Hello, and welcome back. I'm Joseph Hoffman.
Today we're going to learn "Dinah",
Possibly the most challenging song we've learned so far.
First we're going to sing it.
If you can tap the beat with me, let's do a tap, cross, tap, cross.
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
Playing on the old banjo.
If you've been listening to your listening CD, which you can download
from our website, you are probably already familiar with that song.
If you just heard that for the first time though, you can go back, listen to it again,
and try singing along with me.
Now this song has a new rhythm in it, and it's faster than TI-TI.
So fast you can fit four sounds in one beat.
Let's figure out the rhythm to "Dinah" together at the heartbeat mat.
Here is our heartbeat mat.
Let's sing "Dinah" one more time, just the start of it,
and if you can touch the beats with me, that would be great.
Here we go. No one in the house but Dinah, Dinah,
No one in the house but me I know.
Now one more time, and this time I'm just going to sing it on
so we can hear the rhythm of it and see if you can notice if there is a beat
with more than two sounds in it.
Here we go.
[Speaking rhythms]
Did you notice a beat that had four fast sounds in it?
Point to the beat, or beats, that had four fast sounds.
If you're pointing to this beat, you are correct.
When we have four fast sounds that all fit in one beat,
we call that four sixteenth notes, or TIKI-TIKI.
Let's practice saying four sixteenth notes.
It makes a sound like this.
TIKI-TIKI TIKI-TIKI TIKI-TIKI TIKI-TIKI.
Can you try saying that with me?
Here we go. TIKI-TIKI TIKI-TIKI TIKI-TIKI TIKI-TIKI.
Great job. This beat had four sixteenth notes in it.
Now, let's see if you can find where the other group of four sixteenth notes is.
Here comes the song one more time.
[Singing rhythms]
Point to the other beat where you heard four sixteenth notes.
If you're pointing right here, you are correct.
Now, let's figure out the rest of the beats.
How many sounds did you hear in these beats?
Here it is again.
[Speaking rhythms]
There are two sounds in every beat.
So we have TI-TI TI-TI TI-TI.
So all together this row makes a sound like this:
TIKI-TIKI TI-TI TI-TI TI-TI.
Now you try it with me and touch each beat.
TIKI-TIKI TI-TI TI-TI TI-TI.
Good, now let's figure out the next row.
See if you notice what rhythm you hear in each of these beats.
[Speaking rhythms]
Did you hear any beats that had just one sound?
If you're pointing to this beat, you are correct.
How many sounds were in these two beats?
If you said two sounds, or TI-TI, you are correct.
Now we have the whole rhythm to "Dinah".
Remember out new rhythm is called four sixteenth notes,
and the sound it makes is TIKI-TIKI.
Let's try it all together. Here we go.
[Singing rhythms]
Nice work.
Now we're ready to see what these notes look like on the staff.
Here we are at the grand staff.
Let's see what you remember about the grand staff.
Can you tell me what this is called?
This is the treble clef, sometimes called the G clef and it shows you the G line.
Trace your finger along the G line with me.
Good. It's for the high notes.
Can you tell me what this one is called?
This is the bass clef.
Let's trace our fingers along the F line, which goes through the two dots
of the bass clef, which is also sometimes called the F clef.
Here is the F line.
Good, now I'm going to place a note right here.
Can you tell me what this note is called?
If you said G, you are correct.
"Dinah" starts on G.
Now I'm going to draw some notes, and these notes make the song "Dinah".
What do you notice about these five notes?
That's right, they are all G's. "Dinah" starts with five G's in a row.
No one in the. Sorry. No one in the house.
Those are the first five notes of "Dinah".
Now the next note is not a G. The next one skips up to the next line.
So if you use the DO MI SO words it would sound like this:
DO DO DO DO DO, MI.
A line to a line makes the pattern DO MI.
Then the next note goes up to the next line higher, another skip up.
So now we have the pattern DO MI SO.
I'm going to draw a few more notes.
What do you notice about these notes?
Do you notice they kind of make a zig zag pattern or like two mountain tops?
If a note goes from a line, to a line, to a line, to a line, to a line,
we call that skipping.
These notes we call repeating because they are staying the same.
Let's try singing the DO MI SO words together.
I'll do it first, and then you try it.
My turn first. DO DO DO DO DO MI SO MI SO MI.
