Welcome back! Today we're gonna learn one
of my favorite Christmas songs "Carol of
the Bells.” Let's go to the piano and
check it out.
Let's look at the score.
The first thing we'll notice is the key
signature. We have two flats which tells
us that we are in the key of G minor.
G minor has a B-flat and an E-flat.
Our right hand is going to start this one
and it's going to start in a G minor
position right here in the treble clef.
Our 3rd finger starts on that B-flat.
Let's look at the rhythm there. It says TA TI-TI TA,
and it starts with 3 2 3 1.
♫ME RE ME DO♫
Try that by
yourself. Make sure that it's a nice even
rhythm with TA TI-TI TA
Good, now let's
look at the second measure.
TA TI-TI TA
Hey that's just the same as the first measure and
look at the third measure.
and the fourth.
This melodic pattern that repeats is
called an ostinato, and it's gonna repeat
the first sixteen measures of this piece.
So
we have to get this down really really
good so that we are comfortable with
what's gonna happen in the left hand.
Let's try that first four bars all by
itself.
TA TI-TI TA
TA TI-TI TA
TA TI-TI TA
Go ahead and try this measure by yourself,
and see if you can repeat it sixteen
times without stopping.
Press pause now to try it on your own and then press
play when you're ready
Good, now let's look at the next four
measures.
You see our right hand is still repeating that same pattern,
but let's
look at our left hand. Our left hand is
going to start not in G position but in a C
minor position.
You see we play that G,
but it says there with our finger 1
and
if you look at those dotted half notes,
they're gonna feel really slow
and they just go right down. Finger 1
2 3 and 4
Now let's try that
while we're saying TA TI-TI TA each time
because that's the rhythm that our right
hands gonna play
TA TI-TI TA
TA TI-TI TA
TA TI-TI TA
TA TI-TI TA
Good, now if you can do
that, let's try putting that right hand with out left hand together.
TA TI-TI TA
TA TI-TI TA
TA TI-TI TA
TA TI-TI TA
Now pause the video and
practice that on your own a few times
until it feels comfortable,
then press play when you're ready.
Great, now let's look at the next four
measures.
Our left hand just finished
getting all the way down to D on our
4th finger. Now look where it goes.
It goes back up to E-flat on our 3rd
finger,
but now it goes back to D but not with our finger 4,
but with finger 1,
which means we have to cross that under
our 3rd finger like that,
and then
finger 2 on C and then finger 5 on G.
This is a really sneaky way to get
down from C position down to G position.
Let's see that one more time. I'm going to
start on E-flat on the 3rd finger.
I'm going to play 3 1 2 5
One more time. That's E-flat, D with our thumb,
and then 2 on C, and 5 on G.
Good, let's try that while we say the TA TI-TI TA.
TA TI-TI TA
TA TI-TI TA
TA TI-TI TA
TA TI-TI TA
Now we're ready to try that with both hands together. We're gonna play that pattern remember?
With our left hand starting on 3rd
finger on E-flat. Ready, go,
TA TI-TI TA, thumb,
2 finger, and then G.
Good, now I recommend going back to
measure five and practicing those eight
measures together five through twelve,
and they sound like this:
The first D is with our 4th finger,
back up to E-flat
and then our thumb.
2 and then G.
Good job.
Go ahead and pause the video
and try those eight measures on your own
until they feel comfortable, then press
play when you're ready.
Before we go to the next section, take a
look at that last measure twelve.
You see that arrow going up after the G?
and you
see that little treble clef at the end of the measure.
That's to warn us that we
have to move way down here,
to way up in the treble clef.
Measure thirteen starts with
a middle C in the treble clef
but with our left hand 5 finger.
So let's practice
that transition, it's a big one.
We're going to be way down here in this G minor
position with our 5 finger on G,
and then we have to get all the way up to middle
C with our 5 finger.
from G down here to C up here
Now, we have to do this at the same time that we're saying
TA TI-TI TA
TA TI-TI TA
So you're going to want to be really good at that
transition.
Try that along with me three times.
