Into the Unknown

Hello and welcome. I'm Joseph Hoffman
and today with help from my friend Olaf,
we brought my piano all the way up to
the kingdom of Arendelle
so we could learn how to play "Into The Unknown" from Frozen 2.
Queen Elsa, what an honor.
Mr. Hoffman, you must leave. Arendelle is no longer safe.
We need to go to the enchanted lands and,
♫into the unkno--♫
I know! I was just about to teach
everyone how to play "Into The Unknown."
You know, your song?
If you stay, you could be swept away by magic whirl winds, or crushed by stone giants.
Do you want that?
Well, how about we learned the song first, and then leave?
Okay!
Hi Olaf!
Great, then let's learn how to play..
♫"Into The Unknown"♫
All right, "Into The Unknown" has a rather
unusual time signature, 12/8.
Now, if you already are very familiar with what
12/8 is, feel free to skip ahead.
Otherwise, let me give you a real quick
explanation so you know how to count these rhythms.
12/8 is actually very similar to 4/4.
In 12/8, instead of 4 quarter note beats, you
get four dotted quarter note beats.
Everything kind of becomes dottified
in 12/8.
And, the reason for that 12,
is because when you split up each of these
dotted quarter notes into eighth notes, you actually get twelve of them.
Twelve eighth notes per measure,
but we don't count all twelve because that
would be: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10..
We just still count this as the beat.
1 2 3 4,
but inside each of these beats we get three little subdivisions.
1-&-a 2-&-a 3-&-a 4-&-a
That's part of the exciting rhythm of this piece.
So you're going to be seeing a lot of these dotted quarter notes.
Remember, each one will get 1 beat.
You also might see dotted
quarter rests. That will also equal 1 beat.
If you see a dotted half note,
that will get 2 beats in 12/8,
and if you see a dotted whole note
that will get 4 beats.
So again, everything kind of has become dotified.
It used to be that a half note would get 2 beats.
Now a dotted half note is getting 2 beats, and a dotted whole note is getting 4 beats.
If this all seems confusing,
don't worry, I'll walk you through it in the music.
So for example, down here in the sheet music, this dotted quarter rest that's beat 1,
and then beat 2 can take up
both of these.
Here's beat 3 on that dotted quarter note.
Here's beat 4,
then here's a dotted half note which is 2 beats: 1 2
A dotted half rest gets 2 more beats. 3 4 and then 1.
Now, if this is all too confusing don't worry, I'll guide you through, and you can always just
listen to the original sound track and learn the rhythms
by ear, and just match what you
hear on the sound track,
but for those who are like music theory nerds like me,
I kind of like to know what's going on
with the rhythms, and now you know what 12/8 is.
Let's come to the piano and start playing.
So to start off, we're going to need just these three
notes on the piano. Here's my middle C,
and I recommend that you use right hand fingers 1 2 3, remember your thumb is 1.
So just use those three fingers on E-flat F and G-flat.
and in your sheet music, you'll see all these flat symbols,
and that's just a reminder
that you'll be on one of these black keys.
Start off on the G-flat, and I'll
use finger numbers to try and guide you.
This is that mysterious voice that Queen
Elsa is hearing
We have: rest
♫Ah♫
And in finger numbers that's:
3 2 3 1 Now you try.
Good, and then we have rest, rest, rest, and then we hear it again.
♫Ah♫
3 2 3 1
Your turn.
Good.
After that, your right
hand is going to move down nearer to middle C
On E-flat F G-flat A-flat B-flat
Using fingers 1 2 3 4 5
So, let's just try putting your fingers
in that position.
Mostly on black keys. Your only white key is with finger 2 on this F, but go ahead and move it up
near the black keys, so it's more
comfortable like this.
So find this position let's just try playing all the notes.
1 2 3 4 5
Now you try.
Now those are the notes you'll need for your right hand.
Your left hand is going to be playing some middle C's every once in a while to help with the melody.
So go ahead and place your left hand finger 1
one on middle C.
So these are the notes
we're using for this next section,
and we have: ♫I can hear you♫ In the right hand
that's: 1 1 2 1
Your turn.
Then we have rest, rest, and the left hand plays
♫but♫, comes back to the right hand
♫I won't♫
Using finger 1 in both hands.
Left hand 1, right hand 1 1
♫but I won't♫ Your ...