Au Clair de la Lune (Unit 5)

Bonjour et bienvenue. Je suis Joseph
Hoffman.
Aujourd'hui, nous allons apprendre une chanson francaise.
Parlez-vous aussi, le francais?
Oui? Bien.
If you can't understand what
I'm saying, it's because today I'm speaking in French.
What other languages can you speak in?
If you like you can let me know what languages you can speak by leaving me a comment below.
Well today as you might have guessed, we're learning how to play a traditional folk song from France.
"Au Clair de la Lune"
Let's learn how to speak the French words of this song.
Try and repeat after me.
That means: By the light of the moon.
Your turn.
That means: My friend Pierrot,
It's a name like Peter.
Now try to say this:
That means: Lend me your pen.
That means: To write a note.
The next line. Try to say this:
That means: My candle has gone out.
I don't have any fire or light.
The next line is:
Open your door.
For goodness' sakes.
Now it's kind of a silly song, so
don't try to understand the words too carefully.
Now let's listen to what this
folk song sounds like when it's sung.
♫Au clair de la lune
Mon ami Pierrot♫
♫Prete-moi ta plume
Pour écrire un mot.♫
♫Ma chandelle est morte
Je n'ai plus de feu♫
♫Ouvre-moi ta porte
Pour l'amour de Dieu.♫
Before we look at the score to "Au Clair
de la Lune",
can you help me dictate the rhythm of
just the first phrase?
Okay, I'll sing the first phrase without words and you see
if you can figure out the rhythm for each beat.
What did you hear in rhythm words?
Try to draw that using your own rhythm cards at home.
Here's the correct answer:
We had TI-TI TI-TI TA TA
Good, now let's figure out the next phrase.
What did you hear in rhythm words?
Here it is again:
See if you can draw that on your own heartbeats.
Here's the correct answer:
We have TI-TI TI-TI TWO-OO
That half note takes up 2 beats at the end.
Now can you point to each
beat and say the rhythm words with me? Go.
TI-TI TI-TI TA TA
TI-TI TI-TI TWO-OO
Great!
Now let's try to dictate the melody of the first phrase of "Au Clair de la Lune".
Once again if you have these materials from our website you can try doing this yourself at home with
your melodic dictation staff.
First let's establish where DO is
This song will be in the A-flat major pentascale.
So DO is right here. DO
Can you sing DO RE MI with me? Starting on A-flat.
Ready go: DO RE MI
Now on this phrase it only uses those three notes.
DO RE MI are all we'll have, so that's my clue to you.
Now I'll sing part
of it and then see if you can sing it to me in solfège.
Here's the first five notes.
Can you sing that to me in solfège?
Let's try it one more time.
Now sing that in solfège.
Now let's try to draw it on our staff.
The correct answer is
DO DO DO RE MI
And since DO is an A-flat
I'll
actually put this flat sign in front of A to make it A-falt.
And then we need a
flat in front of the B as well.
So now we have DO DO DO RE MI
Now I'll add one new note and see if you can figure out what the next note does.
Can you figure out the solfège of this next sixth note?
Here it is again.
If you said RE you're correct.
It steps back down.
So we have DO DO DO RE MI RE
Now here are the next two notes.
What would those next two notes be in solfège?
If you said DO MI you're correct.
Now here are the last three notes of this phrase.
what did you hear in solfège?
Here it is again:
The correct answer is RE RE, almost out of room, DO, let's scoot these over.
Good.
So now we have DO MI RE RE DO.
Let's try to sing the whole thing in solfège
starting right here on DO. Can you point with me and sing the solfège?
Ready go: DO DO DO RE MI RE
DO MI RE RE DO
Good job.
Now let's try to play the
melody of "Au Clair de la Lune" in the right hand.
First go ahead and place your
right hand in the A-flat major pentascale.
Now let's play and sing the solfège stepping up.
Starting on DO, ready go:
DO RE MI FA SO
Good, and as we've already mentioned we only need DO RE and MI for this first phrase.
Now I have a challenge for you.
Instead of showing you how to play this, I want you to
figure it out for yourself.
Press pause and use your own sheet music
which you can download from our website,
or just look at the notes on your screen
and see if you can play this entire line with no missed notes.
Don't worry if you make a mistake. Just keep trying it slowly and carefully until you get it right.
Once you have the whole line correct ...