Au Clair de la Lune: Left Hand (Unit 5)

Bonjour et bienvenue. I'm Joseph Hoffman
We're back to learn how to play the left hand of our French folk song "Au Clair de la Lune".
Let's come to the score to get started.
Alright, let's take a look at what the left hand is doing in "Au Clair de la Lune".
We start off with a chord. It's a dotted quarter note.
And you'll see these three notes all stacked together.
Can you tell me the letter name of the bottom note?
If you said A-flat you're correct.
Then we skip up to middle C,
and then we skip up to an E-flat.
Now because this is a dotted quarter note,
remember that's going to take up 1 1/2 beats, so
let's draw in the beats to help us visualize that.
So that dotted quarter note takes up all of beat 1,
and it will take up the first half of beat 2 as well.
We have 1-& 2 and then on the & of 2
the left hand plays what note?
You can see that there is a ledger line right here, which is the middle C ledger line, but this note sits on top of that.
So it's a step above middle C which would be what?
If you said D-flat you're correct.
Now let's look at measure two.
We have two quarter notes. Can you tell me the name
of this note here?
If you said E-flat your correct.
And what about this one?
That's right it's a D-flat.
And each of these also of course take up
1 beat each.
Now if we were to write in the counts we'd have 1-& 2-&.
Over here we have 1-& 2-&
Can you tap the rhythm of the left hand and
let's use our left hand to do that,
while you count the beat out loud.
We'll start right here, and remember to wait until the & of 2 to tap this eighth note.
Ready, go: 1-& 2-& 1-& 2-&
Good job! Let's try that one more time.
Start right here. Tap the left hand rhythm and count the beat. Ready, go: 1-& 2-& 1-& 2-&
Okay, let's come to the piano and try and play it.
Alright let's place the left hand in the
A-flat major pentascale.
Can you play and name each note?
Starting on A-flat. Ready, go: A-flat B-flat C D-flat E-flat
And your finger 3 will actually be on middle C of your piano.
Now first we
play a DO MI SO chord, or we could call that a I chord,
and that lasts for 1 1/2 beats like this: 1-& 2
and then on the & of beat 2 we play a D-flat
Like this: 1-& 2-&
Can you try that?
Good. Now let's try it at
the same time count the beat
and play with me. Remember on the & of 2 we
play the D-flat. Ready, go:
1-& 2-& Good.
Now the next measure we have E-flat
and then D-flat. 1-& 2-&
Can you try that and count the beat out loud? Go.
Good, now let's put those two measures
together. It will sound like this:
1-& 2-& 1-& 2-&
Now press pause and try that five times
by yourself.
Play and count the beat out loud.
Press play when you're ready to go on.
Let's take a look at measures three and four now.
What kind of chord do you see right here?
That's right it's the same as
the first chord that we played which is a I chord.
DO MI and SO all stacked together.
So we play a I chord for 1 beat,
and then what do you think happens here?
Can you tell what kind of chord this is?
It's a V7 chord.
See, that DO steps down to TI
from A-flat to G, and MI stepped up to D-flat
and the top note stayed the same.
So we have a I chord, V7 chord, I chord.
Let's write that in.
I chord.
V7 chord.
Followed by a I chord.
Now let's try to play it on the piano.
Right, once again with the left hand in the A-flat major pentascale.
We have a I chord,
then we go to a V7 chord, so our
finger 5 needs to step down a half step which will land us on G,
and then we have a D-flat and an E-flat like this:
There's our V7 chord with these three notes.
V7 chord, and then back to the I chord.
So all together it will sound like this: I, V7, and then I.
Now press pause and try that three times on your own, then press play to go on.
Good, now let's take a look at what all
of line one will sound like together for the left hand.
Here we go.
If you feel up to it you can try playing along with me,
otherwise you can just listen.
Try and count the beat with me.
Ready, go:
1-& 2-& 1-& 2-&
1-& 2-& 1-& 2-&
Good, now press pause and try all of line one by yourself while counting the beat.
Press play when you're ready to go on.
Let's check out the B section for the left hand now.
We start off on a D-flat,
and I should point out here that while the
right hand moves down to a new position, which
you probably remember is E-flat major pentascale.
The left hand does not m ...