Canoe Song: Hands Together

Hello and welcome back. I'm Joseph Hoffman.
Today we're learning how to play "Canoe Song" hands together.
Let's take a look at the score to get started.
All right, let's check out the bass staff part for "Canoe Song", which our left hand will be handling.
Take a look and tell me what you notice.
You probably noticed there is this same two note chord
that just keeps repeating, repeating on quarter notes, TA TA TA TA TA,
through the whole piece.
So the left hand's going to be super easy, right?
Let's check out the notes we're playing. Can you tell me the letter name for this top note of this two note chord?
If you said G, you're correct. That's one of our guide notes ground G, and what about this note here?
If you said low C, you're correct. Another one of our new guide notes. Remember, we've got middle C, we've got bass C, and now we also know low C two ledger lines below the bass staff
gives us low C, and what interval do these two notes form?
It's a fifth.
Low C to ground G.
Let's try this out on the piano.
Okay, this time through you're just in charge of the left hand.
If this is middle C, you've got to come down one octave to bass C, then one more C to make it to low C
with ground G. So position your left hand, and you're going to be the steady beat: TA TA TA, about this fast,
and I'll take care of the right hand. You take care of the left hand.
I'll play along with you on the left hand too. Ready, go:
TA TA TA TA
Repeat: TA TA TA TA
Good job.
Now, let's use the score to figure out how the hands are working together.
Remember, we have the counts 1-& 2-&
to show us the rhythm of the right hand, but we need to see how the left hand is interacting with the rhythm and the beat as well.
What happens on beat 1?
You can see that both hands are playing together. The right hand has a note and the left hand has a note,
so I'll write a T for together,
and then what happens on the & of beat 1?
Does the right hand play?
Yes, does the left hand play?
No, on the & of beat 1 the left hand is still holding this quarter note.
So on the & of beat 1 I'm going to write an R for right hand.
Then what happens on beat 2?
Does the right hand play?
No, because it's still holding this quarter note.
Does the left hand play?
Yes.
So here on beat 2 the left hand's going to play so I'll mark an L.
And then what about the & of beat 2? Who's playing?
The right hand is playing, but the left hand is still holding this quarter note,
and so we need another R for right.
So put this all together we get: together, right, left, right.
And that's like the code for the rhythm of this measure.
We have together on beat 1, then right on the & of beat 1, then left on beat 2, then right again on the & of 2.
Together, right, left, right.
Will you try saying that with me, and tap your hands in that pattern?
Get your two hands ready, go:
Together, right, left, right.
One more time. Ready, go: Together, right, left, right.
Now what happens here in measure two?
What happens on 1?
We have it together,
then what happens on the & of 1?
Looks like we have a right,
and then we have another together on beat 2, and then for the & of 2,
that together is just holding. So I'm going to draw a line to show that we
hold that. So let's try measure two. Together, right, together.
Now try it with me, ready go. Together, right, together.
Now if you'd like, you can pause the video and figure this out for the rest of the piece. Write in
T for together, R for right, L for left,
and this way as you're playing it hands together, it'll be a lot easier to figure out how those rhythms are working.
Here are all the together, rights, and left written in so you can check what you have in your music.
Now, let's try to play it on the piano hands together.
All right, for this first measure
our right hand plays 1-& 2-&, while the left hand plays 1-& 2-&
Now together we get: together, right, left, right.
I recommend going super slow motion at first. Together, right, left, right.
Maybe ten maybe twenty times until it starts to feel comfortable.
So press pause and work through together, right, left, right,
until it feels comfortable, then press play when you're ready to go on.
Now, let's try adding a little bit more to the first measure.
We have together, right, left, right, then together, right, together. Listen to that one more time.
Together, right, left, right, together, right, together.
Now press pause and try that much on your own.
Be patient with yourself. This may take dozens of tries until you feel confident,
but trust me that once it clicks, it's going to really click.
Press play when you ...