Hello and welcome back. I'm Joseph
Hoffman. Today we're learning how to play
one of my favorite folk songs, "Silver
Birch Tree." I think it's a beautiful song
and I hope you like it too.
I'll play it for you.
Silver birch alone in the meadow, standing all alone in the meadow.
Soon the shepherd boy comes walking,
With his sheep and goats, he's walking.
Let's check out the sheet music for
"Silver Birch Tree." You'll notice today we
don't have a grand staff, we just have
this treble staff with the chord symbols
written up above.
So you really have two options for piano
music. You can have a treble staff and a
base staff for the right-hand and
left-hand, or you can just do the treble
staff with the chord symbols written up
above to tell your left hand what to
play. This is called lead sheet style and
it's commonly used in pop or jazz
styles, and I want you to be familiar
with both grand staff style and this lead
sheet style,
so that's what we're using today. So
we've got our treble clef, we've got our
key signature which tells us we're in
D minor today, 4/4 time signature, four
beats in every measure and can you tell
me the letter name of the note we start
on? Looks like it's a step above the G
line so if you said it's an A, you're
correct. We start on an A. Now can you
point to each note and tell me if the
notes are stepping skipping or repeating?
Let's see if you can do it on your own.
Say start for the first note and then
the steps, skips, repeats. Go.
So if you said start, repeat, repeat,
repeat, step down, step down, repeat, step
down, step down,
you are correct. Now let's check out the
rhythm. Let's say TA TA for the quarter
notes and let's say TWO-O with two beats
for the half notes. Speak the rhythm with me.
Ready, go TA TA TA TA TWO-O TA TA
TWO-O TWO-O. Great job. Now let's try playing it
on the piano.
Ok, let's cover up the D minor pentascale
with our right hand. Can you play and
name every note of the D minor
pentascale starting with D? Let's say
them one at a time. Go.
Good. Now you'll see that the first note
as we said is A, and I'll sing and play
this one for you in solfège and then
I'll give you turn to try. On this first
phrase we have SO SO SO SO.
Remember that in minor instead of MI we
say ME. For MI we need an F-sharp but
since we're in D minor we'll say ME. Now can
you press pause and try playing that
first phrase on your own while singing
the solfège? Press play when you're
ready to try it with me.
Ok, let's try together and sing the
solfège starting with finger five on A,
which is SO in the D minor pentascale.
Ready, go.
SO SO SO SO FA ME ME RE DO
Good, and now line two is the same
notes, so let's try line two now and this
time let's sing the lyrics, standing all
alone in the meadow.
Ready, go. Standing all alone in the meadow.
Good, now this time let's try singing the
letter names. We start on an A then step
down to G, to F, to E, to D. Can you play, saying the
letter names with me? Go. A A A A G F F E D.
Great, now let's check out line three.
All right, for these two lines you'll
notice we have a note, no cord - both hands
play melody. Again today we're just
focusing on the right hand, but that will
come into play later.
Do you notice any rhythms on this line
that we haven't seen so far in this song?
That's right, here at the beginning we
have this dotted half note which gets
three beats. unlike the half note which
gets two beats, or the quarter note which
gets one beat. For this we have to think
1 2 3, or sometimes I say THREE-EE-EE
TA TA TA TA TA TWO-OO TWO-OO. Make sure
you hold this note for three beats. It's
kind of a long note. Now can you point
and tell me how these notes are moving?
Tell me if they're stepping, skipping, or
repeating. Say "start" for the first note.
Go.
The correct answer is start, step up, step
up, repeat, step down, repeat, step down,
step down.
Great. Let's try playing that on the
piano. So for line three
we're still in the D minor pentascale,
and this time since the first note is an
E we need to start with finger two. So I
have one, two, three, then step up to F, G, G, F, F, E, D.
Now press pause and practice line three.
Don't forget to hold that dotted half
note for three beats before you go on.
Press play once you practice that and
you're ready to try it with me.
Great, now let's try line three together.
We're going to start with finger two on E.
Remember to count three beats. Ready, go.
One, two, three, F, G, G, F, F, E, D.
Great, now let's check out line four. In music
there's this danger. Sometimes the
student will see, ah, this is starting off
the same way as line three, so I'm just
going to play the exact same as line
three.
But that could catch you off guard
because sometimes in music there's just
one note or one little detail that
changes, so it is very important to check
every single note, and that's true on
this line. There is one note, just one,
that changes. Can you find it and put
your finger on it?
If you're pointing right here, you're
correct. This time instead of repeating
on the G, it goes G, and then step up to A,
and then skip down to F, repeat, step down
step down. So let's say all the steps,
skips, repeats for this line together. Go.
Start,
say it with me, start, step up, step up
step up, skip down, repeat, step down, step
down, now can you figure out the letter
names for this line? Just try to say the
letter names, try by yourself once. It
starts on E. Now you try the rest.
The correct answer is E F G A F F E D. Yeah.
Let's try to play it on the piano. Back
in the D minor pentascale, once again
we're starting with finger two on E, let's
count 1 2 3 on that first note, and then
we'll sing the letter names after that.
So I'll demonstrate once. We have two,
three, F G A F F E D.
Now press pause and practice line four on
your own. Press play when you're ready to
try it with me.
Ok, let's try it together and count three
beats on the first E with finger two.
Ready, go, 1 2 3 F G A F F E D.
Great, ok let's practice the whole song
now, put it all together.
Press pause and practice on your own. You
can download the sheet music from our
website for reference, and once you feel
like you have the whole thing together,
you can try playing along with me, or
listen. Okay, I'm going to play all of
"Silver Birch Tree." I'll be adding the
chords, which we'll learn in a later lesson,
but your job is to just play the right
hand, or if you like just listen. Here it
is from the beginning.
I'll count four beats, and then we'll
start. 1 2 3 4
Nice work learning to play the melody of
"Silver Birch Tree." Please practice every
day until confident. Remember to be
careful of the rhythm, especially on the
long dotted half notes. Hold them as long
as they are due. Thanks for watching, and
see you next time.
Hello there, silver birch tree. I heard
that you're standing all alone in the
meadow so I thought I'd drop by and see
if you needed anything. I just thought
you might be, you know, feeling lonely, and
I was thinking if you ever wanted some
company you know you should talk to the
one black key down at the bottom of mr.
Hoffman's piano.
He's kind of all alone too, and you know,
I thought maybe the two of you could be
friends.
I'd love to be your friend too. I'm a
chef you know and I could bake bread and
share it with you, but you don't eat, of
course, except sunlight and dirt.
Well, I'm feeling super sleepy,
it's such a warm day, and a nap under
your shade sounds perfect. Thank you for
your shade, silver birch. Zzzz zzzz zzzz.