- Hi, and welcome to this last lesson of series one.
So, well done with everything you've achieved so far.
We're well on our way now with the kind of basics of
learning to play the piano or the keyboard.
And in series two, we'll be stepping forwards
to do all sorts of more exciting things,
including being able to play
with your hands together at the same time.
But in series one, we're really concentrating
on getting five notes in the right hand
that we can play,
five notes in the left hand that we can play,
and we're really thinking about
whether we can read those notes,
those pitches on the music,
and also seeing if we can be very happy
about how we deal with the rhythm,
how we deal with the counting of the music
because the pitch and the rhythm
are absolutely essential things
for any musician to understand.
Well, in this lesson we're going back to the bass clef.
Here's the bass clef remember,
that sort of curly thing with the two dots
either side of the fourth line up.
And so far in the bass clef we have come across
the note C,
middle C,
and we've learnt the note that's one below the middle C,
which is B,
we've discovered the note that's one below B,
so that's sitting on the top line of the bass clef stave.
And that's A,
and we've also covered this note,
which is in the top space inside the bass clef stave.
And we've discovered that, that note is called G.
So, there's C,
remember middle C is always on a line of its own
in the treble clef is a line of its own
underneath the stave,
and in the bass clef,
it's a line of its own on top of the stave.
We're coming down line, space, line, space.
Which means the next note must be on a line.
So, here it is.
And I wonder if you can work out what it's called
because if this is C, and then one note lower is B,
and one note lower than that is A,
that's kind of taking us back to the
beginning of the alphabet isn't it?
But remember what we're doing,
we're going A, B, C, D, E, F, G,
A, B, C, D, E, F, G,
and carrying on like that.
When we're coming down we're going
G, F, E, D, C, B, A.
Then, G, F, E, D, C, B, A, which is what we're doing here.
C, B, A, so we've gone back to G for that one.
So what's one before G, in the alphabet?
Of course, it's F,
and this is the note that we're going
to be thinking most about today.
There's our new note F, and you'll notice it's on the
fourth line on the bass clef stave.
Now, let's have a look at this
fourth line on the bass clef stave
because we've learnt that this sign means bass clef.
But the bass clef is also called the F clef.
And the reason for that is these two dots,
which remember we said must be placed
either side of the fourth line up,
the reason that they must be placed either
side of the fourth line up,
is because this fourth line is F,
you see our new note F, is on the fourth line
bang in between those two dots.
So the bass clef shows us
where the note F comes either side of those dots.
Which is why it's sometimes known as the bass clef,
but it's sometimes known as the F clef.
So you remember in the last lesson,
we were learning about the treble clef
also being known as the G clef.
Because it's wrapped around the G line
which is the second line up on the treble clef stave.
And the bass clef today we're learning
is also called the F clef
because the two dots are either side of the F line,
the fourth line up, on the stave.
So again, if you forget where the notes are
in the bass clef,
you can always just go straight to the clef,
and think well at least I know this,
I know that F is either side of those two dots.
So if this note's F,
you can quickly think well one up from there must be G,
one up from there must be A,
and you're soon back on course
with finding your notes in the bass clef.
Okay, well, lets have a look at today's tune.
And we can see we've got a few of the new notes F.
There's F right at the beginning,
the first note of the tune is F,
and then we've got another couple of F's
right at the end of the tune
and all the other notes should be fairly familiar to us.
But let's have a look through and see if we can read
the names of the notes, read the pitch of the music.
So we're starting with our new note F,
remember look there's F just between
the two dots of the bass clef.
Then we're going to skip up to the next line.
So, if we're skipping up,
we must be missing out the note that's in between,
so if this F the note in between must be G,
it's that note isn't it,
and we're skipping up to the next line.
So we're going from F up to A.
Having got to A, we're going to do another skip
to the next line because A is on the top line of the stave,
but this note is on an extra line,
well we probably know by now,
that this note is middle C,
but just in case you forget about that
if you know that you've skipped up from F to A,
then you must be skipping up from A to C
because we're missing out B, in between.
Having got to C, we're going down a step to B,
then we're coming up a step again to C.
Then we're going to skip down from that extra line
to the top line of the bass clef stave.
So we're going C, B would be the space in between,
so this note must be A,
and we can always check it here,
there it is, it's A.
And remember, if you can refer back to things that happened
earlier in the tune, it sometimes helps later on.
Here we went from A to C,
at this point we're going from C, back to A again.
So it's the same pair of notes,
that ones skipping up, this one's skipping down.
Having played this A, you can immediately see
that we're going to repeat the same note,
we're going to play A again.
And then, another skip,
and it's the same one we've made before look.
We're skipping up from A to C,
A to C,
C to A,
A to C.
From C, we're taking a step down to B,
a step up to C, then we're going to skip down to A,
see that line, to the top line of the stave.
Then we're going by step, down one to G,
and by step, down one to F,
and then we're going to repeat F to finish.
So that deals with the pitch.
Now, let's see if we can get
the left hand moving on the keys of the piano,
so we get used to dealing with this note F.
You remember when we we're talking
in the last lesson about the right hand,
we said that sometimes it's a little bit difficult
to get the fifth finger doing what you want it to do.
Especially if you're right handed,
you may find that it's a little bit more awkward
to get the little finger moving in the left hand.
So don't worry if you have a few problems at first
just getting this fifth finger, this little finger, moving.
