LESSON SIX
F, E & D (an octave lower) 3/4 Time (Waltz Time)
F, E & D (an octave lower) 3/4 Time (Waltz Time)
As we are getting further through now is probably the time to say something about learning and practising a piece of music. Whether it is a few bars at a time as we are doing here or an entire melody the most important things to remember when practising are:
1 If you can't play it at the prescribed speed then slow it down. And again, and again until it is
slow enough for you to play it accurately. Then speed up gradually until the tempo is right.
2 Keep practising the bit you can't do not the bit you can. It is surprisingly tempting to keep
playing the section you can play well. It sounds good and you feel competent. However, it is
repeating the section you can't play over and over, that will actually improve your playing.
3 If you get tired, take a break and go back to it.
4 Don't give up - if you keep trying suddenly the bit you thought you were never going to get will
fall into place.
1 If you can't play it at the prescribed speed then slow it down. And again, and again until it is
slow enough for you to play it accurately. Then speed up gradually until the tempo is right.
2 Keep practising the bit you can't do not the bit you can. It is surprisingly tempting to keep
playing the section you can play well. It sounds good and you feel competent. However, it is
repeating the section you can't play over and over, that will actually improve your playing.
3 If you get tired, take a break and go back to it.
4 Don't give up - if you keep trying suddenly the bit you thought you were never going to get will
fall into place.
We are now going to work our way down the stave from where we started and you will see that on the above exercise there is a note in the bottom space on the stave. This note is an F. To play this you cover all the holes except the third from the bottom. I am not going to tell you how to count this one as there are no new lengths of note. Just remember every bar adds up to 4 beats and if there are any you cannot remember you can check back in the previous lessons.
This exercise takes us down one note further to the bottom line of the stave. This note is an E. To play this you need to cover the hole at the back and the top 5 holes on the front. Also if you look at the music carefully you should notice something different. The time signature at the front is no longer 4/4 it is 3/4. This means each bar has 3 beats worth of notes instead of 4 and this is the time signature used for waltzes. So this time I have indicated the count. In bar 1 and 2 you are counting 2 beats for the minim followed by 1 beat for the crotchet. Then in bar 3 it is 1 2 3 as there are 3 single beats and finally in bar 4 you are counting 1 crotchet and 4 quavers so the count is 1, 2 and , 3 and.
Finally in this lesson we are carrying on down one more note. This note just under the bottom line on the stave is D. All except the bottom hole is covered so it is just one more finger down from E. This is another piece in 3/4 and uses both notes. The rhythm for all six bars is 3 crotchets so just 1 2 3, 1 2 3 and so on six times.
Musichowtoread.weebly.com is a participant in the Amazon affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.co.uk