Welcome back to Hoffman Academy. I'm Alex.
Today we're going to learn how to play "Joy to the World".
This is one of the oldest Christmas songs we still have today.
It was written over 300 years ago by George Frederick Handel, who if you didn't know is the
guy.
Yeah, he wrote that too.
This arrangement is for the elementary level, which means if you're a Hoffman Academy student,
it would be for someone around units five and above.
Before we start please click the link below for the sheet music that we'll be using today,
and when you're ready, let's go to the piano.
All right, let's start by looking at the sheet music and see what we can learn from it.
For starters, I see no sharps or flats in the key signature, so that means that this arrangement is in the key of C major.
I also see that it's in 4/4 time, and that the tempo is allegretto, which means a little fast.
Next, I would briefly look through the whole score
and see what there is that we that we might find that could be helpful before starting out.
First, as I look through the right hand part, I see that it has a pretty wide range. Meaning that the highest note is treble C,
and its lowest note is middle C.
Which means I probably won't be spending very much time in C position as a warning.
I also see a few dotted quarter and eighth note pairs,
and if you're already familiar with this melody and how it sounds, then there shouldn't be any problem there, but
we can quickly review that rhythm and see how it sounds.
Remember, a dotted quarter note is a full beat and a half, so if I'm counting the beat you'll hear me count that beat that it's on,
and the next beat before you play the next eighth note.
For example, look at this first measure.
There's a half note on beats 1 and 2.
Then the dotted quarter starts on beat 3.
Beat 4 happens right here just before the eighth note,
and then you'll play the eighth note on what we'd call the & of 4.
So let's clap that rhythm in the first measure a couple times.
Just that first measure, and then stop on the first beat of measure 2 like this: 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4-& 1
Good, a little faster now: 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4-& 1
Good. Practice that a few times if you need to.
Great now let's learn this melody in the right hand first.
The first phrase is just a big descending scale from a treble C here all the way to middle C here.
So this starts on finger 5, and it's going to sound like this:
DO TI LA SO FA MI RE DO
Great, now you'll see how you have to cross over with the 3rd finger when we get to that
E, that F to E.
That's how we do a full C major scale from DO to DO.
Let's do it again. 1 2 3 4 DO TI LA SO FA MI RE DO.
Good. Let's do that again a little faster. Ready? 1 2 3 4 DO TI LA 1 2 3 FA MI RE DO.
Excellent, let's go a little bit faster.
1 2 3 4 DO TI LA SO FA MI RE DO.
Excellent.
What's next is treble G on finger 2.
Now this is SO,
but we definitely don't want to use our fifth finger because we're going to have to get up higher again.
So we're gong to move our 2nd finger like it says to that treble G,
and it's going to sound like this:
SO LA LA TI TI DO
and you'll hold that a long time. See there's a tie there. We're going to hold that for 7 beats,
but it's fast beats, so it won't be that long.
Let's do it again starting with finger 2 on treble G.
I'm going to count 1 2 3, and then we're in on 4. Ready, 1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4
1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4,
1 2 3 Great, let's do it a little faster, ready?
I'll count to 3. 1 2 3, 4 1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4, 1 2 3
Great, now this next phrase is a set of eight notes that you'll play twice exactly the same.
Before we play, notice that there are some finger numbers here so let's see what they're all about.
Both those notes are treble G, but the first one is finger 2 and the second one is finger 3.
That's because if we stayed on finger 2 we'd run out of fingers
and wouldn't be able to get down to this E down here as easily,
and we want this to be as smooth as possible, so we're going to use finger 2 and then finger 3
so that we can get down to the E like that.
Let me play that first, ready? 1 2 3 DO DO TI LA SO SO FA MI Good let's play that together a couple times.
Ready, starting on the C. 1 2 3 DO DO TI LA SO SO FA MI. Good, did you get that finger switch from 2 to 3?
Let's try that again. 1 2 3 DO DO TI LA SO SO FA MI
Good, let's play that twice in a row just like it says, ready starting on C 1 2 3
DO DO TI LA SO SO FA MI, DO DO TI LA SO SO FA MI
Good, let's play that a little faster in position.
And 1 2 3: DO DO TI LA SO SO FA MI, DO DO TI LA SO SO FA MI
Great, feel free to pause the video and practice anything we've done so far,
and press play when you're ready.
Great, this next part is what we call a sequence.
A sequence is a little piece of a melody that repeats, but when it's played the second time it's all either one note higher or lower.
This last phrase wasn't a sequence because it was all exactly the same each time.
So let's hear how this new phrase sounds.
Starting on finger 1 where we just finished on E, and it goes like this:
MI MI MI MI MI FA SO
Uh oh, pause here that's an F with finger 3, but my finger 3 is already here on G.
