The Village Prophet

Hello and welcome back. I'm Joseph
Hoffman
and in this lesson we're going to learn
a piece called "The Village Prophet" by a
French composer of the late Baroque Period, Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Let's have a listen to this piece.
Let's analyze the score for "The Village
Prophet". You can see our tempo indication
is allegretto, which means kind of a
medium fast.
You've got treble and bass clef, and
let's analyze our key signature and time
signature. We've got two flats. Can you
tell me the names of these two flats?
If you look at the line that crosses
through this flat, we know we've got a B-
flat, and then we're in the top space
here one step below our flag F line, so
that's an E-flat, so a B-flat E-flat puts
us here on the ladder of fourths. We'll
either be in the key of B-flat major or
G minor. How do we tell which? Well let's
look at the score. We want to look at
what notes or chords we start on and
finish on. Here at the start we've got
this G in the bass clef, and this D up in
the treble clef. So a G and a D, and looking
at the last note of the piece, we see
that
we have a G in both hands. Now that's a
very strong clue that we are in the key
of G minor. Now, so we know we're in the
key of G minor with two flats, B-flat and
E-flat. We see we're in the time
signature of 3/4.
Now before we try playing this, let's go
through this top right-hand part, and I'd
like you to press pause and in your own
music, which you should download and
print from our website, go through and
circle any B's or E's that you can find.
Remember, it's not just the B's and E's
on this line or this space, but any B's
or E's on this entire staff. For example,
we've got a D D and an E right here. I'm
going to circle that because I want to
remind myself that this note is flat
automatically from the key signature. So
press pause and on your own go through
and circle all the B's and E-flat's. Let's
do line one and line two all the way through
measure eight. Press pause to circle the
flats, and then press play to go on.
In your own music here's what you should
have circled. There were two E's here,
some B's here that need to become
B-flat, and a few on the next line as
well. Anything we didn't circle will be a
white key. Now, let's practice the rhythm
for the right hand part. Will you point
on the screen with me and let's chant
the rhythm words. We'll go back to our
old TA-TI-TI words, and just whisper rest
for the rest, okay? And let's go through
both of these lines. Speak it with me,
I'll count 3 beats, and then we'll
start. Point and speak with me, 1 2 3 TA-
TI-TI-TA rest TI-TI-TA-TA-TA-TA-
TI-TI-TI-TI-TA-TA-TI-TI-TA- rest
TI-TI-TA-TA-TA-TA THREE-EE-EE
Great, now let's
count the beat. So we'll count out loud,
1 2 3 while we tap the rhythm
this time. Okay, I'll count 3 beats to
get us ready, and then we'll start. Tap
and count with me 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2
3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3
Since
this piece is in G minor, let's just
quickly review where our flats are going
to be. Remember we have a B-flat and an E-flat.
Can you just go up and down your
piano and just find and play all your B-
flats and E-flats. Just try this with me.
Okay, B-flat and E-flat
are what you're looking out for. Now let's
take a look at these first four measures.
Can you tell me the letter name of the
first note the right hand plays?
If you
said D you're correct, and we have a
finger 2 on that D, and if we look
ahead we'll see that in a moment we're
gonna be playing that E-flat, so you
might have your finger 3 ready there.
Okay, then if we look in
to measure three, you'll see at this point
after we play this C, our finger 3 is
gonna have to glide over to this B-flat.
Okay, now I want to challenge you to
figure out these first four measures on
your own. Try to read through this, be
careful of the rhythms and the notes.
Don't forget your E-flat and your B-flat.
Give it a try on your own and press
pause to work that out, and then press
play and we'll try it together.
Here's what you should have figured out.
rest
Now, let's try it together one
measure at a time. I'll play one measure,
then you echo it back. 1 2 3, Now you try.
Next measure, rest, 2 3, your turn
Good,
in the next measure we have 1, then
3 crosses over to B-flat, so three
notes stepping down 1 3 2. Now you try.
Good, then in measure four we have,
TI-TI-TI-TI-TA Your turn.
Good, then all together we get, rest TI-TI-TA-TA-TA-TA-TI-TI-TI-TI-T ...