Learn to Play "Canon in D"

1. Introcanon: uh, popular bells, Canon Indies, one of those beautiful pieces of classical music. People asked me to teach them this song all the time. When this class, you're gonna learn that you're gonna learn the basics of the left hand you're about peddling your about right hand. You were about right hand variations. You're going to get a copy of the music if you've never had piano before. Go take my learn piano, 45 days, Part one and part two. That's a great class. But if you had that class or some other basic piano, this is a great class for you. 2. Canon in D, left hand: Okay, we're looking at what a great classical masterpieces. Pakal Bells Canon in D This is something that everybody, regardless of your musical taste, wants to learn how to play. And I'm going to start with the left hand. Now, first I want to tell you where I'm starting up here his middle c So I'm starting on the d That's below the middle. C I'm just gonna play the first part of the left hand. We're time. Just that first part. Uh, so going from D down to a A little bit of to be down to f sharp, would it be possible to use a different fingering? Sure, you could go One, 24 14 I personally think one, 23 one, 23 I think that works a little bit better, but it's up to you now. A good way to remember this. And I really think you should memorize this opening baseline because the opening baseline repeats over and over and over again in this song. But just remember, D goes all the way down to any Oh, b goes away down to have sharp. So you're going down for 1234 or B 123 four. Okay, now let me do the first part, and then the next port. So d be Here's next part is gonna g onto five on really low D free on G two on a, uh, again. One more time. Uh, to Angie Energy. Uh, I would recommend that you memorize that. I would recommend that you memorized that baseline and be able to play that without looking at your left hand. And the reason is because this song is nothing but that baseline over and over again. And classical music. This is called a ground bass. Okay, I'll see you next video. We're gonna start looking at the right hand, the single note portion of the right hand. We're gonna look at several different parts of this song because this song basically just goes in repeating parts. You have this continuous baseline and then different melody lines above it in the right hand. 3. Canon, Right Hand part 1: Okay, here we are. Looking at Parco Bell Cannon. This is the right hand one. You're starting up here on f sharp. This is the higher shirt. This see right here is not your middle seat. Your middle sees down over here. You got one. See here on this high F sharp right here. Play is for you is just going down. Think of this is a simple pattern. You're just going one direction for a while. You're going down F sharp. Ghosting e goes to D. Goes to see Sharp because to be goes to a and then you start to head back up. Okay, This is fairly simple. I would definitely start on three here. A two here, one here and then a three here. A two and one. So 321 flip over. 321 Didn't just come right back. Uh, one more time we came. Fairly simple. One thing you might want to do if you want to get a little bit more fancy. Maybe this same as before, before, and then go back to the F short like that. You can add these two notes. Get back to the F short. Remember this piece is one variations on that left hand pattern. It just keeps doing different things with right hand. Has the left hand plays that same baseline over and over and over and over again. Okay, so get your right hand one down. Don't put it with the left hand yet. I'll see in the next video when we look at the right hand, this time in what's called playing thirds. 4. Canon, Right Hand part 2: Welcome to Taco Bell Cannon. Right hand to this time, we're gonna add one note to the notes you just played in the first video. So now, instead of playing f sharp, we're gonna play F Sharp and G at the same time. Okay, although, let's get on these two fingers. Five and three. Here we go. Do the whole thing. Now you may wonder, why is this call playing? Thirds will think about this. 123 Were this 123 etcetera, etcetera. You're just basically going up to 123 So this distance is called 1/3 and we call this when we play two notes that air three apart on the piano. We call it playing 1/3. Also, let's look at the fingering. Let's definitely certain on 53 Naturally, we want to go to four to we want to go to 31 now to get over. This is what you're gonna do over there. The 41 because if we don't, we could do this. But by the time we get down to here, it's gonna be difficult to get to that g B. So let's do this. 53 for two 13 Flip over four to 13 Now look at here. Let's move in. Did you see what I did? I move in, moved back out, and then right back up. Okay, so after you learned right hand one, then learned right hand to it's pretty easy because you're going the same direction. Going down, down, down, down, down. Then back up, just like you did with a single note. You're just adding that extra now, try to make this has smooth, has possible notice. I'm not going, but I'm making it smooth. A little bit of a disconnect there, but that's OK. All right. I'll see in the next video where we're gonna learn how to put all of this together along with the left hand. 5. Canon both hands part 1: Okay, We're looking applicable. Cannon. We're