning "Rain Come Wet Me".
Remember, you'll make the best progress if you practice every day.
And be sure to try all your songs in both your right hand and your left hand.
And of course remember that as a premium member of Hoffman Academy,
you get access to audio listening and practice tracks for "Rain Come Wet Me"
and all of our songs, as well as sheet music and online learning games.
So, please be sure to take advantage of all the premium features on our website
to get the most out of your learning.
If you're not already a premium member, I encourage you to join today.
Thanks so much for watching and learning with me,
and see you next time!
Mr. Hoffman, what's that you have there?
It's a rain stick. It's a kind of instrument. Would you like to hear it?
Sure I would.
Okay, here goes.
Wow.
It does kind of sound like rain.
Yeah, little seeds inside the stick make that sound.
Whoa, it's so realistic it actually feels like it's raining.