Hello and welcome back. I'm Joseph Hoffman.
You've probably noticed I've got the frog family back with me today.
That's because we're going to learn how to add chords to "Frog in the Middle".
A chord is when you play two or more notes at the same time.
It's a more advanced technique that will make your piano playing sound much more interesting and professional.
So, let's come to the piano to learn how to play chords.
A chord is when you play two or more notes at the same time.
So you can have a two-note chord like this where I'm playing C and G at the same time, or a three note chord
like this or an eight note chord, or
you could even have like a, I don't know, twenty-three note chord.
In college I actually learned about a composer named Henry Cowell
that wrote a lot of piano music where you're literally supposed to play it with your whole arm like this.
But today let's learn how to do a two-note chord with fingers 1 and 5 on C and G.
Two notes together.
And to practice this, I'd like you to find a flat surface.
I'm going to use my piano lid, but you can use the table or anything that's nice and solid and flat.
And I'd like you to practice just touching with your finger 1 and your finger 5.
Touch whatever flat surface you're on with those fingers while fingers 2
3 and 4 gently float in the air.
And just practice touching.
Remember, your finger 5 is going to touch near the tip.
Your finger 1 is going to point sideways, and you're just going to touch
and then float by
lifting your forearm and letting everything go limp and relaxed because it's very important you relax after playing a chord.
Touch, then float,
touch, then float.
touch,
and float, and you want only your fingers 1 and 5 to touch because those are the fingers that are going to play the chord.
Now let's try it with our left hand. So take your left hand finger 5.
Remember to play near the tip, and your finger 1 which is going to kind of point sideways, and touch with those 2 fingers
while fingers 2 3 and 4 float in the air. Touch,
and then float your hand and arm. Touch,
and then float.
Touch,
and then float. Now try with both hands.
Touch with your fingers 1 and 5.
The other fingers float in the air.
touch, float,
touch, float. Let's try it on the piano keys.
When you play the piano, it's most often your left hand that's going to play the chords. So let's try it first with our left hand.
Take your finger 5, remember to play near the tip. Your finger 1 on G.
So you're in the C major pentascale, but you're only playing C and G.
Play those two at the same time. Drop and then float,
and try and use gravity. Remember, arm weight is going to help those notes go down. So you just kind of drop,
and then float.
Drop and float. Try it with me.
Drop, float,
drop, float,
and when you float you don't have to go way up high in the air. Just enough to let go and let the arm and wrist relax.
Now let's try it with the right hand.
Find a C major pentascale with fingers 1 and 5 on C and G.
I'm going to let your other fingers float slightly in the air, drop.
Use gravity to make those notes go down and then float up. Try it with me, drop,
and then float up and relax. Drop,
float, drop,
float. Now let's try it with both hands. I'm going to drop and float,
drop, float,
drop, float.
Great job.
Now we're ready to try playing chords with "Frog in the Middle".
I'd like you to use your left hand.
Find a C and G chord.
And what we're going to do is just play chords with the left hand while we sing the melody.
You're going to play a chord every time you sing the word 'frog',
and also once on each word for 'can't catch me'.
Let me show you what this will look like. You can just watch this time.
♫Frog in the middle♫
♫frog in the sea♫
♫frog in the middle, can't catch me♫
So notice when I sang the word 'frog' I play a chord at the same time and then the chord
holds down while I sing the other words
♫Frog in the middle♫
Notice how while I'm singing the chord keeps going.
Now will you try with me?
Use your left hand find this position,
and whenever we sing the word 'frog' that's where you'll play a chord.
So get your left hand ready to play chords. Sing and play with me, ready, go.
♫Frog in the middle♫
♫Frog in the sea♫
♫frog in the middle, can't catch me♫
Great job.
Now let's try it with the right hand.
Once again we're going to sing "Frog in the Middle"
while we play chords on the word 'frog',
and then on 'can't catch me',
and then just hold it down for all the other words.
Get your right hand ready, sing and play the chords, ready, go.
