Category: Distance Learning Resources

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Amazing Grace

Portrait of John Newton

Introduction

Portrait of John Newton
John Newton

This is one of my favorite songs.  I am always so excited when we get to play it because it is a really important song to so many people.

Amazing Grace was written by a sea captain named John Newton, who was not a very nice person, after an experience he had.  Once, his ship was caught in a big storm out at sea, and after a while, it got so bad that they stopped trying to sail the ship and went down into the ship for protection.  John Newton thought the boat was going to sink and he was going to die in that storm.  He had given up hope and he thought that dying in the storm was going to be his punishment for not being a good person.

It turned out that he did survive the storm.

Afterward, he wrote Amazing Grace about how he was going to be a good person because he got another chance after thinking he was going to die.  This inspired him to do better things in his life and be a better person.

Video

The Lesson

At The Piano

Full Speed

Slower

Sheet Music

There are a few challenges in playing this piece, but they are challenges that you have faced before, so don’t worry.

Make sure you watch the video above for a discussion of the sheet music and explanations. Remember to notice when you have to switch and play with a different hand.

Don’t forget to practice it over and over again until you are able to play it allegro! That means fast and spirited.

Let’s see some exciting performances!

Take it slow and remember to break it up into phrases.

Piano
Piano Challenge Version
Ukulele
Guitar
Recorder
Xylophone or On-Screen Piano

Don’t Forget!

You can look up the ukulele chords and guitar chords and get help with reading tablature,
playing the recorder or rhythm (percussion) instruments right here on my website!

Digging Deeper

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Jingle Bells

Introduction

This is a song about doing something fun with your friends. A lot of people think it’s a Christmas song, but it really isn’t!  Believe it or not, it’s really just a winter song.

In the song, the main character has a fun time riding in a one horse open sleigh in the wintertime. It is actually a pretty funny song because after the first verse, (that’s the part that goes, “dashing through the snow…”) something funny happens to the sleigh in each verse afterward.

Here are the lyrics with an explanation.

Lyrics

The Words

Dashing through the snow, in a one-horse open sleigh
O’er the fields we go, laughing all the way
Bells on bob tail ring, making spirits bright
What fun it is to ride and sing, a sleighing song tonight!

Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way.
Oh! what fun it is to ride in a one-horse open sleigh.

A day or two ago, I thought I’d take a ride
And soon, Miss Fanny Bright was seated by my side,
The horse was lean and lank, misfortune seemed his lot
He crashed into a drifted bank and there we got upsot.

A day or two ago, the story I must tell
I went out on the snow, and on my back I fell;
A gent was riding by in a one-horse open sleigh,
He laughed at me as there I there lay, but quickly drove away.

The Explanation

Dashing is going fast and a one-horse open sleigh is a sleigh that has no top and is pulled by one horse, like the photo above. The bells are on the horse, a bobtail.  Making spirits bright means making everyone happy.

I think Miss Fanny Bright was his girlfriend, (yuck) and they went for a ride together.  Lean and lank means skinny and weak; not good things for a horse to be.  A drifted bank is a pile of snow blown by the wind. The horse crashed into a pile of snow and the sleigh flipped over.  “Upsot” is a poetic way of using the work “upset,” which is a play on words.  They flipped the sleigh and got angry, or upset.  Get it?  Hee hee.

This verse is simple.  He walks out on the snow and slips and falls on his back, (or backside) and some guy drove by in a one horse open sleigh and laughed and him and drove away.  Ouch!  How embarrasing!

Listen

The Lesson

At The Piano

Full Speed

Slower

Sheet Music

Piano
Piano Challenge Version
Ukulele
Guitar
Recorder
Xylophone or On-Screen Piano

Don’t Forget!

You can look up the ukulele chords and guitar chords and get help with reading tablature,
playing the recorder or rhythm (percussion) instruments right here on my website!

For Enjoyment

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Come and Sing Together

Introduction

This is a really fun song from Hungary.  It can be sung as a round.  It also has a different kind of a sound because it is in a minor key.  That means that it sort of sounds more “serious” than most of the other songs we’ve played. That sound happens when you play the notes that are flatted in this song correctly.

Take a listen to it and you’ll hear what I mean.

Listen

The Lesson

At The Piano

Full Speed

Slower

Sheet Music

Remember to notice when you have to switch and play with a different hand.
Be paying attention so that you can reach left hand over to get the high C in the first measure and the high C-C-D-C pattern in measure 7.
Don’t forget to practice it over and over again until you are able to play it allegro! That means fast and spirited.
Piano
Piano Challenge Version
Ukulele
Guitar
 
 
 
No Recorder For This One!
Xylophone or On-Screen Piano

Don’t Forget!

You can look up the ukulele chords and guitar chords and get help with reading tablature,
playing the recorder or rhythm (percussion) instruments right here on my website!

Other Instruments

Ukulele

Chord Videos

Guitar

Chord Videos

Digging Deeper

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Kookaburra

Introduction

The Kookaburra is a bird that is native to Australia and New Guinea, which are right next to each other.  A gum tree is another name for a eucalyptus tree, which is also native to Australia.  It is famous for the sound it makes, which sounds like a laugh. Here’s a video of 2 Kookaburras calling on someone’s balcony.

Video

The Lesson

At The Piano

In F Full Speed

In F Slower

In C Full Speed

In C Slower

Sheet Music

Piano
Ukulele
Guitar
Recorder
Xylophone or On-Screen Piano

Don’t Forget!

You can look up the ukulele chords and guitar chords and get help with reading tablature,
playing the recorder or rhythm (percussion) instruments right here on my website!

Digging Deeper

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William Tell

Introduction

A statue of William Tell and his son Carl.

The legend of William Tell is the story of a heroic man who fights back against a bully. A legend is a story about someone who the storyteller thinks lived in a story about their life that teaches a lesson. It usually involves them being a hero in some way. Legends are folktales, so they do have different versions and change here and there, but the lesson usually doesn’t, and that’s the point.

A composer named Gioachino Rossini wrote an opera based on the legend of William Tell. The piece we are playing today is the end part of the overture. The overture is the music that plays before the story begins kind of like in a movie when you see the actors names at the beginning before the story really begins. The overture is the music that plays during that part. Operas have an overture and this is one of them. 

The legend of William Tell is a good story and you can watch a short video of it below. 

Video

The Story

The Lesson

At The Piano

Full Speed

Slower

Sheet Music

There are a few challenges in playing this piece, but they are challenges that you have faced before, so don’t worry.

Make sure you watch the video above for a discussion of the sheet music and explanations. Remember to notice when you have to switch and play with a different hand.

Don’t forget to practice it over and over again until you are able to play it allegro! That means fast and spirited.

Let’s see some exciting performances!

Take it slow and remember to break it up into phrases.

Piano
Piano Challenge Version
Ukulele
Guitar
Recorder
Xylophone or On-Screen Piano

Don’t Forget!

You can look up the ukulele chords and guitar chords and get help with reading tablature,
playing the recorder or rhythm (percussion) instruments right here on my website!

Digging Deeper