Old French Song

A song in minor

This is Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Old French Song, the first phrase, with both hands. Press “Listen”.

The first phrase, quiet and connected. By the end of the lesson, the whole song with both hands.

It sounds different from the Minuet: restrained and quiet, as if from far away. There is a lot that is new in the score too. By the clef there are two signs that look like a small b. The time signature is 2/4. The first note comes before the first bar line. Over the right-hand notes are long arcs, and under the notes the letters p and pp.

The whole song is a pickup and thirty-two bars. The lesson builds on lesson 2 and lesson 3: the bass clef, two hands at once, the key signature, eighth notes, a shift of position. If you have not done them, start there.

Two beats and a note before the bar

2/4 time: two beats to the bar, each a quarter note long. This is the shortest bar in the course. Count “one-and-two-and” and “one” again. A half note here fills the whole bar: in the right hand bars 16 and 32 sound like that, in the left hand nearly every bar. Listen to two bars of the song with the count: one-and-two-and, one-and-two-and.

The song does not start on “one”. Before the first bar line there is a single eighth note, D4: an incomplete bar, the pickup (anacrusis). It sounds on the last “and” and leads to the downbeat of bar 1, like a step before a jump. Count “one-and-two-” silently, then “and” aloud, and play the D on that “and”. In the course's score the pickup is bar 0. The same D comes at the end of bars 8 and 24, before the tune starts again. The pickup gets a closer look in lesson 5.

All the rhythms of the song, right hand and left. Tap each one after the count-in, counting aloud in two.

Two flats by the clef

Play B, then the next black key to its left, and B again. Or listen: B, B♭, B. That black key is B flat, B♭. A flat, the sign ♭, lowers a note by a semitone, to the next key to the left. The sharp from lesson 3 raises; the flat lowers.

The song has two flats by the clef. On the treble staff the first stands on the middle line, where B is, the second in the top space, where E5 is. On the bass staff they are on the second line (B) and in the third space (E). Like the Minuet's sharp, they apply to every B and every E in every octave until the end of the piece. B♭ is the black key between A and B, E♭ the one between D and E.

The right hand meets B♭ as early as bar 1 and E♭ in bar 3, and many times after that. The left hand has no B or E at all. In the right hand's G position, B♭ falls under finger 3: it lies on the black key, a little further in than the others.

The G position: the thumb on G4, finger 3 on B♭, the little finger on D5.

A note appears on a staff with two flats by the clef. Play it in the right octave; B and E on the black keys.

B♭ and A♯: what are they on the keyboard?

Two neighbouring black keys One and the same black key B♭ is a white key, A♯ a black one

A sharp raises A by a semitone, a flat lowers B by a semitone, and both land on the one black key between A and B. The key has two names; which one is written is up to the score. This song has flats by the clef, so here it is B♭.

Minor and major

Why does the song sound so restrained? Compare it with itself, only without the flats.

The pickup and bars 1–4: the right hand on the staff, the left hand sounding under it. The switch takes away the flats, and B and E turn white.

The rhythm, the fingers and the left hand stayed the same, two notes changed, and the song sounded brighter. It is a matter of mode: of how far apart the steps of the staircase are. The song's main note is G; it ends on it. Its staircase in bars 1–2 climbs from G: G, A, B♭, C, D. The third step decides the mode: if it is three semitones above G, the mode is minor; if four, it is major. The Minuet from lesson 3 is in G major, and its B is white. The song is in G minor.

Minor is often called sad, and major bright. That is the ear's habit speaking; listen for yourself whether the song is sad or rather thoughtful. The score's clues to the mode are the signs by the clef and the last note: two flats and a G at the end mean G minor.

Slurs and moves

Over the right-hand notes there are arcs: from the pickup to the first D in bar 2, from the second D to bar 4, from bar 4 to the G in bar 8. An arc over different notes is a slur. The notes under it are played connected, legato: the next key goes down as the one before comes up. On the last note of a slur the hand leaves the key for a moment, and the next slur begins afresh, like a new sentence.

