Lesson 303

Spinning Song: B Section, Part 2 & Coda

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Hello and welcome back. I'm Joseph Hoffman,

and in this lesson we're going to finish learning "Spinning Song" by Albert Ellmenreich from measure 43 to the ending.

Let's come to the piano to get started.

So let's pick up where we left off last time here in measure 43.

You'll notice here the right hand takes over the melody again

using a rhythm that we saw earlier with the left hand at the start of the B section.

1-& 2-&-a, 1-& 2-&, 1-& 2-&-a, 1-& 2-&

So now let's take this apart. Here at the start of measure 43 what interval is the right hand playing?

If you said an octave or an eighth, you're correct.

Now, if your hands cannot reach an entire octave no problem. Just leave off the bottom note and play only that top one,

but if your hands can reach an octave, great.

No problem either way. 1-& 2-&-a, 1-&, and make sure we let go to respect the rest.

1-& 2-&-a, 1-& 2-&, 1-& 2-&-a, 1-& 2-&, 1-& 2-&-a, 1-& 2-&,

1-& 2-&-a, 1-& 2-&, 1-& 2-&. Notice all the syncopation there.

When things happen a lot on &'s, remember that's called syncopation. 1-& 2-&, 1-& 2-& I'd like you to pause now and work on the right hand alone

while you count the beat out loud. You can just do subdivided eighth notes. 1-& 2-&, 1-& 2

work on the right hand alone

on that section those two lines, then press play to go on.

Now did you notice we have another tonal shift here?
What's happening? We've got all these B naturals and A-sharps. What could be happening?

We also have these G-sharps so what has a C-sharp and a G-sharp and B natural as well? It's a tonal shift to A major right here.

Ellmenreich is having some fun.

It's common to have tonal shifts in a B section of a piece.

So let's check out what the left hand is doing.

We start off with a slur

going into three staccati. 1-& 2-&, 1-& 2-&, and note this chord. You've got to see where the sharp is it's on the G.

So G becomes G-sharp. 1-& 2-&, 1-& 2-&, 1-& 2-&, 1-& 2-&

Okay, pause and work on learning the left hand alone

from measure 43 all the way through measure 51.

Pause to work on learning the left hand part alone, then press play to go on.

One thing about doing this kind of pattern

is you want to put a little emphasis on this first note by dropping down. Down, up, up,

up, and then make those staccati really light. 1-& 2-& Thinking of a floating up motion as you play those. 1-& 2-&

1-& 2-& The first note will be a little stronger with the dropping motion and then the staccati are all very gentle and light.

1-& 2-&-a, 1-& 2-&, 1-& 2-&-a, 1-& 2-&,

1-& 2-&-a, 1-& 2-&, 1-& 2-&-a, 1-& 2-&, 1-& 2-&.

Now let's look at the left-hand part here.

In measure 50, we have this two-note chord on the A and C-sharp, rest,

and then what intervals do we have here? We're playing in octaves. Now again, if your hand

isn't quite big enough to reach that no problem. Just leave off the top note this time and let's stick with the bottom note.

The reason I suggest that is

when you've got octaves in the right hand you want to usually leave off the bottom note and play the top.

In the left hand you want to leave off the top note and play the bottom.

So you get the most extreme ends because

in music that's usually the most exciting

part of the chord is those extremes. We want the lowest notes, we want the highest notes possible.

Okay, so we have 1-& 2-& 3-& 4-&, or if you're modifying just play the bottom note only.

That big crescendo suddenly turning piano again, and what do you notice?

We're back to the A section.

So now, optional time:

If you'd like to pause to work on this section hands together you can, or you can save that for later. Totally up to you.

Okay, if you're ready to go on, now I'd like you to pause and study

this return of the A section starting here in measure 54, and check every note and see

is this exactly the same as our first A section, or is there something new along the way.

If there is something new, find where that is and then we'll check it out together after you're done.

If you found that something new starts happening here in measure 78,

great job. Up until then we're just going along same as before in the original A ...