putting our hands together for the first time. And here's what you're going to have. You're going to have your left hand down here. You're going to have your right hand way up here, So notice the considerable distance between the two hands. Here's your middle C. Right. Hands with here. Here's your bill C left hands here. Let's put it together. Uh, yeah. One more time. Just one down the right hand for everyone. That left hand. Fairly simple. Next part. Let's go. 2/3. Uh, fairly simple. You got the left hand. Memorize. You can focus on the on the right hand, or you can focus on how they're coming together. Also, if you want to throw in that other little part, you could do this. Uh, see, what I did added those two low notes that did those two Okay, It might be good for a while to practice it with the hands. This four part etcetera etcetera. Because if you're new to piano, it's gonna be harder toe have the hands further apart than normal. All right, I'll see you in the next video. When we get into different parts of this song 6. Canon, Right Hand part 3: and we're looking at the next section of Canon in D. I'm going to go over the right hand. First are one is on this middle D not the Heidi, but the middle. T f sharp A g f sharp now four on F sharp, Thin to three on E in 22 on D one on this, Lobi two on D five on a. And then look at this. Two on G four on B for you on a on and two on G. Okay, so a few little twists and turns here, make sure you get your hands in this position with one on D in the three on F sharp, This little five finger position that takes us for the 1st 4 notes. I'm actually six notes now. I have to move my third. I mean, my fourth finger here to cover these next notes to stretch up to five. Over to to hear on four. The reason I'm going to do this is because the next section I'm gonna cover next video is going to start on this high D. Okay, so get that right hand down. Just watch this video over and over again. Get that right hand down. Look at your sheet music practice. Just your right hand. Now let's put it together with the left hand. Since these air quarter notes or one count notes in the right hand, left hand notes are half count notes or two or half notes have to count notes. You're gonna have two counts in the right hand. Go with one note in the left hand has such understand to quarter beats equal 1/2 note or half count one more time. This'll point. You really should know your left hand by memory. Be able to play that left hand baseline without looking at it and just remember two notes to one note. Okay, get this one down. Very good. And then in the next video, we're going to show you an even more complicated section of this song. 7. How to improvise on the Canon: one of things we want to understand here at a limited piano dot com is improvisation. We don't want to just learn how toe read music, although that's important or play by ear. And though that's important, too, I also focused on technique, and that's important. But one thing is improvisation, and that's being able to just kind of make up stuff on the spot. Now when he improvised, though you want kind of a guideline to go by, you don't want to just start playing random notes. You know, if you just played this and this isn't that that just doesn't make any sense. And what I love about the Parco Bell cannon is you can easily improvise on it as long as you know the cords in the baseline. Let me just kind of show you what I mean. Way. How am I doing this? Well, I know that the first part is the D major chord, and that goes with the D in the baseline and you can't see the baseline. So I know the notes to the D major court are going to be D F sharp in a I could do this on the very first note. Okay, well, I could do this for possibilities are endless, then another. The next note a goes with the A major chord. There's a possibility. A zoo. Long as I know, the A major court consists of a C sharp in E. I'm fine. You have to know these cords role. Well, I go over all these chords of the theory section and of course, you should know the baseline very well by now. Moving on. What's the next chord? The minor? What notes in B minor. You better know a quick BDNF sharp or F sharp B and e next f sharp, minor chord. Do I have to use all the notes? No, this is improvisation. You're making stuff up. It doesn't after. It would be perfect. Next one g in the base war. Hopefully, you know the G major court very well by now. Next one back to D. C. O like that Back to G A. That is what I'm not doing. I'm never using a core tone that doesn't belong to the court. When I played d, I never played E were see short for big. Are there ways to improvise and use tones that don't belong to the court. Yes, but let's keep it simple now. Okay, Let me just show you one more thing. And then if this is something you're into, maybe as you get to know the courts better, you know the baseline better. You can do this on your own way too high there, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. After teaching piano, for many years I've realized there's two types of people. There's some people who love improvisation. They take to it quickly. There are those who just aren't into it. And, you know, if you're not into that's fine. I just wanted to show you this possibility. All right, I'll see the next video when we go on to the harder parts of buckle belt cannon. 