In bar 2 one slur ends on D5 and the next begins on the same D. These are two notes, and both are pressed. The little finger takes the first D, finger 2 the second: on it the right hand moves to the C position. Now under the fingers are C (1), D (2), E♭ (3) and F (4).

The C position: the thumb on C5, finger 3 on E♭, finger 4 on F.

The hand comes back in bar 6, as in the Minuet: the thumb takes C, and finger 3 crosses over it to B♭. Then A with finger 2 and G with the thumb, and the hand is in the G position again. The last G of bar 8 is the thumb as well, and after it the thumb steps down past F and E to the D of the next pickup.

Bar 6: finger 3 crosses over the thumb to B♭.

The pickup D with the thumb, then the staircase from G with fingers 1–5, the second D in bar 2 with finger 2. Any tempo.

In bar 2 there are two D5 notes in a row: one arc ends on the first, another starts on the second. How do you play them?

One D for a bar and a half: the arc joins identical notes Both: press the second one again, with finger 2 Both with the little finger, the hand stays put

Each D has its own slur, so they are two notes. An arc that joins two identical notes into one is called a tie; you meet it in lesson 6. And the second D with finger 2 moves the hand to the C position: otherwise in bar 3 there would be no finger left for E♭.

The end of the phrase: in bar 6, finger 3 over the thumb to B♭, then A with finger 2 and G with the thumb.

Quiet, quieter, louder

Under the pickup stands p, piano, “quietly”, from lesson 2. At the end of bar 8, under the pickup D, is pp, pianissimo, “very quietly”: bars 9–16 repeat the first phrase almost note for note, but more quietly, like an echo. Letters like these are dynamics, loudness written into the score. From quiet to loud: pp, p, mp (mezzo-piano, “moderately quiet”), mf (mezzo-forte, “moderately loud”), f (forte, “loud”), ff (fortissimo, “very loud”). A dynamic holds until the next one appears.

The loudest point of the song is mf, in bar 22. It is reached by a hairpin under bars 20–21 that opens out to the right: this is a crescendo, the sound gradually grows. In bars 23–24 the hairpin closes: this is a diminuendo, the sound dies down, and at the end of bar 24 it is p again.

On the keys, loudness is the speed at which the key goes down. Quiet: the finger takes the key down slowly, but all the way; loud: faster. Pressing on a key that is already down does nothing: the sound has already begun.

Play any note with the strength named. The scale shows where your press landed. The hardest part is telling pp from p.

A smooth, connected phrase

The slurs say to play connected, and the letters say how loud. But inside a slur the notes are not all the same. A phrase is going somewhere: towards a high or a long note, and then it lets go. What happens if every note is played with the same force?

The pickup and bars 1–8 with the right hand: one column is one note, the slurs above, the bar numbers below. The height of a column is the force of the press.

The difference is small, and everything stays quiet. But “every note alike” sounds like a list of notes, and the phrase sounds like a tune. This is what pianists call a smooth, connected phrase, a legato line: connected, with a gentle rise to the top and a falling away towards the end, without bumps. In “Your turn”, play the same notes yourself, and the columns show how you led each slur. Do not try to match the outline exactly: what matters is that each slur has a top.

The left hand: the bass and F♯

For nearly the whole song the left hand plays one note: G3, with the thumb, a half note per bar. The other fingers lie lower: finger 2 on F♯, finger 4 on D.

In bars 7 and 15 there is a sharp before F, right by the note, not by the clef. Such a sign holds only until the end of its bar, which is why it is written again in bar 15. F♯ leads to G by a semitone, as in the Minuet. Signs like this get a closer look in lesson 5. In bar 8, after G with the thumb, the little finger takes G2, an octave lower. That is a stretch: if your hand will not reach, move it; you have a quarter note for that.

