Hello and welcome back I'm Joseph Hoffman,
and today we're going to learn how to play "Spinning Upside Down".
Let's take a look at the score to get started.
Here's the sheet music or score for "Spinning Upside Down".
Now tell me what you notice about this.
You might notice that the left-hand part is now playing
what the right hand used to play in "Spinning Song".
That's why it's called "Spinning Upside Down" is
it's kind of a song turned upside down,
where the melody now is down here in the bass clef part,
and the right hand is playing these whole notes which used to be in the left hand.
You'll recognize that we have our 4/4 time signature,
and can you tell me the letter name of the first note of the right hand?
If you said C or treble C you're correct.
Remember, that's one of our guide notes.
If you count three spaces up. One, two, three,
that will always get you to treble C.
If you're in the treble clef.
Now what's the first note of the bass clef?
If you said bass C you're correct.
It's also a guide note that you can find if you're in bass clef by counting three spaces down.
Kind of a the mirror image
of treble C. Here we have bass C.
Now, can you tell me the letter names of the
bass clef part for these first two measures?
Name each letter name for me, go:
If you said C D E F G F E D you're correct.
and then what do we have here?
Same pattern.
What about down here?
Same pattern.
Then what about here?
Not same pattern.
Can you tell me the letter names for these five notes? Try it on your own, go:
The correct answer is C G.
You know that because it's a fifth up or a double skip.
C to G or DO to SO,
then down a fourth to D,
up a step to E,
down a third to C.
In solfège that's: DO SO RE MI DO
Sing it with me, go:
DO SO RE MI DO
Now, what about the right-hand part? Can you tell me the letter names of these two notes?
If you said C and G you're correct,
and what about these two?
Same pattern: C G
CG
And what about here?
C G C we're just playing C's and G's the whole time.
Okay, let's practice tapping the rhythm
of "Spinning Upside Down",
and for an extra challenge, we're going to go straight to hands together.
We're not going to do left hand first, then right hand first.
I think you guys can handle this.
So, remember your left hand taps the bass clef part,
and your right hand taps the treble clef part. So the first measure will be:
1 2 3 4, and then, 1 2 3 4
On beat 1 you'll notice that we're tapping together, and then the right hand holds
that note while the left hand taps the quarter notes.
Let's try it. Tap with me both hands. You can do this on your lap,
or on I've got my piano lid closed.
If you piano lid doesn't close, just do it on your lap or a table. Any flat surface will do.
Get ready to count the beat out loud and tap with me.
Ready, go: 1 2 3 4
1 2 3 4
Great!
Now, if those last two measures didn't go perfectly, let's try them one more time. Remember,
In the penultimate measure, the right hand has 1 2 3 4, while the left hand goes 1 2 3 4.
Now, hands together you'd have: 1 2 3 4
Can you try that measure with me? Ready, go: 1 2 3 4
Good, now let's try all of line two one more time. See if you can nail it.
Ready, go: 1 2 3 4
1 2 3 4
Nice job!
Now, we've looked at every note
in the right-hand part, the left-hand part, we've practiced the rhythm. Usually now
I would show you how to play this and maybe demonstrate for you and you would take a turn,
but you know so much about reading notes now
that I'm going to challenge you to try playing this entire song on your own without my help first.
Give it your very best shot.
Try the left hand alone,
try the right hand alone.
Remember to count the beat,
and then go ahead and try it hands together.
and then after you've tried that and practiced it on your own, go ahead and take
five or ten minutes if you need it,
and then press play, and I will play it for you so you can check and see how you did.
Happy practicing, and I'll see you in a few minutes.
How did your practicing go?
Hopefully it went super.
Now, I'm going to play it for you just so you can double-check what you played.
Make sure it sounds correct.
You're welcome to play along with me or you can just listen.
I've got my right hand finger 1 on treble C. Here's my middle C. So I've come one octave up,
and my left hand's down on bass C.
I'll count 4 beats to get started.
1 2 3 4
Now, hopefully that sounded like what you came up with on your own.
I want you to develop the skill of becoming independent, where
you don't necessarily need me to show you the notes.
of course eventually we hope you won't need a teacher at all.
That you'll just be able to look at music yourself,
and figure out the notes, figure out the rhythms, figure out everything you need to know to make the music.
Now, if there are a few things you noticed that you need to fix,
feel free to press pause or rewind, and go back and fix those things.
Because this song may be a little bit easier than some of the other ones we've learned,
well that's on purpose and that shows you how far you've come,
and that makes this song a good chance to try challenging yourself in certain ways.
For example, as you practice it, I challenge you to use a metronome.
You can buy a metronome like this of course, or use a metronome app.
I've got my metronome to 108, which I think would be a good target speed for this song.
When you're practicing with the metronome, it's very important to find a
speed that you're comfortable with.
If you're making mistakes a lot,
your speed is too fast.
So find a speed that's comfortable for you, and then gradually speed it up.
On this song I wouldn't go past 120
beats per minute, or it's going to start to sound not like a spinning song, but like a racing out-of-control song.
Now, this is also a great song to practice your counting out loud: 1 2 3 4
Also, a very good song to make sure that your piano posture is just perfect.
When you play with your finger 5, make sure you're not collapsing and playing flat,
but up on the pinkie tip,
and that in each hand the fingers have a wonderful, curved shape.
No hula finger,
but with a nice, rounded
tip all the way down.
Last of all, this is a great piece to challenge yourself by transposing.
Like, we could go to C minor.
Wow, that really changes the sound, huh? Or any of the other pentascales and keys that we've learned.
Nice work learning how to play "Spinning Upside Down".
Happy practicing, and see you next time.
Now I'm getting dizzy.