Hello, and welcome back. I'm Joseph Hoffman.
Today we're learning how to play probably the trickiest song we've learned so far,
but I also think it's the most fun and exciting too.
It's called "Dinah".
First let me play and sing it for you so you know how it goes.
You've probably already heard this song on your listening CD,
and if you have and are familiar with it you can sing along as I play.
[Playing piano]
No one in the house but Dinah, Dinah
no one in the house but me I know.
No one in the house but Dinah, Dinah
playin' on the old banjo.
Now there is more to this song, but we'll learn that next time in our next lesson.
"Dinah" is an old American folk song that they maybe would just sing for fun
around a campfire or at a party.
Now "Dinah" has some new rhythms that we haven't seen before,
so to learn about these rhythms let's come over to the heartbeat mat.
Alright, here's our heartbeat mat.
I'd like you to touch each beat with me as we sing "Dinah" together.
Ready, touch it with me, go.
No one in the house but Dinah, Dinah
no one in the house but me I know.
Good. Now this time let's sing it like a chicken
and a chicken will say
and I want you to notice if there are any beats that have more than two sounds.
Ready go.
[Singing rhythms]
Good. Now, which beats did you notice had more than two sounds in it?
If you're pointing here or here, you're correct.
Listen to this beat again.
That's the beat where we have no one in the.
How many sounds was that?
Four fast sounds.
When you have four fast sounds in one beat, we draw it like this.
And we call it four 16th notes.
Every one of these note heads makes a sound and they're connected with two beams.
Remember with eighth notes, we have two note heads
connected with a single beam.
But when we add an extra beam it goes twice as fast as TI-TI or eighth notes.
So we'll call these 16th notes, and they'll make a sound like this.
TIKI-TIKI TIKI-TIKI TIKI-TIKI.
No one in the.
When we sing "Dinah", we had four fast notes right here in one beat.
Do you remember any other beats where we had four 16th notes?
If you said right here, you're correct.
We'll also place one right here.
Okay, now let's figure out the rhythm for the rest of "Dinah".
Listen one more time and see if you can tell how many sounds
were in these other beats.
[Singing rhythms]
How many sounds did you hear in these three beats?
If you said two sounds, you're correct.
So we'll need two eighth notes
here, here and here.
Now let's try to say this row of rhythm using rhythm words.
So we'll say TIKI-TIKI for the 16th notes, and we'll say TI-TI for the two eighth notes.
Try to say it with me and point to the beats. Go.
TIKI-TIKI TI-TI TI-TI TI-TI.
Good, let's figure out this next row.
[Speaking rhythms]
Did you hear any beats with just one sound?
Point to the beat that had one sound.
If you're pointing here, you're correct.
[Singing rhythms]
Only one sound will need a quarter note there
and a quarter note makes a sound like this: TA.
Now how many sounds did you hear in these two beats?
If you said two sounds, or TI-TI, you're correct.
Now let's try to say this row using rhythm words.
Ready go.
TIKI-TIKI TI-TI TI-TI TA.
Now I'll do the whole thing once by myself, and then I'd like you to try it by yourself.
My turn first.
TIKI-TIKI TI-TI TI-TI TI-TI.
TIKI-TIKI TI-TI TI-TI TA.
Now your turn, point to the beats and say or sing the rhythm words.
Ready go.
Good. Okay I'm going to sing the start of "Dinah",
and I'd like you to listen and tell me if the notes are moving up,
moving down, or repeating.
Ready to listen?
What did you notice?
If you said the notes are repeating, you're correct.
They weren't going up or down, they were just staying on the same note,
and that note is G.
Let's try to draw that on the staff and see what it looks like.
Okay here we've got our treble clef,
and remember the nickname for the treble clef is the G clef,
because this swirls around the G line.
Since this song starts on G, we're going to use the treble clef
to help us find our first note which is right here.
So the song goes like this.
No one in the house.
Now I'll sing the next note of the song, and tell me if you hear
the note repeating again or going up or going down.
No one in the house but.
What did you hear?
If you said the note moving up, you're correct.
And instead of a step up, it actually skips up here.
If we put the note here it would be a RE, but since we skipped RE we're on MI.
So now we have DO DO DO DO DO MI.
Now I'll sing the next part of the song and see if you can tell me in solfege what you
hear.
What did you hear?
If you said SO MI SO MI, you are correct.
Now you'll notice that all of these notes are line notes
because they are all skipping.
RE is in the space right here, and FA is in the space right here,
but we don't need RE or FA in this part of the song.
We're going to skip right over them like this.
DO DO DO DO DO MI SO MI SO MI.
Now will you try that by yourself?
Point and sing the solfege. Ready go.
Good, now let's practice moving our fingers for that pattern.
Let's practice the fingers.
We're going to start with finger one for DO
and then remember we're going to skip up to MI and skip up to SO.
My turn first.
DO DO DO DO DO MI.
Your turn.
Good, now let's try it with the real words like this.
No one in the house but.
Your turn.
It's very helpful to say or sing the words as you do this
so you'll know when to go up to the next finger.
You're going to keep repeating until you say the word but,
and that's when you skip up.
No one in the house but.
Now let's try the next part.
Where we're going to go up to Dinah,
where we go up to SO and then it skips down to MI.
Like this. SO MI SO MI.
Your turn.
Good. Now let's put those two patterns together like this.