In the middle section, bars 17–24, the hand lies lower: the thumb on D3, finger 2 on C, the little finger on G2. The notes: C, G, C, D, G, C, D (in bar 23 a rest after D) and D again. In bar 25 the hand goes back to G3. At the end, in bar 31, it goes down again: C, D and the last G2 with the little finger.

A note appears on a bass staff with two flats by the clef. Play it with the left hand in the right octave; a sharp by the note means a black key.

The middle section: the thumb on D, finger 2 on C, the little finger on G2. Each half note fills the whole bar.

The metronome in two

For the song, set the EZ-310's metronome to 2/4, just as you set 4/4 in lesson 1: a bell on “one”, a click on “two”. The tempo in the course's score is ♩ = 56; start at 42, which is 75%.

The metronome at 2/4, ♩ = 42

The metronome does not count the pickup: it clicks whole bars. Let one bar go by, counting “one-and-two-” silently, and come in on the last “and”.

The song on the instrument

With the cable you can also put the course's recording of the song onto the EZ-310: both hands, ♩ = 56. The file is loaded and selected just like the Ode in lesson 1: songs from the computer go into the [USER&STORAGE] category, from number 158.

The whole song with two hands

The song is simply built. Phrase A is the pickup and bars 1–8. Then the same again, at pp, bars 9–16; the last bar is a half-note G. The middle section B is bars 17–24. And A once more, bars 25–32, except that the left hand ends its own way. Learn A and B, and you know the whole song.

In “Wait for me” the force of a press is not checked, but play the dynamics from the start: quieter the second time through, a rise to mf in bar 22. Practise for 15–20 minutes, but every day.

The pickup and bars 1–8, right hand. The move to the C position on the second D of bar 2, and back in bar 6, finger 3 over the thumb. At the end of bar 8 the thumb goes down to the pickup D.

The same bars with the left hand: G with the thumb, F♯ and D in bar 7, G and the G an octave lower in bar 8.

The middle section, right hand. The G position; in bar 21 the second D with finger 2, a move to the C position again, and in bar 23 B♭ with finger 3 over the thumb. At the end of bar 24, the pickup D with the thumb.

The middle section with the left hand: the thumb on D, the little finger on G2. In bar 23 there is a rest on “two”.

The whole song in “Wait for me”. Bars 9–16 and 25–32 are phrase A, which you already know. In bars 31–32 the left hand has C, D and the last G2.

Now in tempo: the pickup and bars 1–8 at 75%, which is ♩ = 42. The count-in bar is two clicks; play the pickup D on the “and” after the second, and bar 1 starts on the next “one”.

And the last rung: the whole song with both hands in tempo. At 75% it takes a minute and a half. Add 5% each time a run is passed: the result line shows at least 90% right notes and 75% “on time”. A hundred per cent, ♩ = 56, is the tempo the course's score of the song is written in.

What next

Now you count in two and come in on a pickup, you read flats by the clef and hear how minor differs from major. You play the notes under a slur connected, lead the phrase to its top and tell pp, p and mf apart. The whole song sounds with both hands.

Test yourself at the keys:

• Tap the pickup and bar 1, counting aloud “and, one-and-two-and”.
• Name every flat in bars 1–8 and play each one: only B and E, and all of them black.
• In “Even or shaped”, play the pickup and bars 1–8 yourself: at least two slurs out of three “shaped”.
• The whole song “In tempo” at 75%: 90% right notes or more.
• Without the cable: the metronome at 2/4 and ♩ = 42, phrase A twice with both hands on the EZ-310, the second time quieter than the first.

The next wall is Beethoven's Für Elise. You know the pickup already, and here the signs stand right inside the bar: a sharp, and in bar 1, before D, another one you have not met.

Signs by the notes themselves, not by the clef. Reading them is for lesson 5.

Accidentals, the natural and repeats with different endings come in lesson 5.