Andante: B Section Hands Together

Hello and welcome back. I'm Joseph
Hoffman
and in this lesson we're going to add in
the left-hand part for the B section of
"Andante". Let's check out the score to get
started. Remember how important it is to
find patterns, because it's those
patterns that will help you learn a
piece the fastest. And of course you
always have to watch out for when those
patterns break. Sometimes a pattern
continues and then a composer will
surprise you, so you have to stay on
your toes. So let's look for patterns in
the left hand. If you look at the notes
of the left hand, tell me what pattern
you're seeing here.
The pattern in the
left hand is step down, repeat, step down,
repeat, step down, repeat, step down, repeat.
Pretty simple right? Step down, then here
the pattern breaks, step up, step up, drop
down an octave, then we finish with this
A minor triad. Again, always keep your eye
out for where a pattern breaks. You can't
always assume it's going to go on
forever. Now, the interesting thing about
the left hand part is the fingering. This
looks pretty simple right? Step down,
repeat, step down, repeat, well, on this
repeating note because it keeps stepping
down after each repeat, you will run out
of fingers unless you do something a
little bit tricky. So let's check out how
to do that on the piano.
So let's find the left-hand finger 2 on this A right
below middle C, and we have that 2
steps down to finger 3. It's now
3 is on G, then you're going to
substitute and switch to finger 2 on G
to step down to F.
Then we substitute figure 2 on F, step
down to E, substitute finger 2 to E,
step down to D, see how this works? We're
basically doing a step down, then
replace with finger 2, repeat, step down,
replace with finger 2, repeat, step down,
replace with finger 2, repeat, step down,
replace with finger 2, repeat, step down,
step up, step up, down an octave, and then
A-minor triad. Okay now press pause and
try that on your own. Go really carefully,
make sure that you're not just playing
the right notes but the right fingers,
and this is the key pattern. Because if
you don't do that you will run out of
fingers. We have to end up way down here,
so by substituting to finger 2, it
helps our hand move down the keyboard.
See how that works?
So it's just 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 1 5
Now that was fast motion, of course with
the right hand it'll go much slower 3 2 3 2
3 2 3 See how that works? Now
press pause and just work on this
left-hand part on your own, the entire B
Section, measure nine to the end, press
pause to work on your own, and then press
play to go on.
Now when you feel comfortable with the
left hand alone, also make sure that
you're really comfortable with the right
hand alone in the B section that you've
practiced these block chords really well,
because hands alone it may be no problem.
Once you put it hands together it can
feel a little crazy, so you want to make
sure your hands alone is very confident.
And then hands together, you'll have to
worry about moving the right hand up and
down these fourths and fifths, and the
left hand is gonna be shifting too. So at
first go really slowly, 1 and 2 and
3 and 1 and 2 and 3 and, or maybe you
want to go even slower than that, like a
largo tempo. 1 and 2 and 3 and 1 and 2 and 3 and 1 and 2 and 3 and 1 and 2. You want to go slow enough
that you're sure that you're
getting the fingerings correct, and the
notes correct, so you're training good
habits. Okay,
so press pause and try just a couple of
these measures hands together. Maybe
tackle measures nine through, let's say
nine through twelve, just these first
four measures, and then press play to go on.
Now like I said, at first you may be
going super slow and that's okay. You know, give
yourself time to really think through
this. The metronome again can be a great
tool to help you go nice and slow. Here's
the metronome at 96.
That might be a good starting speed; one note per click.
Take your time with it, in fact, at first
you may not go metronome at all, you may
want to just really think about every
single note. Take your time. As you get
comfortable, start with the metronome
around 96 or a hundred beats per minute,
then gradually speed that up a little
bit at a time until you're at 200 again.
May take a week or two weeks or
even three weeks to get it up to this
speed. How do you know when you're ready
to speed it up a notch? When you can play
it confidently with no missed notes and
no p ...