El Matador: Part 2

Hello and welcome back.

I'm Joseph Hoffman, and in this lesson we're going to work on learning page two of "El Matador" by Melody Bober.

If you haven't already, be sure to purchase your own copy of Grand Solos for Piano: Book Four

so you can have your own score to read as you learn this piece.

There's a link below to purchase the music.

So grab your score, and let's get started learning page two of "El Matador."

What do you notice about measures 13, 14, and 15?

Who has the melody here?

If you said the left hand, you're correct.

Let's try tapping that rhythm for the left hand part.

Can you count the 6 beats for each eighth note while tapping the rhythm of the right hand?

I'll count 6 beats to get us started.

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

How many beats does this dotted quarter note get?

If you said 3 beats, you're correct.

In 6/8 time,

the dotted quarter note would get 3 beats.

Try tapping it one more time while we count the beat. Ready, go.

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

Great.

Now on your own, can you pause the video and learn how to play measures 13 through 16, left hand part, then press play to go on.

Now, what chord is the right hand playing in measure 13? Can you show me?

Try it on your piano.

If you're playing an A major chord, you're correct.

And how many beats does that chord hold?

if you said 3 beats, you're correct. 1 2 3 4 5 6, 1 2 3 4 5 6.

and then here we get what chord do you see here in measure 14?

Can you tell me its name?

If you said D minor, you're correct. Look, it's a D minor chord in second inversion.

So we're going back and forth between this A major chord,

and a D minor chord. It's a really cool sound don't you think?

Now, a little quick theory challenge for you.

Looking at the left hand part in measures 13 and 14, can you find the interval of a sixth?

Point to it.

If you're pointing here from the A to the F, going across the bar line,

great job. That's a sixth there, which means you'll have to just reach up a little bit with your finger 1 and then we come back.

Now, I'd like you to pause and work on measures 13 through 16 hands together now.

Then press play to go on.

Now let's check out measures 17 through 20.

I'd like you to pause the video and try and learn this section on your own.

You'll notice it looks very similar to measures 9 through 12, but there are a couple of key

differences. Can you look very carefully, find what's different here from the section we played before in measures 9 through 12. Learn it on your own, then press play and we'll check it out together.

So you probably found that it starts off the same.

But then here in measure 19 we start to see some changes. The left hand now is playing block chords.

The right hand melody changes a little bit here. We skip up a fourth, then down a fifth, and then the left hand has this new pattern here, this root, fifth,

root pattern we've seen so often, right? Play an A, then finger 2 on E, finger 1 comes up to A.

1 2 3 4 5 6

Now, if that match what you played great job. If you need more time to practice it you can always pause for more work.

Now, let's check out the rhythms for measures 21 and 22.

Can you pause the video and on your own see if you can figure out how to tap the rhythm

of measure 21 on your own. You could write the counts right in the music if you like.

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

Here are the counts placed in measure 21.

We have 1-& 2-& 3-& 4-& 5-& 6-&.

Now notice that tie in the left hand means we're going to hold that first note

for 4 beats. 3 for the dotted quarter note plus one more for that next eighth note.

So be sure you observe that tie and keep holding that down until beats 5 6.

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

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

A little faster would be 1 2-& 3-& 4 5 6.

When you go faster, sometimes it's helpful to leave out the &'s. 1 2-& 3 4 5 6.

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

Now, let's try to play it.

So notice it's marked piano here. 1 2-& 3-& 4 5 6, 1 2-& 3-& 4 5 6.

Now, pause to work on playing measures 21, 22, then press play to go on.