El Matador: Part 1

Hello and welcome back. I'm Joseph Hoffman, and in this lesson we're going to start learning a very fun and flashy piece by composer Melody Bober.

Who lives and teaches piano here in the United States in the state of Minnesota.

The piece we're going to learn today is "El Matador" from Grand Solos for Piano Book Four.

Let's have a listen to "El Matador."

By the way, this piece is not owned by Hoffman Academy, so in order to learn this piece,

you'll need to purchase your own original copy.

I'm not going to show you all the notes in this video.

I'm only going to demonstrate certain parts of it for learning purposes,

and then it'll be up to you to learn the rest by reading from the score yourself.

This book is a fantastic collection of ten great pieces you can learn.

So, please respect copyright law and support the work of Melody Bober, by purchasing your own copy.

I'll include a link below for ordering.

You're going to love this collection, and it's a great chance to start building your own music library.

If you don't have your own book yet, then I suggest you pause the video and come back to watch the rest once you have it.

If you already have your copy, then let's get started learning how to play "El Matador."

Do you know what a matador is.

El matador means the bull fighter.

A tradition from Spanish culture, so you'll notice a lot of Spanish-sounding rhythms and harmonies

and melodies in this piece. It has lots of Spanish flair.

Our tempo indication from Melody Bober is with energy,

which makes sense. We'll check our clefs: treble and bass,

and I don't see any sharps or flats for a key signature,

which tells us we're either in the key of C major or

possibly A minor.

Take a look at this first chord and tell me which key you think we are in.

Well, we see that we have our very first chord is an A minor chord, so

that tells us we know we will be in the key of A minor. The key signature of no sharps or flats.

Now let's check out our time signature. We're in 6/8 time.

It's a great time signature, and that means we'll be counting six eighth note beats per measure.

So let's practice tapping the rhythm.

I'm going to close my piano lid, but you can tap on your lap or on any flat surface.

Let's look at the rhythm for the right hand part.

Notice we have this dotted eighth note,

which will get beat 1 plus half of beat 2. So we'll have 1-& 2-& 3-& for these first three notes.

Try that with me and count the beat out loud. Ready, go.

1-& 2-& 3-&,

and then look at the next 3 beats, then we have 4 5-& 6-&.

So all together: 1-& 2-& 3-& 4-& 5-& 6-&.

Try tapping that with me ready go. 1-& 2-& 3-& 4-& 5-& 6-&.

Now, this song because it goes fast, we're going to have to speed that up 1 2-& 3 4 5 6.

Listen again. 1 2-& 3 4 5 6.

Now try it with me, ready go. 1 2-& 3 4 5 6.

Now let's look at the next measure.

Here we have an eighth rest which gets beat 1, and then two sixteenth notes which share beat 2.

So 1 2-& 3 4 5 6 is measure two. Listen again 1 2-& 3 4 5 6. Try it with me, ready, go. 1 2-& 3 4 5 6.

So let's put that together with measure one. We have 1 2-& 3 4 5 6, 1 2-& 3 4 5 6.

Try it with me, ready, go. 1 2-& 3 4 5 6, 1 2-& 3 4 5 6.

Pause if you need more practice with that.

Otherwise let's try and play it.

Now using the rhythms we just practiced, can you figure out how to play measures one and two right hand part on your own?

Pause try and figure it out, and then press play and we'll check it out together.

Here's what you should have played.

1 2-& 3 4 5 6, 1 2-& 3 4 5 6.

If that matched what you played, great job.

If you need more time to practice it, you can always pause.

But let's look at what the left hand is doing now.

Can you play the first chord for the left hand?

If you're playing this, you're correct.

Here's my middle C. So we're going a skip below, a skip above middle C,

and then what is the left hand doing?

Notice it's just stepping down using these open fifth chords. 1 2-& 3 4 5 6, 1 2-& 3 4 5 6.

Pause to work on that part hands together, then press play to go on.

Now notice these symbols underneath?

Do you remember what that means?

This is the damp ...