8. Canon, Right Hand part 4: Okay. We're looking at the pocketable canon. Continuing with the right hand. I'm gonna play this whole section and break it down. Okay? Gonna break it down. Here's your first part. You've got your five on D Remember, Every single see is a c sharp. So five, 24 back to the D that we jumped down an octave to the lower Dina, Look at this one on D. Moving my two over to the C sharp on Ben. I still have to keep this spread stretch because I'm gonna have a five on a and then back to Tuani Onda three own after we do just this one measure D C Sharp D one on D two on seizure five on a tuani, three own Upshur It be possible to put three on the and 41 effort, But really, it's better to oni and three on. I would work just that measure real slow. And I remember this video You can go forward backward however you want to do you do that that measure one more time, then continue on getting your two here on your three here continuing. We go back to the D five on the hiding here. We're gonna go away high. I'm going to get a two on this C sharp and therefore a one on B A three on F sharp. No, it's like a super high. Let's do this. Measure one more time. 2522 to 1 to three four five. Kind of awkward. And you're gonna have to go super high now we're gonna start taking it down. Next measure three on G 22 in F sharp. One floor, free to one. Flipping over 24 That measure one more time. Freeze! On your high G one four, three to one for going on to the next measure. Going down three on F sharp to honey. Two for Angie, three on that shore Germany. And now you're ready for the next section. That's gonna begin on one on deep. Since this is a bit complicated, what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna take each one of these parts and break it down for you. Each measure Next measure. Next measure. Next measure. Okay, I would go measure by measure by measure. Do the exact fingering like I tell you to do it. Don't take any shortcuts, Onley. When you're done with that and you've got a good command of this. I would have this almost memorized. Can you start putting it with your left hand? I'll see in the next video when we look at putting this section with the left hand. 9. Both hands, part 2: Okay, guys, here we are, looking at the section with the left hand. Now, you're not gonna be able to see the left hand in this video. You will be able to hear it. I hope by now you've got that left hand memorized the shore Let me play this together. Show you how it goes together. I'm assuming you know the right hand You've got good command. If not, go back to your earlier video. Don't get ahead of yourself. But here is how it goes together, how it sounds together. Okay, here's what you have to remember in this section you have four notes in the right hand to everyone. Note in the left hand. For example, In this first measure, the D comes with a D on and then four more notes. Way. Play that again. Okay. And same thing in the next measure. Now we go to be in the left hand, have sharpen the left. And here's the next measure G in the left hand OD in the left hand. Next measure, Gene, the left hand, A left hand. We're done with that section. Okay, At this point, you definitely should have that left hand memorize. You should not be 1/2 to look at the left hand at all. Have the left hand on autopilot has your playing your right hand. Now what? You get the notes together. I would really try to start counting and playing. And eight notes, Remember, Accounted like this one and two and okay, so playing in counting one and two and 23 and four on on and on And two and three. And that counting and playing at the same time will really help you develop a sense of evenness. If you don't do that, what's gonna happen when you start playing? This is you'll do stuff like this. I hear that playing like that all the time with amateur people. That's OK at first. But as you get to know these notes better and better and better and better and the left hand better and better, better been better and together better and better. Eventually, you want to strive for perfect evenness. I'm sure you've heard this piece many times before. You know how this is supposed to sound? Okay, good. Get this section hands together. Remember, this is 4 to 1 rather than 2 to 1. As was the case of the last section. Then we're gonna look at one more section of the park boat buckle Bell Canada. 10. Canon Right Hand part 5: Okay, guys, we're continuing and wrapping up Puggle Bell Canon. Here's the final section of By the way, there's more sections to this actual song. This song was really never written for. Piano was written for strings, and I mean, there's multiple variations own it, and I'm doing kind of a simplified version. I look forward as you get more advanced and has more videos increased to doing yet another version of this song later on. But for now, I'm going to finish up with this. I'm gonna play this section three. Okay, let's break this down. I'm starting here on the lower D with one. I go straight up E thing, I've gotta put a one on this e for the That's because in the next measure, I'm going to get to this Be so if I just do this, it's gonna be awkward and kind of hard for me to get up to be. So first measure E g A one on e shift over bit to four on a here, three on Jean. Now I'm in the second measure F sharp, too. Five on B four on a three on gene a g f sharp thing. Second measures fairly easy. You don't