♫Frog in the middle♫
♫Frog in the sea♫
♫Frog in the middle, can't catch me♫
Great job.
Now, don't forget, use gravity to help play those chords. Just think of dropping and floating after each chord.
Let's try it with both hands now.
Get both hands in position to play a chord,
and let's sing 'frog' while we play the chords.
Ready, go:
♫Frog in the middle♫
♫Frog in the sea♫
♫Frog in the middle, can't catch me♫
Now, you're ready for the really mind-blowing part.
Watch what I do and see if you can tell me what I'm doing
What was happening?
Could you tell that I was playing the melody of "Frog in the Middle", the part that we sing, with my right hand
while my left hand was doing the chords?
Very fancy, huh?
Now, this might feel really tricky at first because your hands are doing two completely different things.
Might remind you of learning to pat your head while you rub your stomach.
It's going to feel tricky at first, but if you try it enough times I promise you're going to get it.
So what you do is on the first word, 'frog',
your left hand will play a chord while your right hand just plays ♫frog♫.
So let's just practice that very first word. We're going to make this really simple.
Just play ♫frog♫, and then stop.
Now your turn.
Chord with your left hand,
'frog', which is a SO or a G with your right hand.
♫frog♫
Now you try
Let's do it one more time. ♫frog♫ Now your turn.
Now once you have that,
all you have to do is keep the chord going while your right hand plays the other notes.
So you play 'frog' together. ♫Frog in the middle♫
and then let this hand keep playing while the left hand is just going to hold the chord, and that's the tricky part.
Your hands are going to want to do
it together, but they have to learn to do their own thing.
Let the left hand just hold the chord down while the right hand keeps going.
Play the first note together 'frog',
and then the melody goes on.
Now,
pause the video and try that on your own a couple of times,
and then press play to go on.
Now once you have that first line, you're ready for the next one.
♫Frog in the sea♫ So once again you play 'frog' together with both hands. 'Frog in the sea'.
Your right hand is going to keep going while your left hand plays the chord. Now you try.
Good, now if this feels hard don't be frustrated.
It's going to feel easier the more you practice.
Then 'frog in the middle', your turn.
And then ♫can't catch me♫ Your turn.
So the right hand's playing DO DO DO while your left hand does chords. ♫can't catch me♫
Try it one more time.
Now pause the video
and try the whole song with chords. Left hand's playing chords, right hand is playing the melody.
Try that on your own, then press play to go on.
Did that feel tricky?
How are you doing?
No matter how it feels, I want you to keep practicing that all week
until it's so easy you can do it with your eyes closed.
Remember, it's going to feel hard at first but with practice you can turn something hard into something easy,
and eventually you'll be like whoa, I can't believe this was ever hard for me.
Don't forget, you can download this page, which can guide you through adding chords to "Frog in the Middle".
It's part of the Unit 1 Method Book available as a premium member.
Also, in the Unit 1 Method Book there are some theory pages for you to do as an end of unit challenge.
Congratulations on making it to the end of Unit 1. High five to the screen.
It's been really fun teaching you throughout this whole unit.
We've learned about piano posture, the names of keys on the piano, finger numbers, rhythms,
and most importantly, lots of fun songs that you now know how to play on the piano for yourself.
I'm proud of all your hard work, focus, and practicing to develop your piano playing skills.
In doing these lessons, you're not just learning how to play the piano,
you're learning how to learn.
You've learned that with practice, you can turn something hard into something easy.
And this is just the beginning.
I have so many more fun songs to teach you in the next unit and beyond.
I can't wait to see you in Unit 2, where we'll be learning some of my favorite songs in the Hoffman Method.
It's an honor to be your teacher.
Thanks for watching and learning with me, and happy practicing!
♫Frog in the middle, frog in the sea♫
What on earth are you doing?
I'm trying to play "Frog in the Middle" with chords.
Hehe
Oh brother...
♫Frog in the middle, can't catch me♫
Heh, beautiful!