Ready, go,
TA TI-TI TA
TA TI-TI TA
Good, and again,
TA TI-TI TA
TA TI-TI TA
Good, one more time, ready, go,
TA TI-TI TA
TA TI-TI TA
Good, let's do it just one
extra time but with the right hand doing our pattern.
TA TI-TI TA. Ready, here we
go,
TA TI-TI TA
TA TI-TI TA
Good, now let's look
at that next phrase starting at measure thirteen.
We are here with our left hand on
finger 5,
and see where it goes, it goes up to D,
then to E-flat,
remember it's flat, and then back down to D.
Let's do that with our pattern.
TA TI-TI TA
TA TI-TI TA
TA TI-TI TA
TA TI-TI TA
And with the right hand,
TA TI-TI TA
TA TI-TI TA
TA TI-TI TA
TA TI-TI TA
Good,
now let's look back at the beginning of that
phrase, and did you notice that crescendo
at the beginning of measure thirteen?
It says 'cresc.' but that's short for crescendo which means to gradually get louder.
So, if we do this right we're gonna start kind of soft
and get louder through
those four bars.
So it might sound like this:
TA TI-TI TA
TA TI-TI TA
TA TI-TI TA
TA TI-TI TA
Good, let's try that with me. Let's start soft
and then get louder. Ready, set, go,
TA TI-TI TA
TA TI-TI TA
TA TI-TI TA
TA TI-TI TA
Good, now let's go to the next four bars.
Notice those numbers at the top of measure seventeen
That means our right hand
pattern has actually changed.
You'll see the rhythm is still the same, TA TI-TI TA,
but our finger numbers are starting on 5,
and then going 5 4 5 3.
So let's try this new pattern out, 5 4 5 3
TA TI-TI TA
This one might be a little harder because it's using the weaker fingers,
So try this on your own a few times.
Go ahead and pause the video and try this four times in a row without stopping,
and then press play when you're ready.
Good, now let's look at the left hand.
We're still in that C minor position
but we're starting on D.
You'll notice we
ended on D at the previous measure
when we went C D E-flat D, so we're gonna
repeat that D again on measure seventeen.
D, uh oh,
We don't play E-flat this time. See that
natural sign?
That means our 3rd finger has to come back to the white key,
and
play D, E-natural, and then F,
and again back to E-natural.
So let's try that with
our TA TI-TI TA starting our 4th finger on D,
ready go,
TA TI-TI TA
TA TI-TI TA
TA TI-TI TA
TA TI-TI TA
Now let's add the right hand back in,
and
remember it's starting on finger 5.
Let's try that with our left hand
starting on D. Ready go,
5 4 5 3
E-natural
and then back to E-natural.
Good, now try these
last eight measures on your own.
This is where our left hand is now way up in the
treble clef in C minor position,
and try those on your own until they feel really
comfortable,
and then press play when you're ready.
Great job!
You've learned the first half
of this piece. Now the second half is
going to be a little trickier, so if
you'd like to stop here and just learn
this part then go ahead, it'll sound
great.
If you're looking for another challenge, let's go onto page two and learn the second half.
So let's look at measure twenty-one.
Notice the right hand.
The pattern has stopped.
Now we're starting with our 5th finger on G.
How did we get there? We were in G minor position,
at the end of that last measure, now we have
to jump way up to C minor position.
Let's practice that together three times. Let's
play the full measure twenty,
and then the first couple of notes of measure
twenty-one.
Just that much.
So let's do that again three times, ready go,
TA TI-TI TA
TA TI-TI
and again, G minor position, ready go,
TA TI-TI TA
TA TI-TI
Last time, ready go,
TA TI-TI TA
TA TI-TI
Good.
If you feel like you need more time to practice that,
go ahead and pause the
video and work on it until it's really smooth.
For the next four measures, let's
look at the rhythm in the right hand
We've changed our rhythm. We're no longer
doing that ostinato.
Now we have TA TI-TI TI-TI
TA TI-TI TI-TI
TA TI-TI TI-TI
TA TI-TI TA
let's do that again together. Ready go,
TA TI-TI TI-TI
TA TI-TI TI-TI
TA TI-TI TI-TI
TA TI-TI TA
Great, now let's look at
those notes.
