Au Clair de la Lune – Piano Lesson

Bonjour et bienvenue. I'm Joseph Hoffman We're back to learn how to play the left hand of our French folk song "Au Clair de la Lune". Let's come to the score to get started. Alright, let's take a look at what the left hand is doing in "Au Clair de la Lune". We start off with a chord. It's a dotted quarter note.

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And you'll see these three notes all stacked together. Can you tell me the letter name of the bottom note? If you said A-flat you're correct. Then we skip up to middle C, and then we skip up to an E-flat. Now because this is a dotted quarter note, remember that's going to take up 1 1/2 beats, so let's draw in the beats to help us visualize that.

So that dotted quarter note takes up all of beat 1, and it will take up the first half of beat 2 as well. We have 1-& 2 and then on the & of 2 the left hand plays what note? You can see that there is a ledger line right here, which is the middle C ledger line, but this note sits on top of that. So it's a step above middle C which would be what? If you said D-flat you're correct.

Now let's look at measure two. We have two quarter notes. Can you tell me the name of this note here? If you said E-flat your correct. And what about this one? That's right it's a D-flat. And each of these also of course take up 1 beat each. Now if we were to write in the counts we'd have 1-& 2-&. Over here we have 1-& 2-& Can you tap the rhythm of the left hand and let's use our left hand to do that, while you count the beat out loud.

We'll start right here, and remember to wait until the & of 2 to tap this eighth note. Ready, go: 1-& 2-& 1-& 2-& Good job! Let's try that one more time. Start right here. Tap the left hand rhythm and count the beat. Ready, go: 1-& 2-& 1-& 2-& Okay, let's come to the piano and try and play it. Alright let's place the left hand in the A-flat major pentascale.

Can you play and name each note? Starting on A-flat. Ready, go: A-flat B-flat C D-flat E-flat And your finger 3 will actually be on middle C of your piano. Now first we play a DO MI SO chord, or we could call that a I chord, and that lasts for 1 1/2 beats like this: 1-& 2 and then on the & of beat 2 we play a D-flat Like this: 1-& 2-& Can you try that? Good.

Now let's try it at the same time count the beat and play with me. Remember on the & of 2 we play the D-flat. Ready, go: 1-& 2-& Good. Now the next measure we have E-flat and then D-flat. 1-& 2-& Can you try that and count the beat out loud? Go. Good, now let's put those two measures together. It will sound like this: 1-& 2-& 1-& 2-& Now press pause and try that five times by yourself.

Play and count the beat out loud. Press play when you're ready to go on. Let's take a look at measures three and four now. What kind of chord do you see right here? That's right it's the same as the first chord that we played which is a I chord. DO MI and SO all stacked together. So we play a I chord for 1 beat, and then what do you think happens here? Can you tell what kind of chord this is? It's a V7 chord.

See, that DO steps down to TI from A-flat to G, and MI stepped up to D-flat and the top note stayed the same. So we have a I chord, V7 chord, I chord. Let's write that in. I chord. V7 chord. Followed by a I chord. Now let's try to play it on the piano. Right, once again with the left hand in the A-flat major pentascale.

We have a I chord, then we go to a V7 chord, so our finger 5 needs to step down a half step which will land us on G, and then we have a D-flat and an E-flat like this: There's our V7 chord with these three notes. V7 chord, and then back to the I chord. So all together it will sound like this: I, V7, and then I.

Now press pause and try that three times on your own, then press play to go on. Good, now let's take a look at what all of line one will sound like together for the left hand. Here we go. If you feel up to it you can try playing along with me, otherwise you can just listen. Try and count the beat with me.

Ready, go: 1-& 2-& 1-& 2-& 1-& 2-& 1-& 2-& Good, now press pause and try all of line one by yourself while counting the beat. Press play when you're ready to go on. Let's check out the B section for the left hand now. We start off on a D-flat, and I should point out here that while the right hand moves down to a new position, which you probably remember is E-flat major pentascale.

