The Village Prophet: Hands Together

Hello and welcome back. I'm Joseph
Hoffman
and in this lesson we're going to work
on playing "The Village Prophet" by
Rousseau hands together. Let's come to
the piano to get started. Now you'll see
I have my piano lid closed. That's
because we're going to practice tapping
the rhythm of "The Village Prophet" hands
together. Now if you don't have a piano
lid that closes like mine, you can tap on
your lap and that's fine too. Now let's
take a look at the rhythm of measure one.
You'll see that we're in 3/4 time
signature, and that means we've got to
count 3 beats per measure.
So here in measure one on beat 1 what
happens?
Both hands play together on beat
1. Then what happens on beat 2?
The right hand has two eighth notes while the left
hand rests, and then on beat 3 the
right hand has a quarter note while the
left hand rests. So all together we get
1 2 3. So on beat 2 make sure
you tap two eighth notes evenly spaced,
2 3, and then on 3 we finish
with that quarter note. Try it with me.
Ready go, 1 2 3.
And if you can remember to, please lift your left hand
on beats 2 and 3 to remind you
that that's a rest. To make that silence
happen, you have to be able to lift your
hand off those keys. 1 2 3
Try it with me go, 1 2 3 Good, now
let's look at measure two. What happens on
beat 1?
The left hand taps, then on beat
2 they tap together, then the right
hand has to tap a second eighth note in
the same beat. 2, 2 and. Some people prefer
to say that 'and' 1 2 and 3, or TA-
TI-TI-TA. Okay, let's try measure two in
slow motion, go. Left 2 3. Again, go
1 2 3.
Good, now let's look at
measure three. This one's pretty simple
because both hands have the same
rhythm. They both go quarter, quarter,
quarter, or 1 2 3. Now let's look
at measure four. The left hand is holding
a half note starting on beat 1, while
the right hand does TI-TI-TI-TI. So let's
try that together. TI-TI-TI-TI, and then both hands
play TA together on beat 3. So all
together we have 1 2 3. Try it
with me
go, 1 2 3
Good, now let's practice
all of line one together. Count the beat
out loud with me while you tap. Here's
3 beats to get us started, 1 2
3, 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 Good, now press
pause and try that two or three more
times on your own or until you feel
confident with it, then press play to go
on. Remember to count out loud while you tap.
Press pause to work on that, then
press play to go on.
Now we're ready to tackle playing this
piece hands together. I suggest that you
take it a little bit at a time and go
really slowly at first. We're going to
play largo, which you remember is a
musical word for very slow. Let's just
take measure one. When I put something
hands together, I like to review each
hand alone once or twice to kind of get
the feel for it, then I do it hands
together. So let's use measure one as an
example. First play right hand alone, TA-TI-TI-TA
Remember go nice and slow. Now you try.
Good, now let's try the left hand which
just plays G, rest, rest. Now you try.
Good, then when we put it together we'll get
1 2 3. Don't forget to lift the
left hand on beats 2 and 3. 1 2 3 Now you try.
Now that first measure is not too bad right? Let's do it
together once, ready go, 1 2 3
Good, now let's look at measure two.
Here's where it gets a little bit
trickier. Let's take the right hand alone
once rest, TI-TI-TA. Now you try.
Good, and the left hand is going down this G-minor
triad, remember 1 2 3 now you try.
Yeah, by themselves the two hands
aren't that tricky, but now hands
together we get 1 2 3. Now you
try.
Good, now press pause and I want you
to just repeat this measure maybe three
maybe four maybe ten times until you
feel really confident with it. 1 2 3, At
first start largo, and gradually speed it up.
Then press play when you're ready to go on.
Now, we're ready for measure three. In
measure three our right hand plays
finger 1 on C, finger 3 glides over,
and then 2 plays A. The fingering is
very important. Finger 1 on C, 3 2. Now
you try
Good, then we're gonna try the
left hand which is 2 on C, step up, and
then down an octave. Now you try.
Good, then let's try both hands. So remember
right hand finger 1 is on C, left hand
Figure 2 is on C. Let's try that
together, then while the left hand steps
up, right hand finger 3 comes over to B-flat. So boom, boom, now you try. We're just doing beats 1 and 2.
Now let's add one more
note. So we have it C in both hands,
...