Hello, and welcome back. I'm Joseph Hoffman.
Today we're going to learn how to dictate on the grand staff.
We're going to do a familiar song: "Frog in the Middle".
Let's pretend for a moment that you have a friend in another city.
And rather than call this friend on the phone to sing "Frog in the Middle",
you want to write the notes down and send it in a letter the old fashioned way.
You need to know how to write the notes down
so you can share this song with a friend.
That's when we need the grand staff.
Let's take a look at the grand staff and see if you remember some things about it.
Can you point to the treble clef?
If you're pointing to this, you are correct.
The treble clef is where we draw the high notes.
Now point to the bass clef.
If you're pointing here, you are correct.
It's for the lower notes. Usually our left hand plays the notes in the bass clef
and our right hand will play the notes in the treble clef.
When you play "Frog in the Middle", can you remember the note that it starts on?
If you said G, or SO, you are correct.
Usually when we play "Frog in the Middle",
we use our pinky, or finger five, on G or SO.
Now, let's go down to the staff and see if we can find where to put G.
Do you remember which line is the treble G line?
If you're pointing to this line, you are correct.
This line is treble G because it goes right through the swirly part of the treble clef.
"Frog in the Middle" starts on G so I'm going to put a note right there.
Now, it doesn't have just one G but three G's.
[Singing]
That's the first three notes of "Frog in the Middle".
Now, do you remember what comes next in "Frog in the Middle"?
It goes G, G, G, and then it skips down to an E.
And the solfa pattern for that is SO, SO, SO, MI, MI.
Can you point to the notes on your screen and sing that with me?
SO, SO, SO, MI, MI.
We just drew the beginning of "Frog in the Middle".
Now, let's try and draw the next part.
So far we have Frog in the Middle. What comes next?
That's right, another SO. SO, SO, SO, MI.
That makes frog in the sea.
Let's try singing the whole thing. Point with me and sing the SO MI DO words.
SO SO SO MI MI. SO SO SO MI.
Now let's sing the regular words. Try it with me.
Frog in the Middle, frog in the sea.
Now I'm going to clear these off and let's try the rest of the song.
Now we need frog in the middle.
The same pattern we had before would do frog in the middle.
Then we need can't catch me!
This note skips all the way down to C, or DO.
Now we're going to need a ledger line because the notes will go off the staff.
So this ledger line will help us find middle C
which is the note that "Frog in the Middle" ends on.
And we're going to need three of them.
So we'll need three ledger lines with three notes.
Now point with me and sing the end of "Frog in the Middle".
SO SO SO MI MI, DO DO DO.
Let's try the real words. Frog in the middle, can't catch me!
If you go to our website you can download an activity sheet
where you get to draw the notes to "Frog in the Middle" yourself.
Thanks for coming, and I hope to see you again next time.