Hello and welcome back to Hoffman Academy. I'm Alex.
Today we're going to learn an intermediate arrangement of the theme from Jurassic Park by John Williams arranged by Mona Rejino.
This arrangement comes from sheetmusicdirect.com, and you can get it at the link below this video.
Sheet music direct is a great place to go for arrangements of many of your favorite songs. So when you have the sheet music and you're ready to go, I'll meet you over at the piano.
All right, so because this piece is a little more advanced than we're used to doing,
I'm going to go a lot quicker and just get a lot of the major issues looked at, and so
I probably won't be asking you to pause the video as much. So feel free please to pause the video and practice anything that we cover
cover as much as you need to.
As always, we're going to start with looking at the key signature, the time signature, and the tempo.
The tempo is really slow. Quarter note equals 54,
and that's going to make our quarter notes feel almost like half notes and our eighth notes feel almost like quarter notes,
and so all these sixteenth notes they're going to almost feel like our usual eighth notes.
And we have two flats in the key signature. So B-flats and E-flats. So we're in the key of B-flat major.
And we're in 4/4. So if I count this, it's going to be again really slow like 1-& 2-& 3, like that
That's kind of how fast the regular tempo goes.
Okay, so this first chord, also this arrangement has a great finger numbers, so we're going to watch all these pretty carefully.
So 1 and 3 on each hand works really good for this first chord.
That way I can get down here to this lower E-flat here. Switching to finger 2
because I have this higher E-flat coming up,
and then finger 2 down here
because I have this low F down here.
So great fingers. Let's do that one more time. Here's from the beginning, & 2 3-& 4
& 4
& 4 Now here,
5 and 2
works great going into this chord. This is a 6/4 measure by the way.
& 2-& 3-& 4-& 5-& 6, now this rhythm looks weird here you have to watch out. There's starting on this beat 3, there's a quarter note F down here, and then another quarter note,
and then when this comes in it's an eighth note.
So counting that again that's & 2-& 3-& 4-& 5-& 6
And there's a big crescendo there, and then we have a rest
1-& 2
E-flat major chord here.
Goes up to the G in the left hand. Watch out for that.
I'm going to use my 2nd finger here and the 5 and the 1.
I'll pause there for a second. You'll see in this arrangement there's also a lot of these big groups of dotted eighth note, sixteenth note, dotted eighth note, sixteenth note like in this measure eight we're doing.
It's kind of like two TIM-KI's but they're all beamed in one group, so you have to think of those as still just 2 beats.
TIM-KI TIM-KI TA
Let's go on. Measure nine, or pick up to measure nine starting with my 2nd finger on this F because I have this low B-flat coming up.
Keep those eighth notes going down here.
& 4
Good. I'm going to pause on that real quick. This is a little tricky, this 5th finger to 4th finger, to this chord here. So if that's a little tricky you'll definitely want to pause that
because what's going to be tricky is going
smoothly.
I imagine some of you are going to be tempted to make it a separate thing, but if you can
you'll want to make that a really smooth transition.
If it's still tricky, try curling your fingers a little bit.
So flat fingers are going to make that really difficult.
See that?
So those curved fingers are going to help there.
Okay, now we made it to measure twelve. Now here in measure twelve
I'm going to show you a really cool strategy for practicing that I like to use a lot.
And so I'm actually going to get into the sheet music and starting at measure nineteen we're going to work
backwards from measure nineteen back to this spot at measure twelve.
All right, we're going to work backwards from measure nineteen right here,
and this is a lot like if you notice measure eight back on the first page, and what I'm going to use are these sticky notes.
And I do this as a way to stop myself. I notice sometimes I and my students get tempted to keep on going
and when we're getting excited about learning, but we're going to stop right there,
and I'm going to use another sticky note to decide where I'm going to start and I can start on as little a piece of music as I want.
Or even bigger, and I'm going to start here just to remind myself how this section goes, and this reminds me that's all that I'm working on.
So this again sounds like this:
So I worked on that back in measure eight. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to put my starting sticky note
back here. Now I can do this right here, and just give myself one extra beat.
Just like that, and maybe I'll even start put my closing right there because I already know that other section,
and I can just practice this spot
from there to there as many times as I need it until I get it.
Now here's a cool trick: I can also
block off just one hand
so it's not totally like doing hands separate, it's hand separate just for a little bit, and then I'll do hands together starting here again. So I'll play this section. This is that high C
right there.
and I can work on that just right hand,
and my left hand is ready to go over here again.
And then when I feel ready, I can reveal that other note there.
And I can keep repeating that as many times as I need until I feel really good about it.
And then I can start moving my sticky notes back,
and this time I'm going to reveal just a little bit of this left hand right there starting with this F and the D.
And I'm going to add in this right hand here.
And take my time.
And I can keep stopping there. Now I can keep working this way and I can maybe add a few more left hand notes.
I'm going to kind of
block myself off, and you can use
sticky notes or bookmarks or pieces of paper or if you can just not use them and use your imagination,
and remember where you're going to start and stop, but I like this because then I can say I'm not going to move these sticky notes
until I know I've got this part figured out and I can play it really well.
See that?
And this is a great way to practice for me and my students because sometimes if we always start a song from the beginning
and then work our way forwards we get really good at the beginning because we keep playing from the beginning,
but then we get less good as we go along. This way I'm going to be really good at this spot because I'll play it more times,
and that way as I'm playing it actually gets better and better the more I go because this is new but this is
this is old. I've practiced this several times now. So now I'm going to figure out this new right hand part.