The left hand does not move it's going to stay in the A-flat major pentascale the entire time. So this D-flat will be played with finger 2 which is the finger that's been on D-flat the entire time. So we have D-flat, and then what do we have in this measure? If you said more D-flats you're correct. We played D-flat D-flat D-flat D-flat Then here's a symbol that you might not have seen before so I'm going to circle it.

That symbol is called a natural. And a natural cancels a flat. Technically we didn't need to put this natural in this song, because the bar line also cancels a flat. But it's placed here as a courtesy to you just in case you forgot that the bar line cancels it. Sometimes they do that in music. They'll put a natural sign to say hey remember this is going to be a white key.

So here we'll play D natural, and then here we have, do you remember what kind of rest this is? That's right we recently learned that this is an eight rest which takes up 1/2 of a beat. So let's draw in the beat so we can see this more clearly. We'll have a beat here, And another beat here. This eighth rest gets 1, and this eighth note gets &.

So these two share this beat. So we'll have 1-& 2-& Let's try to tap the rhythm of this measure. Remember when you say 1 you'll speak the beat, but you won't tap because of the rest. And then you will tap & 2-& like this: 1-& 2-& Let's try that together. We're going to do it three times in a row. Count the beat with me and tap with your left hand.

Ready, go: 1-& 2-& 1-& 2-& 1-& 2-& Good, now let's tap the rhythm of the whole line. While we count the beat. This half note will get 1-& 2-& 1-& 2-& 1-& 2-& 1-& 2-& Don't forget the rest. Don't tap on beat 1 of this measure. Try it with me. Tap and count. Ready, go: 1-& 2-& 1-& 2-& 1-& 2-& 1-& 2-& Good.

Now let's take a look at how these notes are moving. Can you tell me if they're stepping, skipping, or repeating? If you said stepping down you're correct. We play a D-flat, step down to C, step down to B-flat. Let's come to the piano and try the B section for the left hand. Remember that when we play line three, our left hand remains in the A-flat major pentascale even though our right hand is going to be moving down to E-flat major.

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So with the left hand still in the A-flat major pentascale, Here's what we have on line two. We play D-flat for a half note. 1-& 2-& Then in the next measure we repeat on D-flat for 1-& 2-& Then in the next measure our finger 1 is normally going to be on this E-flat if we are in the A-flat major pentascale, however, we need to play a D natural and so our thumb is going to shift down to D natural in that measure so we can play D natural 1-& 2-& Then in the next measure we have an eighth rest, so we have to let go of the D natural and play nothing for half a beat, then starting with the D-flat finger 2 we step down.

-& 2-& That leads us into line four. So let's watch that whole line now. I'll demonstrate once. We have: 1-& 2-& 1-& 2-& D natural -& 2-& 1-& 2-& Now, press pause and try all of the B section, which is line three by yourself. Try it five times. Count the beat out loud while you play, then press play when you're ready to go on.

Alright, now I'm going to play the left hand for the entire piece while counting the beat out loud. You can just listen if you like, or if you feel ready you can try playing along. Either way I'd like you to count the beat with me and watch the music. Here we go. 1-& 2-& 1-& 2-& 1-& 2-& 1-& 2-& 1-& 2-& 1-& 2-& 1-& 2-& 1-& 2-& 1-& 2-& 1-& 2-& 1-& 2-& 1-& 2-& 1-& 2-& 1-& 2-& 1-& 2-& 1-& 2-& Bon travail, mais petit pois.

Now it's time for you to practice that on your own at home. Please practice the left hand five to ten times every day until you have it 100% mastered. Also be sure to review the right hand too. Then in the next lesson I'll help you play it hands together. Merci, et a la prochaine. ♫Éclair de la luna yum yum yum♫ No no no no! Mon cousin, ce n'est pas éclair.

Huh? You have the words wrong! It is not éclair it is au claire by the light of the moon! Oh, but moonlight is not nearly as delicious. Haha, tu as raison. You are right. Let us change the words then. Oh boy! ♫Éclair de la lune..

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