♫
Hello and welcome back. I'm Joseph
Hoffman. Today we are learning how to
play the chorus of the pop song, "Firework."
Alright, for firework we're going to need
the right hand in the G major pentascale.
That means finger 1 right here on the
G above middle C, and you'll see that the
first four notes of this piece I'll step
down starting with finger 5 on D. We'll
have "Baby you're a" so let's give that a
try. Your turn, go for it. One more time. We
have "Baby you're a," now your turn. Great.
Now the next note is a repeat on A, we
play the A one more time and you'll see
it's a dotted half note. That means hold
it for three beats, so we're going to
count 1 2 3 and I really want
you to count when you play this. A lot of
kids get so excited to play the song
they're just like, "Baby you're a firework"
but that's not the rhythm of the song,
and if you are playing with a band or if
you're Katy Perry singing this, you'd
have to hold the note for the right
number of beats because you've got some
guitar who is playing with you.
So it's very important that you hold that
three beats, so count for now, go ahead
and count out loud "Baby you're a 1 2
3" okay now your turn to try. Good.
After you've held that A for three
beats then it steps down to G, then skips
up to B, and then you'll see that B is
tied to a half note so after you play
that note then you'll count 1 2, so you
have "firework 1 2" for the half note, okay?
So listen to it from the beginning. "Baby
you're a" 1 2 3, 1 2. Now you try.
Good, so for right now you're not a
firework, it's baby you're a 1 2
3 your work 1 2. All right go ahead
and say that out loud to just get in the
habit of holding it for those right
number of beats. Good, then the next
phrase is the same notes. We have "come on
show 'em what 2 3 you're worth 1 2." Okay now
you try that part.
Good so if we put those two phrases
together we get "Baby you're a 1 2 3
erwork 1 2, come on show 'em 1 2 3
you're worth 1 2. Now press pause and try
playing that two times on your own, then
press play when you're ready to learn
the next part.
Okay now you'll notice in this measure
we start off with that same pattern
starting on D and stepping down "Make 'em go
ah, rest, ah, rest, ah," So we repeat A on
"ah, rest, ah, rest, ah." Now for the next
part we have a quarter rest and then the
left hand is going to help out with this
D a step above middle C "As you shoot
across the sky, y, y," We have some more
repeated A's. Okay so watch it from make
'em go. "Make them go ah, ah, ah as you
shoot across the sky, y, y." Now press pause and
try that section on your own three times,
then press play when you're ready to go
on.
Now you might have noticed in this
measure that we have two different kinds
of rests. This first rest is called an
eighth rest and it only takes half of a
beat so it's a little bit faster. You
have "make them go ah, rest, ah," then this
next rest is a quarter rest which lasts
for one full beat, so we have "ah, rest, ah, rest,
ah," kind of a tricky rhythm, but if you
just kind of feel that beat, "ah, rest, ah, rest, ah,"
you'll get it. All right now let's
move on. In this next measure you'll see
that we have a half rest. This little
rectangle thing sitting on top of the
line gets two beats of rest. So you have
to count 1 2, and again, say it out loud
for now to get in the habit, otherwise
you'll come in too soon. You have 1 2
"Baby
you're a firework" just like the beginning, "Come on
let your colors
burst, make 'em go ah, rest, ah, rest, ah," now here
this time you have an eighth rest, then
the left hand plays three D's. "You're gonna," and
then "leave 'em all in awe," so left hand plays
"you're gonna" then right hand takes over
"leave 'em all in awe, rest, awe, rest, awe." and that's
where the chorus stops. So what I'd like
you to do is press pause and work on the
whole chorus. Try it a few times until
you're comfortable with it, then press
play when you're ready to play it along
with me, or if you'd like to hear me do
it.
Ok, here is the entire chorus of "Firework."
If you'd like you can play along with me
or just listen. I'll count 1 2 and
then we'll start. Here we go, 1 2,
1 2 3, 1 2, 1 2 3, 1 2,
rest,1 2, 2 3, 1 2, 2 3, 1 2, rest, rest, rest,
rest, rest, 1 2, rest, rest. Nice work today
learning "Firework." I hope you enjoyed it
and I look forward to seeing you next time.
ah
oooh!
ooo!