The Wild Horses

Hello and welcome back. I'm Joseph Hoffman,
and in this lesson we're going to learn a folk song called "The Wild Horses."
Let's have a listen.

To learn "The Wild Horses" today, we're going to be using the bass clef,
which we use for all those low notes, middle C and lower.
Let's quickly review a few of our guide notes.
Can you tell me the name of this note? If you said F or bass F, you're correct.
It's on that line with the two dots. And, of course, we've got, up here, our middle C,
and down here, a note we've learned recently, our bass C.
Now, for "The Wild Horses," we'll start on this note.
You can see I moved it from this space note up to the line,
which means it's just one step higher. So, if this is C, what would this note be?
If you said D, you're correct.

Now, let's add some more notes stepping up from that D.
If this is D, can you point and name these other notes? Go:
If you can see that these are stepping,
you'll notice this pattern of line, space, line, space, line.
When you see that pattern, you know the notes are stepping.
So, this has to be D E F G, and what's a step above G? It's A.
So, this is–these are the notes of the D minor pentascale,
and that's the pentascale we're going to use for "The Wild horses."

Let's try to sing this pentascale once. I've got this red note on DO,
and we'll have: DO RE ME FA SO Now point and sing with me, go:
DO RE ME FA SO. Now, in the first phrase of "Wild Horses,"
we start on DO, and then we skip up. Notice how I took away that RE.
So now, we have: DO ME FA SO. Now point and sing with me, go:
DO ME FA SO. And then, after that SO, see if you can tell me what happens.
I'll sing, and tell me if the notes continue to step up, step down, or repeat.
What did you hear after we got here? If you said repeat, you're correct.
The notes stayed the same. So now, let's describe how the notes are moving,
like this. Let's say: start, skip up, step up, step up, repeat, repeat, repeat.
Now, try it with me. Go: start, skip up, step up, step up, repeat, repeat, repeat.

Now, in order to fit all the notes, let me just scoot these over real quick.
Now I'm going to sing the rest of the first phrase of "The Wild Horses,"
and I want you to tell me if you hear the notes repeating some more,
stepping up, or stepping down.
What did you hear? If you said the notes are stepping down, you're correct,
after we get these repeats: ♫ of the wild and running horses ♫.
Then, you might have noticed that those last two notes have a repeat:
SO FA ME RE DO DO. Point and sing with me. We're starting here, go:
SO FA ME RE DO DO. Let's try to sing the whole line in solfège.
Starts on DO, skips up to ME. Remember, we're in minor so we say ME
for this third note of the scale. Go: DO ME FA SO SO SO SO FA ME RE DO DO.

Okay, go ahead and hold your left hand up in the air with me.
Yes, we are using left hand today, since we're in bass clef.
And a quick review of finger numbers: can you wiggle your left hand finger 1?
If you're wiggling here, you're correct. Remember, thumbs are always 1,
so, left hand or right hand, your thumb is 1. Now wiggle your left hand finger 5.
If you're wiggling pinky, you're correct, and that's the first note
of "The Wild Horses."  We have ♫ This ♫, and then a skip up.
So, wiggle the right finger number a skip above DO. That's finger number 3,
so we have: ♫ This is the dance ♫. In solfège, that's: DO ME FA SO.
Now, your turn. Sing and move your fingers.
Good, and then, after we get up there to SO, we have some repeats: SO SO SO.
Your turn. Good, and then we have some stepping-down notes.
We have: SO FA ME RE DO DO, with a repeat at the end. Now you try.
Good, now let's try it with our lyrics. My turn:
♫ This is the dance of the wild ♫ Now your turn.
So, remember, we have a repeat until we get to the word "wild": ♫ of the wild ♫.
And then after "wild," we step down: ♫ wild and running horses ♫.
Now, your turn. Sing and move your fingers.

Good now let's try it on the piano. Now, as I mentioned today,
we're using the D minor pentascale, and since we're in bass clef,
remember, kingdom of bass clef is from all the notes middle C and lower.
So, wherever your middle C is, you're going to come down here to the first D
below middle C, just a step above this bass C, and you'll remember that,
for D major, we use this F-sharp. so ME and FA can be a half step away.
But, for minor, this becomes F natural. A natural is just the plain white note.
So, here's our F natural. Can you point to name each of these notes with me? Go:
D E F G A. So, go ahead and let your left-hand finger 5 find your nearest D
below your middle C, and remember, we had a DO, then we skipped up: ME FA SO,
and the ...