Frosty the Snowman - Accompaniment

Hi, I'm Stephanie, and today you're going to learn the accompaniment to "Frosty the Snowman." Accompaniment is the part that's played behind the melody. So the melody is in a different tutorial. If you don't know that yet and you'd like to, you can go ahead to that tutorial, but for now we're just going to learn the part that makes the melody look good. This is a little bit more advanced. I'd recommend it for a level three player or above, and at Hoffman Academy that would be like Unit 11 or above. Okay, so let's get started. For this song you're actually going to have your thumbs both on C. Your 2 finger on B-flat. So that your right hand C position and your left hand is basically F position. It starts with an intro. Then begins ♫Frosty the Snowman♫ Okay, so let's go through the intro. The intro is actually the hardest part. Just the right hand starts on 3 finger. And then the left hand comes in to finish the melody right there. Then the second half. So I didn't do that well just now, but you go You have a TIM-KI rhythm, so that first note is longer. Then the right hand comes in on 3 finger. Just to give another push into where this song starts in the next measure. So we have: Okay, now we're going to add two notes in the left hand. There's a B-flat and then a B natural right after, right at the beginning. So you let your B-flat slide to B natural. Okay, and it looks like this: Okay, in context for the whole line it goes: Okay, it might be a little faster than the actual song. 1 2 3 But take your time speeding up. That's fine. Okay, now the first section. Here's how it sounds. ♫Frosty the Snowman was a jolly happy soul.♫ ♫With a corncob pipe and a button nose, and two eyes made out of coal♫ Okay, so that's a lot. We're just going to break it down. It starts with your pinky and thumb. You do that three times, then you move up to your 3 finger. Okay, 1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4 then your two fingers on the B-flat. Your right hand switches to 2 finger. Left hand comes off, right hand goes up to 4 finger. It's a little tricky sequence. B-flat, D, B natural, F 2 2 2 4 It always helps with tricky things that go back and forth to say it out loud as you do it. So speak the notes or speak the finger numbers as you play that. Okay, now the next measure is C F F C. C F F C. Left, right, left, right. 1 4 5 1 All right, so those two measures together, the one before this one and this one, starting on the B-flat. B-flat, D, B natural, F C F F C Okay, all four measures together. Okay, with the melody. ♫Frosty the Snowman was a jolly happy soul♫ All right, now the next four measures. ♫With a corn cob pipe and a button nose, and two eyes made out of gold♫ Okay so you've noticed it starts the same way as the previous two measures. B-flat D B natural F C F F, and then we have a chord, D and F. All right, now the next two measures you play G with your left hand. C with your right hand, switch the chord to 3 and 5 finger, E and G, and then land on F. and then we have the same pattern. As from the beginning. So you may notice a trend happening here. The melody and the accompaniment are working together to create a full song. The accompaniment though sounds pretty empty. It's just left, right, left, right, left, right, left, right, but with the melody the harmonies become more complete. So at measure nine. ♫with a corn cob pipe and a bottom nose, and two eyes made out of gold♫ Sounds more like a song if you have the melody. Okay, let's go back to measure five when the melody comes in for the first time. Play this first section through. 1 2 3 4, ♫Frosty the Snowman was a jolly happy soul ♫With a corn cob pipe and a button nose and two eyes made out of coal♫ All right, pause and practice that as many times as you need. All right, we're going to repeat this section but when we see the first ending we'll actually skip that and go to the second ending. So now we're on the second verse. 'Frosty the Snowman it's a fairy tale they say,' and when we get to the very end we will go on to measure thirteen. Here's how it sounds. ♫Frosty the Snowman is a fairy tale they say♫ ♫He was made of snow, but the children know how he came to life one day♫ And then we go into the B section. Okay, so let's review that at the second ending. We have G, D and F, C, E, and G. We've done that before, but let's review that again. Then we land on F, and then the right hand it's going to play that F first, F F, then we have this contrary motion. Okay, 3 2, if you notice goes to that E-flat left hand G A. And the left hand plays that B-flat alone. Okay so with tricky measures like this, say out loud what you're doing. F F, G and E, A and E-flat, B flat. You could even say left, right, together, together, left. Whatever is going to help you. Try that a few times and we'll move on. Now for the B section. The B section has a lot of unique movement, unique harmonies. Starts with the two finger in your left hand like we said, B-flat, D, B natural, repeat D, then C, F, go down to A, repeat F. So again we have that left, right, left, right motion, but the left hand will be holding the note instead of a staccato feel like before. Try that again. Now the next two measures. B F C E F F A C ...