have to move your hands at all. You stay in that position. Now look at this next measure. I switch on over to two on D and then a one on Lobi. And then after that, it even gets harder. This is the hardest moving song I have to jump way up here to one on B two on seizure and then five on F shirt, and then I go down. So let's take this third measure real slow to on D one on B. You just have to jump up the hands there. Sometimes in piano where you have such an awkward jump or a large jump. The only way to do it is just to move the hand and then move upto one on B two on C sharp 51 after for Ronnie free Andi to on C shirt. Finally, in the next to last measure, Here's one on B fingers. I'm gonna put two on a one on G three on B two on a again three on B 51 day four on C sharp and then we end with five on. We do that next. The last measure get one on B to win a G three on B two and a Here we go, ending it here and then holding your final de out. Okay, That's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna go measure by measure real slow if you want a measure by measure review. So feel free to just watch each measure practice on your own paws. Each measure here is the first of them. Here's the next one. Here's the next really hard one next to last. And then here's the last one right here. Okay. See, in the final video where we put the hands together 11. Both hands, part 3: Okay, guys, here we are on Taco Bell. Ken, The very last part. I'm gonna play right hand and left hand by now. I assume, of course, you know the left hand. And did you know that right hand to this last section? Okay, rhythmically. This is exactly the same as a section you just learned. If you learn hands together, you do four notes in the right hand. Everyone on the left hand. So when I count this here it is the D with the D on two. And here's A with the A free four and F sharp and be together on two on and the F sharp together Free D and the G together. Hi. I have sharpened loaded together 34 b and G together two and a with a friend to three for whole that last part. Okay, rhythmically, this is the same Is not that different. If you master the last section, you could definitely master this section. I'm going to do each measure real slow. Second measure, measure, harvest measure, fourth measure. Okay, I would spend most time on that third measure because they're just that awkward leak in the right hand and your you know, your left hand or right hand are pretty far apart. Okay, so go measure by measure on this song. And once you're done with this section, feel free to play the entire piece from very beginning to hear it really is lovely. If you enjoy the video and improvisation, maybe take a section and improvise on it and then go back to the sheet music. The possibilities are indeed, unless hopefully you enjoy this peace. 12. Using the pedal for the Canon: Okay, We're gonna talk about peddling and a pocket battle cannon if you don't have a pedal. Well, this video doesn't really apply to you, but if you have a regular piano, you probably have three PM three pedals, the soft pedal sauce, didato the damper or sustain pedal. We're going to focus on this one if you have an Elektronik piano. If you just have one pedal, it's always going to be this pedal. This is the most important one. So I'm gonna play cannon and D with pedal. Then I'm gonna talk about how it really works. Yeah. Uh oh, - Okay . First thing I want you to notice. I pedal every single time I change my left hand note. Usually peddling you'll find in most pieces goes with the left hand. Second thing, I want you to notice that you're probably new to peddling. It's how I pedal. Okay? We just totally get my foot off here. My heels on the ground. My toe is not over This part. I'm a little bit further back. Okay? You go too far. In its it's harder to really manipulated. Also, don't be wearing flip flops. We're some sort of shoes like these or tennis shoes or five. Now notice what I do. I play the note thin. I capture with my pedal. Notice the note keeps going. You can't see this, but I took my hand off. The note keeps going. I take the pedal off. No, it goes away. So I play the note I captured with my pedal. Then once I hit this next note let go and then I recapture almost immediately. Here's what happens if I don't let go in time. Listen to this. Do you see how you're hearing two notes Right there. Let me do that again. You hear? Two notes. If I If I recapture yellow, it clears it out. But you steer still for a few seconds here to notes. Don't do that now. Here's the opposite extreme. That's too choppy. That defeats the purpose of the pedal. So what you want to do is and I think I covered this in the in the introductory course fairly well. But I just want emphasize again here Capture least recaptured recapture. Same thing. No, I would try that over and over and over again with just the left hand. Once you get the left handed pedal down, then start adding the right hand pedal. Then notice how this really helps you in a more complicated section. Let's take this This last section here with that really hardly measure if you didn't have the pedal, here's how that awkward measure would sound. I mean, it sounds okay if you do it, technically, you know, flawlessly. But it really does sound a bit choppy to listen to this here, that big gap. But now you put the pedal down. It helps you to connect seamlessly and flawlessly.