Hello and welcome back! I'm Joseph Hoffman
and today we're learning how to play "Deck the Halls". This video is my
preparatory level piano tutorial. If you try this and it seems too easy and you
want something harder, then please check out my Level Two "Deck the Halls" tutorial.
Ok, let's check out the sheet music to get started. Here's the sheet music for
"Deck the Halls" and I highly recommend that you print this out yourself. You can
download the sheet music right from the Hoffman Academy website. So, I just want
to kind of look this over with you to check out a few things. We're going to be
playing this lively and we're in 4/4 time signature, so 4 beats per measure.
And a few things to notice, we'll see this rhythm; a dotted quarter
note followed by an by a flagged eighth note and that rhythm pops up several
times if you learned the "Ode to Joy" lesson with me, you're familiar with that
rhythm BA-BA. So we have TA-TI-TA-TA. Try to say that with me. Go TA-TI-TA-TA. That dot
stretches out a note an extra fifty percent half of its original value and then this
eighth note goes a little bit quicker like a TI-TA-TI-TA-TA. Over here we see
the rhythm like this, TI-TI-TI-TI-TA-TI-TA-TA-TWO-OO. and that makes ♫Fa la la la la la la la la!♫
Okay, now, a few other things to notice we've got these staccato dots. If you
haven't learned that yet a dot over or under a note head means to play that
note a little bit detached like this 'la la la' instead of smoothly 'la la' that
would be not staccato but with those staccato dots
we'll play those with a quick-detach sound ♫la la la♫ Here's another symbol to
note. A repeat sign sends you back to play it again and so we'll go all the way
back to the start and play it one more time after we get to that repeat and
then the second time through we just keep going.
Let's find our hand position for "Deck the Halls". Our right hand begins with finger 1 on
this treble staff D. So go ahead and find that. Here's my middle C, so find just the
note a step above your middle C and later on in the song we're also going to
need an F-sharp so if you want to go ahead and get finger 3 ready on F-sharp
that will be the hand position for your right hand. Your left hand you can see
starts on middle C with finger 1. So go ahead and place your left hand here
right next door to your right hand and in a little bit you're going to need
this F-sharp played by finger 5 as well so but if you'd like to just hang out
here on F and then just shift when you need it that works as well. So with your
hands in this position you're ready to play. I'd like to challenge you to try to
learn the first four measures of "Deck the Halls"
on your own. Use your skills that you've learned about reading notes on the staff.
First maybe figure out the steps skips and repeats, maybe point and name the
letter names of each note. Use the sheet music which you've downloaded from our
website by now, press pause and see if you can figure out the first four
measures of this piece and then press play and we'll try it together.
Okay let's try it together now. I'll play once and then you copy. ♫Deck the halls
with boughs of holly♫. Now, you try.
Good! Then we're going to have the 'fa la la'
starting with finger 3 on A. ♫Fa la la la la la la la la!♫
now you try
Good! Then we see that repeat sign, so we do it again. My turn, ♫Tis the season to be
jolly fa la la la la la la la!♫
Now you try.
Good! Now the next two measures go
♫Don we now our gay apparel♫. Notice that we start on this A with the left
hand which is finger 3. Step up, step up, skip down, then step up, step up, step
up, and then skip back down to that A. ♫Don we now our gay apparel♫
now press pause and work on those two
measures on your own then press play to go on.
Good! Now let's look at these next
two measures. We have starting with the left hand on B, which is finger 2 we
have TI-TI-TA, so three notes stepping up ♫Fa la la♫ then three more notes stepping up again
with the F-sharp, don't forget the f-sharp. ♫la la la♫ so watch that together we
have ♫Fa la la la la la♫ Now you try, start with finger 2 on B. Go.
Good! Then after that we step back down to F-sharp, step
down to E, step down to D. Now you try.
Good, let's put all those 'Fa la la's' together. We have ♫Fa la la la la la la la la!♫ Now you try
Now let's put that together with 'Don we now'. We have ♫Don we now our gay
apparel, fa la la la la la la la la!♫ now press pause and work on
those four measures on your own then press play to go on
Good, now the next two measures are just like the first two measures of the song.
We have a D ♫Troll♫ then step down, step down, step down, step up, step up, skip down,
♫Troll the ancient yuletide carol,♫ Now you try
Good! Then we have an E in the treble staff which is finger 2 of the right
hand and it repeats four times. ♫Fa la la la♫ and then steps down, so you try that. ♫Fa la la la la♫ Your turn.
Good, and then after that it steps down to the left hand middle C ♫la la la la♫
steps all the way down to G with two staccatos on this B and A. ♫la la la la♫ Now you try.
Good, now let's put all that together we have ♫Fa la la la la la la la la!♫
now you try
Good! Now, press pause and try putting the whole song together from the beginning.
Don't forget the F-sharps, there's one F-sharp for the left hand ♫la la la♫ and
then we have these F-sharps in the right hand when we have ♫Fa la la la la la♫ Work on the whole song and
then press play when you're ready to try playing it with me.
Okay, let's try playing through the whole thing together. I'll play and if you want
to just listen you can or you can try playing it with me let's sing as we play
along. Okay, hands in position. I'll count 4 beats and then we'll
start. 1 2 3 4 ♫Deck the halls with boughs of holly, Fa la la la la la la la la!♫
♫'Tis the season to be jolly, Fa la la la la la la la la!♫
♫Don we now our gay apparel, Fa la la la la la la la la!♫
♫Troll the ancient yuletide carol, Fa la la la la la la la la!♫
nice work learning how to play "Deck the Halls".
Happy practicing and see you next time.
Hey chef, what does Saint Nick suffer from if he gets stuck in a chimney?
Uh, I don't know what? Santa Claustrophobia!
Okay what do Christmas elves learn in school. I don't know what? The Elfabet!
Aa! Hey, I'm not going to chase you, I just like to tell a joke too. Okay go
ahead. Who delivers presents to baby sharks at
Christmas? I don't know, who? Santa Jaws!
Good one shark! Thanks. So you're really not gonna chase me? No I'm gonna chase
you. What?! But since it's Christmas, I'll give you a three-second head start.
Aa! One, two, three, ♫chasing Scoobi is so fun, bite bite bite bite bite bite bite crunch bite!♫