Maybe I'll even just figure out that right hand part. I'll block that off.
That's just on beat 1 2 3 4, and 4
See how that works?
I'm going to add in both hands there.
Great, now sometimes you'll go along and you'll decide um
maybe I really need to work on this spot. So you can move this. This is really great. You can just say oh I'm going to work on just
that spot now,
and this is a great way to isolate those really tricky spots.
Now here I want this melody to come out, so I'm going to try to bring this out extra. I'm going to practice this left hand first
by itself.
I want to make sure that's really loud, and I want to make sure this in the right hand is
a little softer.
Again.
See how easy that is?
Now if I feel confident about this, I'm going to just keep that there.
And I'll keep working backwards this way.
Now this part is tricky too because I have this busy right hand part,
but the melody is still in the left hand, and I'm going to put my sticky note right there.
Now one thing you can do before you start putting sticky notes everywhere is
maybe you'll get to a spot you don't know which finger to start on,
so you can add those finger numbers in. Now if I've gone through forward I would have known that this would be finger 2,
and that's fingers 1, 3, and 5. So I can add those in wherever I need.
That's the G B-flat E-flat, and the B-flat up there.
See how that works? And we'll go one more time. Find my chord there, starting point there.
And I think you get the idea.
Okay, so if I feel pretty confident about this, I'm actually going to move my ending sticky note here. Now in real life I'll
do this process a lot slower, repeating each section many more times until I feel really good about it.
So now I can work backwards not even just 1 beat at a time, I can move back just one note if I feel like it helps.
So this is that same chord again. I'm going to use the same fingers. That's going to be finger 5 on that high F.
See that?
And I can add just as much as I feel like I need.
I'm going to add in a few extra notes. I like starting on the beat because it does feel more normal to start on a downbeat.
So I'm going to get my left hand ready but starting with my right hand here.
See how that is?
And if I keep playing it,
I can get a little faster a little easier each time.
And then when I feel ready, I'm going to add in that left hand
chord right there. That's an F major chord.
Again, I'm starting on finger 2 just in case I want to remind myself where I'm starting.
And I'll add that chord in like this.
And sometimes I'll find like maybe this isn't really the hard part, maybe it's getting this
moved over there. So maybe I can add another sticky note here and just get that
part really comfortable and make sure I get that motion from the F chord to that E-flat major chord.
Get that part figured out so that way I'm getting every single detail really really figured out
um quite well, and now I'm going to start here.
Going really slowly each hand. This is a new chord there.
This is the same finger over here on this beat 3 as beat 1 so that should be a little easier.
Great.
Okay, so keep working with this technique until you get all the way back to where we left off at measure twelve,
and I'll go back there and just play through slowly that whole section and then keep going onto the third page.
Okay, so now if you've worked backwards all the way back from nineteen
back to twelve, now I can start at twelve and I'll play through it really slow this time going forwards.
Here's measure twelve that first chord, remember I'm way up here on this high B-flat
and on this low B-flat here.
Finger 2
E-flat finger 4
Now here remember there's uh there's a B-flat up here that's a half note and I have to keep holding that
even though I'm changing
this stuff going on in my thumb and 2nd finger.
So I want to make sure I'm holding that until it changes to the A on beat 3. Here it is again, measure thirteen.
There's the change, but I got to keep holding that A.
Like that.
Now this time I'm holding the D in my thumb while I'm moving these other fingers. I can change it there, there's a ritard so I'm going to slow that down,
and then there's an actual rest in both hands, so I'm going to lift both hands so that this melody really comes out.
I want to bring out this melody
in the left hand.
Now watch out for this part.
There's a lot of back and forth.
I'm going slow here. Now this chord is really cool.
It's A-flat to F, A-flat C and E-flat there, and then notice this next part is 8va,
which if you remember means an octave higher. So it looks like it's this F, but actually this F up here.
For just that quick moment.
So I'll play the measure, this measure again.
And you'll watch me move up right here,
and then back down because that's all there is for the 8va.
Finger two of this works really well so that I can get to my finger 5 up there. Some more F's. This is a lot like before.
Switch to finger 3 right here.
So that I can get down again to that B-flat.
Move to finger 5 down here, and finger 5 right here.
And then move both hands out 2 1.
Now this part is really cool. This measure has these sixteenth rests on beat 1
and beat 2 and beat 3 right on the downbeat. So I have to go 1-e-&-a 2-e-&-a 3-e-&-a
4, like that. I'll do it again really slow because this is a weird measure.
1 E-flat, and the wrist
and then right away to the right hand.
And there's that B-flat chord again. Now this is a tricky rhythm here too because this is beat 1. 1-& 2
So that happens right on beat 2. 2 and then move my hand down for beat 3.
But notice on that B-flat, that's when the left hand changes to the E-flat.
So I'm going to go from that first beat. 1-& 2, get the left hand ready, 3 there 4. Just like that.
That's beat 1, and then starting on beat 2 I have this
slow nice gentle arpeggiation up there.
Now another 8va, so this octave is way up there.
Okay, now I'm going to play through the entire thing without stopping,
with all the rhythms and notes and everything included.
So go ahead and just follow along in your sheet music and when you're ready, then you can go back and play along either with
right hand or left hand or even both hands.
Thanks for watching. I hope you had fun learning the "Jurassic Park Theme" with me today. Be sure to come back for more awesome lessons and tutorials of your favorite songs.