Hello and welcome. I'm Joseph Hoffman, and
today we're going to be learning about
some piano basics, and by the end of this
lesson, you'll be playing your first song
on the piano. So let's come to the piano
to get started.
One nice thing about the piano is how
visually the keys are organized. These
things you push are called the keys, and they
come in just two simple colors, black and
white, and the further you go to the left
the lower the sound they make.
So this is the low area of the piano, but
if we come up to the right we get the
high notes. Now let's experiment with
your own piano. I want you to try this
along with me. Find any key in the high
area of your piano and play each key one
at a time moving to the right,
black and white keys, and listen to the
sound getting higher and higher until
you get to the very highest key of your
piano.
Did you make it to the highest key on
your piano?
You're always welcome, of course, to pause
the video if you need extra time to try
something. Now let's go back down to the
low area of your piano
and this time find a low key, any key, and play
each one moving down to the left, one key
at a time, and listen to how the sound
gets lower and lower,
until you get to the very bottom note, the
bottom key of your piano.
Good, now let's take a look at the
patterns of the black keys. Can you tell
me about how the black keys are grouped
together?
You probably noticed that there are
groups of two and three.
Let's say how many are in each group
that I point to. Can you say it with me? Two, three, two, three,
two, three, good, now let's try the pattern going
down. We have two, three, two, three, two, haha the pattern
changes here.
This really should be a group of three
but way back when they invented the
piano they decide to make this the
lowest note, so this black key has to be
all by itself.
Sorry little black key. Now that you know
where the high notes and the low notes
are, and about the groups of two and
three black keys, you're ready to learn
your first song, "Hot Cross Buns." This song
comes from hundreds of years ago in
England, back when kids used to have to
help their families earn enough money to
live, the kids might go around town
selling bread. A hot cross bun is a
special kind of roll that would have a
cross shape on it, and you know how these
days when an ice cream truck comes and
you can hear the sound of the truck
coming? You know it's time to go buy some
ice cream.
Well, back hundreds of years ago in
England the kids would sing this song,
"Hot Cross Buns," around the streets, people
would hear it, and that's how they would
know it was time to buy some hot fresh
bread.
Here's the song, "Hot Cross Buns."
Hot cross buns,
One a penny,
Two a penny,
Hot cross buns!
Now this time can you sing "Hot Cross
Buns" along with me? I know you might be
thinking, whoa wait a minute, I thought
this was a piano lesson, and now you're
asking me to sing? Well, remember that
singing is one of the very best ways to
develop the musical areas of your brain.
You actually become a better pianist
faster if you'll sing each song before
you learn to play it, so we're going to
sing "Hot Cross Buns" together, and here
are some hand signs to go along with it.
If you were to touch some bread right
out of the oven
you might go like this, hot, and then on
the word "cross" we're going to make a
cross shape, and then "buns" are going to
make the shape of the bread. Here we go.
Can you try the hand signs with me and
sing along?
Ready, go. Hot cross buns, hot cross buns,
one a penny, two a penny, hot cross buns.
Good job, now
one reason for these hand signs is
because it shows you when the notes of
the melody are high, middle, or low. This
song is made up of three notes in solfège
which is a kind of special musical
language.
This one is called MI. This note is
called RE. This note is called DO and
they're all a step apart from each other.
Bah Bah Bah. Let's sing 'Hot Cross Buns"
one more time and this time in solfège.
Can you sing along with me?
Ready, go. MI RE DO MI RE DO
DO DO DO DO
RE RE RE RE
MI RE DO. Good job. Now as we were doing that
did you notice any patterns? Did you
notice the place where we did the same
note over and over again? That's called a
repeating note and it happened on DO DO
DO DO
The DO repeats four times in a row. Then we get
another repeating note on RE RE RE RE, also
four times, but then did we have a
repeating note on MI?
Nope, after that it goes back to our
stepping down pattern, MI RE DO. Now
let's practice moving our fingers to
these patterns so we can get ready to
play it on the piano. Please hold up your
right hand and get ready to copy what I
do. For "Hot Cross Buns," since we have
three notes
we're going to need just these three
fingers. This finger will play MI then
we're going to step down to RE and then
step down to DO.
