Melody is one of the aforementioned elements of music. it is the recognizable tune of a song.
Can you “hum” to Mary Had a Little Lamb?
How about “Twinkle Little Star”
You just “Hummed” the melody… Yeah it’s obvious
So this is your first bet when learning new songs on the piano “The Melody”
In the last lesson I mentioned that Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do is the Major Scale in Tonic Solfa Notation. This is what we are going to use to learn the melody of these Nursery Rhymes
Ma-ry(Mi-Re) had(Do) a(Re) little(Mi-Mi) lamb(Mi)
little(Re-Re) lamb(Re), little(Mi-So) lamb(So)
Ma-ry(Mi-Re) had(Do) a(Re) little(Mi-Mi) lamb(Mi)
its(Mi) fleece(Re) was(Re) white(Mi) as(Re) snow(Do)
Did you just sing it? I mean the words… Now try singing the Solfa Notations only but in the same tune.
Let’s take it a step further by playing this on our keyboard.
But where do I start you ask? Where is the note Do?
This is where we revisit the key of C Major
Remember, C D E F G A B C and they represent Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do respectively in the Key of C Major only.
Do is C
Mi is E
La is A
Now can you play the song in the Key of C Major? Absolutely!!!
Ma-ry(Mi-Re) had(Do) a(Re) little(Mi-Mi) lamb(Mi)
little(Re-Re) lamb(Re), little(Mi-So) lamb(So)
Ma-ry(Mi-Re) had(Do) a(Re) little(Mi-Mi) lamb(Mi)
its(Mi) fleece(Re) was(Re) white(Mi) as(Re) snow(Do)
I can play this is Key C Major, what of the other Keys?
See you in the next lesson