So that means you got to lift the 3rd finger, move it to F, and finish that phrase like this:
FA MI RE RE RE RE MI FA
Good, let's play that together starting with your thumb on E. This is the last beat of measure twelve.
Ready, 1 2 3 MI MI MI MI MI FA SO, lift,
FA MI RE RE RE RE MI FA
Great let's play that a little faster. Move to E with finger 1. Ready? 1 2 3
MI MI MI MI MI FA SO
FA MI RE RE RE RE MI FA
Great.
Now it looks like this next part is going to repeat again,
but you'll see that it's going to be quite a bit different.
This moves the 3rd finger again down to E.
MI RE DO, but right here is this huge octave leap.
MI RE DO DO
Let's try that a couple times. That's kind of tricky. Starting on third finger on E.
Ready, MI RE DO DO
Great, now after that DO it's a skip down to A.
Don't forget that skip and then all the rest of this is steps.
Let me play that for measure seventeen.
DO DO LA SO FA MI FA MI RE DO
Now, did you see that I had to cross my 3rd finger over pretty quickly on that eighth note?
Let's practice that part right there. Those three notes this is G F E.
When you play that G, you're going to be on your 2nd finger.
2 1 3, and it's going to be pretty fast so practice that a couple times slow first. Ready,
1 2-& 3, and again 2nd finger on G, ready go: 1 2-& 3
Good.
Now let's play that whole phrase starting from the last beat of measure sixteen. This is the
MI RE DO octave leap. Ready, let's go really slow together.
I'll count to 3, 1 2 3, MI RE DO DO LA SO FA MI FA MI RE DO
Good. Let's go a little faster. Same spot 3rd finger on E 1 2 3
MI RE DO DO LA SO, cross over, 4 3 2 1
Let's go even faster. This is that hard part, ready, and 1 2 3
MI RE DO DO LA SO FA MI FA MI RE DO
Great, now let's look at this left-hand part. We've made this left hand part as easy as possible.
So, I'm thinking if you could play that right hand part pretty well,
that you should be able to sight read this left hand part.
So we're actually going to play the whole thing the whole left hand part together right now,
but I'll give you some hints to start.
It's going to stay in C position right here.
And it only uses these notes: C, E, F, and G.
So, you got your sight reading goggles on, and you're in position let's give this a try. We'll start really slow,
and then you can practice on your own maybe faster, but here we go, ready? Starting on the C.
1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4,
1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4,
C 2 3 now F, 1 2 3 4,
1 2, here comes my half notes, 1 2 3 4,
1 2 3 4, now a chord, 2 3 4,
hold it 2 3 4, again 2 3 4, hold it, 2 3 4,
1 2 3 4, rest, 2 3, rest.
G 2 3 4, rest, 2 3, rest, 1 2 3 4,
1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4,
and then this is C and E that last chord. It's like a I chord but it's missing the top note.
How did you do?
Great, now before we put hands together pause the video and practice either hand separately on your own first.
Or you can go back and play along with my right hand on any of those parts that you think need some extra practice.
Then press play when you're ready to try hands together.
Alright, now as always when putting hands together you want to make sure of a couple of things first.
First, each hand's part needs to be perfect and easy,
and second you want to keep an eye on that sheet music as much as possible so you can keep track
of what each hand is supposed to be doing.
It's really hard to just remember what each hand is doing,
and if you find yourself looking at your hands trying to remember it all, it's going to be hard. So keep an eye on that sheet music
as much as you can.
Okay, let's get in position and let's give this a try really slowly at first. So left hand on that bass E,
right hand on this treble C. Okay I mean really slow so keep it with me.
1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4, and 1 2 3, cross over right here, 1
2 3 4, 1 2, stretch up here,
1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4, half notes
4 1 2 3, here's the chord, 1 2 3, switch fingers, 3 2 1
1 2 3 4, 1 2-& 3 4,
1 2 3 4, 1 2 3, lift, 1
4 1 2 3, lift again, 3 2, there's a MI in the left hand, octave,
skip,
4 1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4.
All right, how did you do?
Great, now the last thing we need to talk about is the dynamics.
If you notice there is a lot of dynamic markings in this piece. It starts with forte.
Down on measure twelve I see a mezzo piano.
And then it goes back to forte in measure sixteen.
And that makes all the difference when you're playing this piece.
So I'm going to play it once. Full speed and with those dynamics, and you'll see how it makes
the whole song just liven up a bit. Ready?
Thanks for watching! We hope you enjoyed learning "Joy to the World" today,
a great Christmas classic you can add to your repertoire of holiday favorites.
Be sure to like this video and subscribe if you haven't already, and share what you learned today with your friends and family.
You can also learn a whole lot more at hoffmanacademy.com.
Merry Christmas, happy holidays, and happy practicing.
Do you know what the very best Christmas present is?
What?
A broken drum!
A broken drum? Why would that be the best Christmas present?
It simply can't be beat!
Oh I get it!