Lesson 06 of 10 Step 2: the full versions ≈ 55 min 6 exercises Piece: Ode to Joy
Ode to Joy: the full version
Letters over the notes, three notes at once in the left hand and an arc across the bar line. Beethoven's Ode in D major, a tune with an accompaniment.
In this lesson
- build a triad from a note and recognise it on the staff
- read chord symbols such as D, Dm and A7, and know which notes are in each
- play chords with the left hand by the short way, hardly moving the hand
- hold a note under a tie and not press it a second time
- play the whole Ode with both hands in “Wait for me” and in tempo, with strings in the EZ-310's Dual mode
The same tune, with chords under it
This is the middle of the Ode to Joy in the course's full version: bars 9–16 with the repeat, with both hands. Press “Listen”.
You played the tune in lesson 1. Here it is a tone higher, in D major: this is the key in which the cellos and double basses first play it in the finale of the Ninth Symphony. The key signature has two sharps, F and C; how a sign by the clef works is explained in lesson 3. The left hand plays not one note at a time, as in the easy version, but three. Over the notes stand the letters D, A7, G and A: the names of these chords. The tune is Beethoven's, the accompaniment is ours: in the original the theme is played by the orchestra.
The tune a tone higher
In bars 1–8 the right hand plays the same notes as in lesson 1, only each one a tone higher. The fingers are the same. The position is now D: the thumb on D4, the little finger on A. The E of the easy version has become F♯, and finger 3 sits on a black key.
The first phrase from the page. The F by the clef has a sharp, so every F here is a black key, even though the note itself has no sign.
Three notes, every other one
With the left hand, press D3, F♯3 and A3 together, with fingers 5, 3 and 1. The three sounds merge into one, full and calm. Several notes played together make a chord. Listen to four chords of the Ode:
The chords of the Ode are all built the same way. They are triads, three notes, every other one. Take a note, skip the next, take the third, skip one more, take the fifth: D, (E), F, (G), A. The bottom note, the one the chord is built from, is the root; it gives the chord its name. The third note up from it is called the third, the fifth note the fifth.
The notes come from the key. In D major, F and C are sharp, so from D you get D, F♯, A; from A, A, C♯, E; from G, G, B, D. On the staff, notes taken every other one stand one above the other: on three lines in a row or in three spaces in a row, like a snowman.
You met major and minor in lesson 4: in major there are four semitones from the main note to the third step, in minor three. A triad works the same way. From D to F♯ is four semitones, and the triad is major, bright. From D to F is three, and it is minor, darker. The fifth is the same in both: seven semitones, from D to A.
A triad sounds. Major or minor? Major is brighter, minor darker; if you are unsure, listen again.
A triad is three notes, every other one: the root, the third, the fifth. On the staff that is three lines in a row or three spaces in a row. If there are four semitones from the root to the third, the triad is major; if three, minor.
A letter over the bar
Over the notes of the Ode stand letters. This is a chord symbol: the letter of the root, like the note names in lesson 0. A letter alone means a major triad: D is D major, D, F♯, A. A small m after the letter means minor: Dm is D, F, A. A letter holds until the next letter.
A7 is a chord of four notes. On top of the triad A, C♯, E one more note is added, again skipping one: G. This is a seventh chord: G is the seventh note up from A, hence the 7. A seventh chord sounds unsettled and pulls towards the next chord. In the Ode, A7 is always followed by D.
Most of the tune's notes are notes of their chord, especially the long notes and the ends of phrases. The others pass between them. That is why the letter changes where the tune moves to other notes: the long E in bar 4 is a note of A7, and there is no E in the D major triad.
There is a G over the bar. Which three notes are in this chord?
G is the major triad on G: G, then skipping one B, then skipping one D. From G to B is four semitones. G, B♭, D would be Gm, the minor triad, and D, F♯, A is D.
A letter is named. Play all three notes together; which one is at the bottom does not matter, and it may move to another octave. All six chords are made of the notes of D major: only F and C are sharp.
A letter over the notes is a chord's name, after its root. A letter alone is a major triad, m is minor, 7 is a seventh chord of four notes. A letter holds until the next one.
The left hand: the short way
A letter does not say which keys exactly to play: that is up to the player. The part that supports the tune is called the accompaniment. In the Ode the left hand plays chords in half notes, two to a bar, and hardly moves at all: the little finger on D3 or C♯3, the thumb on A.
From D to A7 the little finger moves one key down, from D to C♯. The middle note rises from F♯ to G, and now finger 2 takes it. A stays under the thumb: this note is in both chords. Of the four notes of A7 the hand plays three, C♯, G and A; E is left out, and the chord is recognisable without it. If every chord were built up from its own letter, the hand would jump at every change.