We're starting here on finger 5 on that high G
and it's
going to go 5 5 5 4 3 2.
Let's do that one more time, ready go,
G G G F E-flat D
Now the next measure has a little trick
in it. We're going to go 2 2 2 1
and we have to cross 3rd finger over to
get that B-flat.
So we're stating that measure on finger 2 on D.
2 2 2 1 3, and
then our 4th finger should be ready
to play that next C.
So what I recommend
is practicing that last beat of that second measure,
playing thumb on C, 3rd
finger on B-flat, and then 4th finger on C.
So you're playing C twice, but it's
with thumb and then 4th finger.
Let's try that a few times C B-flat C.
Two more times, start with you thumb
C B-flat to C
One more time,
thumb, finger 3, finger 4
Now these are all TI-TI, so it needs to go
pretty fast.
Thumb, 3 4, like that.
So practice that on your own until it sounds really good and really smooth.
Now let's look at
the third measure.
We're starting on that C with our 4th finger,
and it goes
4 4 4 5 4 1
we skip way down to 1
4 4 4 5 4 1
Let's do those two measures again
starting on C with our 4th finger.
TA TI-TI TI-TI
TA TI-TI TA
Now with our finger numbers: 4 4 4 5 4 1 1 1 1
Good
Now let's look at our left hand. It's still up in
this C position in the treble clef.
We start with our finger 1 on that G
and
we play it again, and notice we don't
step down but we skip down to E-flat,
and then down to D.
We should land on finger 4.
Let's do that again,
1 2 3
1 2 3
1 2 3
1 2 3
Now if you're feeling ready to do both hands let's go for it.
So let's do it slow at first.
We should be on G and G, our thumb and our
pinky, ready go,
G G F E D, here comes that transition.
C C D C G G G G
Good, now practice this
on your own until it feels really comfortable.
Pause the video and then
press play when you're ready.
Great, now these next four bars are my
favorite.
They're actually pretty easy, but they sound a lot harder than they are.
So, we're still in the same position with our left hand,
and we just finished
4th finger on D in the previous measure,
so we're gonna repeat that again
at the beginning of measure twenty-five.
Now we don't have an E-flat, see that natural, so
we're gonna play the next D E-natural
and then F sharp and G.
Those four notes
again: 4 3 2 1,
and these are all TI-TI's so it's gonna go kind of fast.
TI-TI TI-TI
Good and you'll notice two measures
later it does the same thing again, so
we're gonna stay right there and get
ready to play that again, but first let's
look at our right hand.
We start on finger 2 on A,
and we have a TI-TI TI-TI
all the way up to our 5th finger and
then back down to 4th finger, and then
down on 3rd finger.
Now notice the rhythm here. It's: TI-TI TI-TI TA TA
If we
start here on finger 2, we'll go all the way up to the pinky
TI-TI TI-TI TA TA
Let's try that again. Ready go,
TI-TI TI-TI TA TA
Now it's really cool when we put the hands together so we do left hand first,
and then right hand.
Starting on that finger 4 on D ready, let's go,
TI-TI TI-TI TI-TI TI-TI TA TA
Good, let's do that one more time.
4 3 2 1 2 3 4 5 4 3
Notice the pattern here,
that we go all the way up from D to D on eighth
notes,
and then when we come back down it's on quarter notes.
TI-TI TI-TI TI-TI TI-TI TA TA
and we all go down two notes before we
start it again.
The next two measures are exactly the
same.
TI-TI TI-TI TI-TI TI-TI TA TA
Now pause the video and practice this section again,
repeating it several times until it sounds great and it feels easy,
then press play to continue.
Great, now we're on measure twenty-nine.
Now look at that right hand we should recognize that same pattern from before.
B-flat A B-flat G
TA TI-TI TA
Good, and that's the same B-flat
that we just ended from measure twenty-eight.
When we finished that line
So we'll end up
playing that B-flat twice at the end of
measure twenty-eight and then again at the
beginning of measure twenty-nine.
And we'll repeat that for the next eight measures.
So let's look at the left hand.
We're still in the same C minor position,
so that F should be with our finger 2.