Let's practice. I'll show you first and
then you try next. MI RE
DO. Now you try. Good, when you take a
turn remember to move your fingers and
sing too. My turn again. MI RE
DO. Now you try and sing. And now here
come the repeated notes.
DO DO DO DO, now your turn. Then it steps up
to RE and repeats. RE RE RE RE. Your turn. Now my
turn again. We do one more stepping down,
MI RE DO.
Your turn. Great work. When you play
the piano you want your fingers to feel
relaxed and comfortable. We'll talk more
about piano posture and the shape of
your hands soon in another lesson, but
for now just make sure instead of using
flat fingers, that your fingers have a
natural, relaxed, curved shape. For "Hot
Cross Buns" we're going to use a group of
three black keys. This black key furthest
to the right is MI, this middle one is
RE, and this lowest one is DO. Put
that together and you can hear it makes
"Hot Cross Buns."
Now instead of playing with one finger
like this we're going to do a more
advanced way of three different fingers
for those three notes, so go ahead and
get in position on those three black
keys. I'll play a pattern, you listen, and
then you try next.
My turn first. We're going to start with
finger, this ring finger, on MI. My turn. MI
RE DO. Now you try. Sing and play. Good.
My turn again. MI RE DO.
Now your turn.
Good. Now we do the repeating note.
DO DO DO DO. Your turn.
Good. Then it steps up to RE RE RE RE.
Your turn.
Good, and then we finish with MI RE DO.
Now your turn
Great job. Now if you like you can press
pause and practice the whole song a few
times on your own, or if you feel ready
we're now going to try and play the
whole song together. Make sure your hand
is in position and now don't get
distracted by what I'm playing. I'm doing
this kind of jazzy accompaniment, but your
job is to simply play and sing "Hot Cross
Buns" just like we practiced. We'll go nice
and steady.
First I'll play an introduction. Wait for
me to say go and then begin with "Hot
Cross Buns."
I'll sing along to to help. Here goes.
Wait for it.
One two, ready, go.
Hot cross buns, hot cross buns,
one a penny, two a penny, hot cross buns.
Great job. If you didn't play perfectly
that's no problem. You can just rewind
and practice it again, or press pause and
practice by yourself a few times, then
try it again with me. Now let me show you
a few more fun ways you can try "Hot
Cross Buns" for practice. You could try it
way up high on your piano, baby style.
Hot cross buns. Or you could do it way down low on
your piano. When you go low I recommend
using your left hand since it will be a
lot more comfortable playing that in the
low range. So this would be, let's say,
grandpa style. Hot cross buns, hot cross buns. When
you practice on your own
be sure you're trying it in both your
right hand and your left hand. Pianists
need to become comfortable using both of
your hands, in fact for an extra super
challenge, you can actually try playing
it with both hands at the same time,
like that, but that's pretty tricky so
maybe don't try that for a few days or
so. First you want to get really solid
with the right-hand and left-hand alone,
then try that challenge when your ready.
Now let's talk about where you go from
here.
In fact, if you're a kid watching on your
own, pause the video go and grab your mom
or dad and bring them over.
Ok, don't actually grab them, just kind of
gently but firmly guide them over to
this screen for this important message.
For kids, teens, adults, anyone who is
learning with me, I created Hoffman
Academy to make it so anyone who wants
to can learn to play piano. If you work
hard and practice every day there is no
limit to how awesome you can become at
the piano. I really believe that the only
thing standing in between you and your
piano awesomeness is practice. Daily
consistent practice. So please, decide
now that you are going to practice every
day no matter how busy,
no matter how tired. For right now don't
worry about how long you practice, just
get in the habit of doing it every day,
even if you only have a few minutes. If
you do I promise you you're going to see
your skills improve, and the more your
skills improve the more fun
you're going to have with this. I hope
you enjoyed learning "Hot Cross Buns" with
me today.
Remember to practice every day and
remember to take turns using both of
your hands.
By the way, if you watch all the way to
the very end, most lessons have a little
surprise after the credits. I look
forward to seeing you at our next lesson.
Thanks for watching and happy practicing.
Um, hello Mr. One Black Key Down At The
Bottom of the Piano all by Yourself, I
thought you might be kind of lonely down
here so I brought you some hot cross
buns fresh out of the oven.
Here you go. Enjoy.
Call me if you need anything.