In bar 12 there are two new chords. G is D, G, B: the little finger stays on D, finger 2 on G, and the thumb reaches for B. Straight after it comes A, and the hand goes down: A2, C♯, E, with fingers 5, 3 and 1. A sits lower because at that moment the right hand itself comes down to A3, and the hands must not get in each other's way. In bar 13 the left hand goes back to D. This is the hardest place in the Ode: both hands move at the same time.
A note appears on a bass staff with two sharps by the clef. Play it in the right octave. These are all the notes of the Ode's left-hand chords, from A2 to B3.
The chords light up one after another. Take each one by the nearest way: leave a shared note where it is, and move the other fingers to the neighbouring keys.
Bars 9–13: a beat early
In bars 9–12 the right hand sits one key lower than at the start. The thumb over C♯, D with finger 2, E with 3, F♯ with 4, G with 5. In bar 12 the thumb reaches down to A3.
In the easy version bar 12 ended with a rest, and the last phrase began on “one” of bar 13. Beethoven does it differently. The tune comes down to A, and the F♯ that starts the last phrase comes in a beat early, on the fourth beat of bar 12. From it an arc is thrown across the bar line to the same F♯ in bar 13.
An arc between two identical notes is a tie. The second note is not pressed: the first is held for as long as both last together, here two beats. You will not mix it up with the slur from lesson 4: that one joins different notes, this one the same note. On the second beat of bar 13, F♯ is pressed again, now with finger 3, and the hand goes back to the D position.
How many times is F♯ pressed in bars 12–13?
The tie joins the F♯ of bar 12 to the first F♯ of bar 13: that is one press for two beats. The next F♯, on the second beat, is not tied and is pressed afresh.
The right hand, from the position one key lower. Hold the tied F♯ for two beats and do not press it again; the next F♯ with finger 3.
A tie joins two identical notes: the second is not pressed, and the first is held for both. Across a bar line it carries a note on into the next bar. An arc between different notes is a legato sign.
Strings over the piano
In the orchestra the strings carry the theme. The EZ-310 has a Dual mode: every key sounds two Voices at once. The piano gives the attack, and the strings sustain the sound for as long as the key is down. Switch it on and choose the second Voice.
Play D and A7 with the left hand: the chords sustain for as long as you hold the keys. Other strings sit nearby, from 101 to 107: Studio Strings, Chamber Strings, Slow Strings and others. If the strings drown out the piano, you can turn them down.
A shortcut is Voice 008 “Piano & Strings”: it switches Dual on by itself. The volume of the second Voice is function 009 “D.Volume”, from 0 to 127: [FUNCTION], the [+] and [−] buttons to “D.Volume”, the value with [+/YES] and [−/NO], and [FUNCTION] to leave. During a 3-Step Lesson, Dual does not work: the instrument sets the song's own Voice.
With the cable you can put the course's score onto the EZ-310, as in lesson 1: in the file the right hand is on channel 1 and the left on channel 2.
Without the cable, the EZ-310 has an Ode of its own: song 101 “Ode to Joy (Advanced)”, Yamaha's arrangement with parts for both hands. The course's score plays from the “Listen” button by the notes on this page.
The whole Ode with two hands
The full version has 16 bars. Bars 1–8 are two nearly identical phrases. Bars 9–16 are the middle and the opening phrase again, and they are repeated. At the start of bar 9 stands the matching repeat sign, two dots after the bar line: that is where you go back to from the sign at the end. In all, 24 bars sound; at 75% that takes a minute and twenty seconds.
First the left hand alone, bars 1–8: D and A7, the little finger now on D, now on C♯. The right hand is played by the “teacher”.
Both hands, bars 1–8. A chord and the tune's note above it are played together, and on the second and fourth beats the tune goes on alone while the chord is held.
The middle, right hand: the position one key lower, the low A, the tie and the D position again.
The middle, left hand: A7 and D every two beats, G and the low A in bar 12, D again in bar 13.
The whole Ode in “Wait for me”. Bars 13–16 are the opening phrase again, which you already know.
Now in tempo: bars 1–8 at 75%, which is ♩ = 72. The count-in bar is four clicks.
And the last rung: the whole Ode with both hands in tempo. 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, ♩ = 96, is the tempo the course's score of the Ode is written in. Try a run with the strings in Dual as well.
What next
Now you build a triad from a note and recognise it on the staff, read the chord symbols D, Dm and A7 and know which notes are in them. The left hand plays chords by the short way, and you hold a note under a tie without pressing it a second time. On the EZ-310 you switch on Dual and choose the second Voice.
The next wall is Schumann's Melody in the original. The left hand again has the notes of chords, only they come not together but one at a time, in eighth notes.
Broken chords in the bass come in lesson 7.