So let's play that F and then down on finger
3,
and then we do another switch under with our thumb.
and then 2 finger and C, because we have to get all the way down to that G
back in the bass clef.
That's beginning of measure of thirty-three.
So measure twenty-nine
again, we go F on 2 finger,
we go all the way down,
but crossing under with our
thumb on D,
2 on C, and G.
So let's practice this with our TA TI-TI TA. Ready, go,
TA TI-TI TA
TA TI-TI TA
TA TI-TI TA
TA TI-TI TA
and then on the G.
Great, let's put
the two hands together. This is our old pattern again.
Starting on 2 finger
on F, and starting a 3rd finger on B-flat.
Ready go,
thumb under
2 finger on C and then G.
Great! Now look at measure thirty-three, and look at
that left hand.
that G is tied over again to the next measure,
and then again to
the next two more measures.
You're just going to hold that G the whole time.
Two, three, four, whole measures so that should be pretty easy.
Now look at measure thirty-three it
says 'dim. e rall'
Now that means Diminuendo and Rallentando.
Diminuendo means to gradually get softer,
and Rallentando means to
gradually get slower,
but it says second time only.
So this first time we're playing it, we're just going to keep on going.
TA TI-TI TA
TA TI-TI TA
TA TI-TI TA
TA TI-TI TA
Without slowing down or getting softer.
Let's try
that with the slowdown and getting softer, ready go,
TA TI-TI TA
TA TI-TI TA
Good, now look at the last measure of
that phrase.
The last note of the right hand, and that last note of the left hand have a Fermata over them,
and that means you're going to hold that note extra.
You can basically just stop counting and just hold that note and listen to it.
and then lift when you're ready.
It's a really dramatic pause.
Now look at the
end of that phrase at that repeat sign
and maybe you notice something similar
back there at measure five.
Now these are repeat signs. They mean that you'll go
back to where that original sign was,
and start it all over again.
So these measures from five to thirty-six, you'll actually play twice.
Now for this version
of the song this is totally optional.
I like to take the repeat because it makes
the song longer and it's a fun piece to play.
Now let's say we're going to repeat.
So we're going to do this again, 5 finger on G we just got there,
and our same pattern
from before,
and we're gonna do that four times,
but notice where we go back to in
measure five. That same G is gonna get
played but that's supposed to be our
thumb that plays it, and right now we
have our pinkie on it.
So for those four
measures what you can do
is think about how you're gonna get that thumb to
replace the pinkie.
Like this: TA TI-TI TA
And you can just replace it just like
that.
so count four times,
and then we're gonna
on the fifth time play it again but with our thumb.
Ready go, one, two, three, four,
and thumb.
Good, and we're back at measure five.
Now let's look at the coda.
These are the last four measures of the piece so we're almost done.
Now look at that first measure.
There's nothing there huh? Just rests.
Now I love resting here
because it's a really dramatic pause.
We know the song's not over yet so we're
just waiting in silence.
And when it comes in
finally in measure thirty-eight, its Forte,
and there's also a Fermata so you can
stop counting and just hold that beautiful chord.
And you can hold the
pedal down and make it reverberate really nicely.
And that's going to be with finger 3
and finger 5 on B-flat and D.
So try that really good Forte.
Good.
In the next measure we go down to A and C
with finger 2 and 4.
and that's really easy because if we're playing B-flat and D with finger 5 and 3,
you're 2 and 4 fingers are already there.
So let's do that again, those two measures.
Forte, and then fall down, and then back up.
right where you came from.
Good, and
these measures should be really slow and
not try to count them too vigorously so
that it's really dramatic.
Good, now this last measure is interesting,
basically you can play any G you want but these are the G's I like to play.
A really low
G all the way down here in the left hand,
and a really high G way up here in the
right hand.
I think that sounds really good.
So this whole coda from that second
measure end sounds like this,
with the pedal down.
Good, now if you don't have a pedal or
can't reach it that's alright.
It doesn't need the pedal it's just for extra.
It still sounds great without the pedal.
Thanks for learning "Carol of the Bells"
with me.
Now we want to see your performance of "Carol of the Bells",
be sure to post a video on Facebook or Instagram,
and we'll see you next time.
Happy practicing.