Vivace by Cornelius Gurlitt (Unit 6)

Hello and welcome back I'm Joseph Hoffman.
Today we are going to learn how to play a new piece called "Vivace"
by a German composer named Cornelius Gurlitt
who lived from 1820 to 1901.
Vivace is a musical term that means lively and fast.
Let's have a listen.
Did you notice the dynamics of this piece?
Remember, dynamics are all the louds and softs of music, and everything in between.
The first two phrases of "Vivace" are marked forte,
so I played them with strength loudly.
Then on the third phrase, did you notice how I got quiet?
That's because the music is marked piano,
and then I gradually got louder a little at a time.
That's called a crescendo, and it's
usually abbreviated in music like this:
Then on the fourth and final phrase,
we're back to forte.
So as we play "vivace", let's make sure to use dynamics to make the music exciting.
Alright, let's check out the score and start learning.
Here we have the score for "Vivace".
Today we're going to focus on learning just the right hand.
Can you tell me the time signature for "Vivace?"
If you said 4/4, you're correct.
Let's start by checking out the rhythm.
You'll notice we have
mostly quarter notes and eighth notes
All the way until over here we end with a half note.
Let's use our rhythm syllables TA and TI-TI, and speak the rhythm together once.
Remember, when we get here we have: TI-TI TI-TI
Four eighth notes in a row. Let's say together.
Ready, go: TA TI-TI TA TA TA TA TI-TI TI-TI
TA TI-TI TA TA TA TA TWO-OO
Nice job.
Now let's check out measure one.
Can you tell me the steps, skips, and repeats?
Say start for the first note. Try it by yourself, go:
If you said start, repeat, step up, step up,
skip down, you're correct.
Now let's try to sing this in solfège.
In "Vivace" DO is on C,
and this note right here is a C, so we'll begin on DO,
So we'll sing it: DO DO RE MI DO
Now can you try that with
me? Let's sing it together, ready go.
DO DO RE MI DO
Great, now let's try playing that on the piano.
For the right hand, "Vivace" begins on treble C.
Here's my
middle C, so I'm going to come to the next C higher.
I'll place finger 1 there.
Measure one we have: DO DO RE MI DO
now your turn to try.
Good, let's do it
one more time together now. Ready, go:
DO DO RE MI DO
Good, now let's try it one
more time saying the rhythm words like this:
TA TI-TI TA TA Your turn, ready, go:
Good, now in this song since we're going to play it at a faster tempo, it's important to keep the right
relationship between the quarter notes and the eighth notes,
and not to play the quarter notes too fast.
This would be incorrect:
Okay? It needs to be steady on the quarter notes, and then the eighth notes go twice as fast.
TA TI-TI TA TA
Let's come back to the sheet music.
Let's say the steps, skips,
and repeats for measure two together.
We'll say start. Try it with me. Now,
this is a skip up, but how far of a skip?
You'll notice if we
count one, two, three, four, we'll see it's a
a fourth up. So we skip up a fourth,
then say
it with me: repeat, step down, step down, step down.
Now let's try to sing that in solfège.
We ended measure one on a DO, then it steps up to RE,
then what's a fourth above RE?
If you said SO, you're correct.
So we have: RE SO SO FA MI RE
Can you sing that with me starting on
RE, go:
RE SO SO FA MI RE
Now let's try to play that on the piano.
So now still with our right hand in C position.
In measure two we have RE SO
Notice that
forth. Let's practice that. Try it with me, ready, go:
RE SO,
and then after that we
have four notes stepping down: SO FA MI RE
Now your turn.
Good, when we put it together it will sound like this:
RE SO SO FA MI RE Now your turn.
Good, now let's try saying it with rhythm words. Again make sure you keep your quarter notes steady.
TA TA TI-TI TI-TI Your turn.
Good, now let's try putting measures one
and two together like this:
DO DO RE MI DO RE SO SO FA MI RE Now your turn.
Good, now let's go back to the sheet music.
What do you notice if we look at measure three?
Have you seen those notes before?
Absolutely, these are the same notes we saw in measure one.
So let's sing that in solfège. Ready, go:
DO DO RE MI DO, and then here we have a
RE, then what happens next?
If you said skip up a fourth, you're right.
We have a RE SO SO
Good, now let's try to play, oh you notice something right here.
Right here we have an accent.
Whenever you have a little alligator
mouth over or under a note head,
that means you'll play that note with extra ...