So you might want to find the note F,
which is there isn't it,
and just put your fifth finger on the F,
and just get used to playing the note F
with your fifth finger,
and when you get used to playing it,
just check that your fifth finger is still nicely curved.
And that you're playing this note F, on your fingertip.
So we're not playing with a flat finger,
we've still got that nice curve shape.
And then you might want to go up to C,
and play your way down to F.
So a thumb on C,
a second finger on B,
a third finger on A,
a fourth finger on G,
and a fifth finger on F.
Okay, so just to put that fingering in,
we've got one, two, three, four, five.
And just as we did in the right hand in the last lesson,
you might just want to practise going up and down
those five notes in the left hand,
just to get used to controlling all those fingers,
especially that finger five.
So C,
B,
A,
G,
F.
Then come up again from F,
F,
G,
A,
B,
C.
And just as we practised with the five fingers
in the right hand in the last lesson,
when you're completely happy about that,
see if you can get a lovely even sound
across all five notes,
so you haven't got one note sticking out
or maybe another note that doesn't sound very loudly
because its just much quieter than the other notes.
Then, see if you can give us five loud notes,
maybe followed by five quiet notes.
Remember, if we're producing loud notes,
we're not pressing hard on the keys,
we're just getting the keys down quickly.
Maybe you can come up quietly,
putting the keys down a bit slower.
So we get used to those five notes being of an even sound.
That's something you could practise over and over again.
And you'll find the more you practise it,
the more control that you can get, over those five notes.
Okay, now then,
let's have a little look at the rhythm of today's tune
and you can see we're back with three beats in a bar,
and we've got a mixture of notes haven't we,
we've got crotchets taking up one beat.
We've got minims, taking up two beats.
And we've got dotted minims taking up three beats.
Let's see if we can clap the rhythm of this piece.
I'll count three.
One, two, three.
One, two, three,
one, two, three,
So, by all means rewind
and go over any of the work we've done on the pitch,
and any of the work we've done on the rhythm,
and keep going with that little five finger exercise
to get control over all of your fingers,
and to get the sound
beautifully even across all five fingers.
And then when you're ready to put the pitch
and the rhythm together,
let's see if we can play the whole tune.
So, get your left hand nicely in position,
just think about how your hand is placed on the keys.
And then when you're comfortable,
we're going to try playing the whole piece.
I'll count three for nothing.
One, two, three.
One, two, three,
one, two, three,
one, two, three.
And, let's see if we can put some expression in.
We've got our two phrases, our two musical sentences,
And this time, I'm going to have the first phrase piano.
p for piano.
Which remember, means play it quietly.
And the second phrase,
we're going to have f, for forte,
so we're going to play the second phrase, loudly.
And there's a special word by the way
for the loud and the quiet which I'll just mention,
and its this word, dynamics.
Whenever anybody talks to you about the volume of a piece,
how loud or how quiet the piece is,
they're talking to you about dynamics.
Let's see if we can play our tune with the dynamics.
Okay, so here we go, three for nothing.
One, two, three.
One, two, three,
one, two, three,
one, two, now it's loud,
one, two, three,
one, two, three.
Very effective, isn't it,
starting the piece quietly
and then having that stronger finish.
Okay, I think it's time to play today's duet.
So, all set then for the first note,
that F on the fifth finger, in the left hand.
And I'm going to count three for nothing.
Remember to start quietly and finish loudly.
One, two, three.
One, two, three,
one, two, three,
one, two, three.
The other thing that we learnt in the last lesson
was this little thing called the tie.
And I want to show you how
we could use a tie in this piece.
Remember we said, that if you have a tie,
you have to tie together two notes
that are next door to each other at exactly the same pitch.
So we can't tie an F to a G, or an A to a B.
But we could tie a G to a G, or a C to a C.
I wonder if you can see anywhere in this piece,
where we've got two notes,
next door to each other at exactly the same pitch.
Well, how about here, we've got an A in this bar,
and an A in this bar, so we could tie them together.
Now you might be thinking, hang on,
this tie here looks a bit like this phrase mark,
well that's a little bit true,
the phrase mark is a big arch
over the whole musical sentence.
But the tie is just a small arch,
between two notes, next door to each other.
So you can see that this is a phrase mark,
and this is a tie.
And there's one more place where we could actually
put in a tie if we wanted to,
and of course it's right here at the end
where we could actually tie together the last two notes.
Now, let's have a think about the maths there
because we've tied together two dotted minims here
and the same thing here, two dotted minims.
So that means if I've got three beats on one dotted minim,
and three beats on the next,
this note is going to make a total of six beats.
So you can see how by using ties,
you can sometimes create some very long notes actually.
So, let's see if we can give a final performance
of today's piece.
We're going to include the dynamics,
and we're going to slip in these two ties.
So you have to remember not to repeat this note,
and not to repeat this note
because this one's tied to this one,
and this one's tied to that one.
Okay so, I'll just give you a moment to put
your hand in position so we're all set
for a performance of the piece.
Here we go.
One, two, three.
Well, I hope you've enjoyed playing that piece
and I hope you've enjoyed the whole of series one.
It would be a really good idea to go over the whole series
until you're absolutely sure about everything we've learnt,
and then you'll be in the best possible place
to get the most out of series two
which we can move onto next.
Good luck with everything we've done so far,
and we look forward to seeing you soon.