Now can you try it? Point to the notes and sing the DO MI SO words.
Your turn.
Great. Now the next part of "Dinah" goes like this.
No one in the house but me I know.
What do you notice about these two notes?
Are they on a line or a space?
If you said a space note, you are correct.
So we have DO DO DO DO DO MI RE RE DO.
MI steps down to RE, then it repeats, and then it steps down.
I'll sing this ending pattern, and then it will be your turn.
MI RE RE DO.
Your turn.
Point and sing.
Good.
Now we're ready to learn how to play "Dinah".
Let's hold up your right hand, and we'll practice playing it in the air.
Okay, with your right hand comfortably in the air, like mine,
let's try to play the patterns in "Dinah".
I'll go first, then your turn.
DO DO DO DO DO MI.
Your turn.
My turn again.
SO MI SO MI.
Your turn.
My turn again.
DO DO DO DO DO MI.
Your turn.
My turn. RE RE DO.
Your turn. Sing and move your hand.
My turn again. DO DO DO DO DO MI.
Your turn.
My turn. SO MI SO MI.
Your turn.
My turn. RE RE RE RE.
Your turn.
And my turn. MI RE DO.
Your turn.
Good work.
Now we're going to try the whole thing with words this time.
See if you can move your hands along with me.
If you don't get it right the first try, that's okay.
You can rewind and keep trying.
Here we go. 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,
playing on the old banjo.
Now we're ready to try it on the piano.
but first we need to learn a new position called G position.
Down on the piano, can you find somewhere in between my two hands
the note that is called G.
If you're pointing to this note, you are correct.
Remember that G is for Grandma, and it lives in this three black key house.
Grandma, she lives I should say, in this first room right here.
So if you ever need to find a G, look for three black keys, and it's the first room.
That note is G and it's the first note of "Dinah".
Now when we do G position, we're going to put DO on G.
When we're in C position, G is SO.
But if we slide up and put finger one of our right hand on G,
now we're in what's called the G pentascale, or G position.
Now let's look and see if DO RE MI FA and SO are all happy.
DO RE MI FA SO.
Is there a black key or any note in between MI and FA?
DO RE MI FA SO.
There is not. That makes MI and FA happy, and so we have a major position.
So we don't need any black keys when we play in G major.
So place your hand in G, and let's try playing DO RE MI FA and SO in G position.
Here we go starting on G.
Go. DO RE MI FA SO.
Good and try singing along while you play.
Let's step down starting on SO.
Go. SO FA MI RE DO.
Good now let's try "Dinah".
When you play "Dinah", I want you to remember to always keep your hand relaxed
and your fingers gently curved.
I'll show you the start of "Dinah", and I want you to watch my hand carefully
for it's shape, and how it bounces a little bit to play the fast TIKI-TIKI's.
No one in the house but.
Did you notice my bouncy wrist and how all of the fingers
stayed relaxed and resting on the keys while I played?
Okay let's practice playing "Dinah" on the piano.
I'll play a little pattern, and then you play it back.
My turn first. No one in the house but.
Your turn. Sing and play.
My turn. Dinah, Dinah.
Your turn.
Good. Remember to keep your fingers relaxed and your wrist bouncy.
My turn. No one in the house but.
Your turn.
Are you bouncing your wrist?
Good. It's my turn. Me I know.
Your turn.
My turn again. No one in the house but.
Your turn.
My turn. Dinah, Dinah.
Your turn.
My turn. Playing on the.
Your turn.
Good, my turn. Old banjo.
Your turn.
Great. How did you do at keeping your fingers relaxed and your wrist bouncy?
Was it hard sometimes?
If you said yes, then you're normal.
Sometimes your fingers will want to stick up and not be relaxed.
But I'm encouraging you to keep practicing until you can
keep all of your fingers relaxed while you play this song.
Let's try playing the whole song together.
You might need to keep practicing the little parts of the song
before you try this next part of the lesson.
But when you feel ready, you can try playing it with me.
Here's the whole thing.
I'll also be adding some chords in my left hand,
which I'll show you how to do at a later lesson.
But for right now, just focus on the right hand.
One, two, ready, go.
[Playing Dinah]
Great. Thanks for learning "Dinah" with me.
From our website, you can download the sheet music for this song.
I hope you had a good time, thanks for listening.
I'll see you next time.