DO DO DO DO DO MI SO MI SO MI.
Your turn.
Good. Now let's try it with the regular words of the song like this.
No one in the house but Dinah, Dinah.
Now your turn.
Good. Now let's go back to the staff to learn the next part of the song.
Okay the next part goes no one in the house but just like we had a moment ago.
So those notes all stay the same.
But then we have me I know.
Which is RE RE and then what note does that ending note sound like?
If you said DO, you're correct.
It steps down to DO.
This part of the song will sound like this.
DO DO DO DO DO MI RE RE DO.
Can you point and sing by yourself?
Ready go.
Good. Now let's try to say if the notes are stepping, repeating or skipping
like this. My turn first.
Start, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat,
skip up, step down, repeat, step down.
Now your turn. Try it.
Good. Now let's try moving our fingers to that pattern.
Okay now we're going to start off the same way as before
with the repeats on DO and then a skip up to MI like this.
DO DO DO DO DO MI.
Your turn.
Now this time we're going to step down to RE, repeat RE, and then step down to DO.
RE RE DO.
Your turn.
Good, now let's put those two together like this.
DO DO DO DO DO MI RE RE DO.
Your turn.
Good, now with the regular words.
No one in the house but me I know.
Your turn.
Good. Let's go back to the staff to learn the next part of the song.
Okay the next part of "Dinah" is just like the first phrase.
No one in the house but Dinah, Dinah.
We've already learned how to do this part, so let's go on to the final,
or fourth phrase.
This part sounds like this.
Playin' on the old banjo.
And this time instead of repeating notes on G,
we're going to be repeating a step higher.
Now this note is G, what would we call the note here on the
space a step above the G line?
Notice now they're space notes.
What letter would we call this?
If you said A, you're correct.
The note a step above G is A.
So now we have four repeating A's which in the G major pentascale is RE.
So we'll go RE RE RE RE
and then listen to the last three notes and tell me how the notes are moving.
How are those notes moving?
If you said stepping down, you're correct.
What would the solfa be?
If you said MI RE DO, you're correct.
What other song that we've learned uses that same pattern?
MI RE DO.
If you said "Hot Cross Buns", you're correct.
It's so cool to find the same patterns in different songs in music.
You'll find that same pattern possibly in other songs too.
Now let's go back to the staff.
Okay now let's point and say how these notes are moving.
My turn first.
Start, repeat, repeat, repeat, step up, step down, step down.
Now your turn.
Point and say how the notes are moving. Say start for the first note.
Good. Now let's try it in solfege.
RE RE RE RE MI RE DO.
Now your turn. Go.
Good, now let's try moving our fingers to that pattern.
Okay starting with finger two on RE.
My turn first.
RE RE RE RE MI RE DO.
Your turn.
Good now let's try it with the regular words.
Playin' on the old banjo.
Your turn.
The trick to that one is remembering to step up when you say the word old.
You're going to repeat playin' on the, and then on the word old that's when you step
up.
Playin' on the old banjo.
Your turn one more time.
Good. Now we're ready to try it on the piano.
Let's put your right hand in the G major pentascale near the middle of your piano.
So finger one will be on G, and that will be our DO for this position.
Now I'll play a pattern and then you try to play it back on your piano.
DO DO DO DO DO MI.
Now your turn.
Good. Next pattern.
SO MI SO MI.
Your turn.
Good, now let's put that together with words.
No one in the house but Dinah, Dinah.
Now your turn.
Good, now my turn again.
DO DO DO DO DO MI.
Your turn.
Good. RE RE DO.
Your turn.
Good, now let's put that together with words.
No one in the house but me I know.
Your turn.
Good, now let's do the next pattern which is the same as the first.
No one in the house but Dinah, Dinah.
Your turn.
Alright, the next pattern goes RE RE RE RE. Four RE's.
Your turn.
And then it does MI RE DO.
Your turn.
Good, now let's put those two together with the lyrics.
Playin' on the old banjo.
Your turn.
Now I'd like you to press pause and practice all of those
patterns together on your own,
and then when you're ready press play and you can try the whole thing with me.
If you'd like to look at the music while you practice,
you can download the music and materials from our website.
Let's try to play "Dinah" together now that you've practiced.
I'm going to play a little bit of introduction, and I'll say go when it's time to start playing.
Okay so get your right hand or left hand in the G major pentascale,
and you'll play the melody while I play some accompaniment.
Here we go, so don't start until I say go.
Ready go.
[Playing Dinah]
Good job.
Now I know it probably wasn't perfect the first time,
but with lots of practice and repetition you'll be able to keep up with me.
One other thing I wanted to share is a tip for playing those fast 16th notes.
It's important that when you play fast notes that you don't get tense
or tight in your wrist or arms.
You want to stay loose and relaxed.
Make sure your shoulders stay relaxed
and make sure your wrist and fingers are staying relaxed.
You'll want to do a quick little bounce like this when you do those fast repeated notes.
Notice how I'm not really moving my finger so much as just bouncing my hand,
and the bouncing motion of my wrist makes the note play by itself.
Practice "Dinah" really hard every day.
Play through it lots of times until you are very confident,
making sure you have good piano posture and a relaxed bouncy wrist.
Then in our next lesson we'll learn the second part or the B section of "Dinah".
Thanks for watching, and I'll see you next time.