Learning the middle section of Fur Elise

Hello, and welcome to today's music lesson. I'm Miss Mansel and I'm gonna be guiding you through today's lesson. Let's get started. Today's outcome is I can play an extended phrase of a melody, which uses the black notes and moves out of position. Let's look at some keywords for today's lesson. Legato. This is when the movement between each note is smooth. An ABA structure. This is a musical structure with three sections, where the first and last section are the same, so A and A, and the middle section, your B section is different. Sequence. This is a short, melodic idea that is repeated in steps, either rising or falling, and rubato, a slight speeding up and slowing down of the tempo to show expression. Here's the outline of today's lesson. Learning the middle section of "Fur Elise." Part one, refining the opening section, part two, the middle section, and part three, putting it together. So let's get started with part one, refining the opening section. Watch this performance of the opening two phrases of "Fur Elise," and consider how the performer adds expression. Remember if you listened to "Fur Elise" in the last lesson, we're learning a slightly simplified version. So let's watch this performance of the opening two phrases. (gentle piano music) How did you think the performer added expression? They played in a legato style. So if you remember, that's a smooth playing. They slightly emphasized the first beat of the bar. Some sections were a little bit quieter, so the opening motif and the last bar of the phrase. And they were playing it fluently. That means they weren't stopping and starting. They were playing in the A position, which, if you remember, is the position you need to play these phrases, and they were using good keyboard technique, so their fingers were curved over the keys and had a straight line from elbow to little finger, which means a player has more control over the keys on the keyboard. It helps them to play fluently when you're using good technique. Let's have a listen to this example. How are dynamics used? (gentle piano music) The repeated phrase is played quieter than the first phrase, and the performer's still emphasizing the first beat of the bar slightly. There are no fixed rules about how to use dynamics to add expression to a performance. It's important to stress the main beats of the bar, but not too heavily. Play fluently so the music flows. The slower and fluent playing is much better than fast and really disjointed. Find moments where the music is slightly louder or slightly quieter, or can build or die away rather than sudden or random changes of dynamics. Let's do a check for understanding. Which beat of the bar would usually be emphasized? Is it A, the first beat, B, the second beat, or C, the last beat? Have a think. Did you get A? If so, well done. True or false: adding any dynamics to a performance is a way of adding expression? What do you think? Did you get false? If so, well done. The reason for that is random or sudden dynamic changes are not always suitable in a performance. Emphasizing the first beat of the bar and finding moments where the music can get slightly louder or quieter is more musical. So let's move on to task A. Practice playing the first two phrases of "Fur Elise." The success criteria for this are find the A position first. Remember, that's where your thumb is on the A with the correct hand shape. Use the correct fingers to play each note. Play the notes legato using all five fingers. Remember, legato means smoothly. And that your fourth finger is gonna be playing both D sharp and D natural. Emphasize the first beat in the bar, but not too much. And have a think about how you can use dynamics to show expression. Here's the music for "Fur Elise." Let's reflect on your performance so far. How have you refined it? Have you made sure that your hand is in the A position with your thumb on the A and you're using that correct hand shape, your fingers slightly curved and your arm straight? Are you playing in that smooth legato style? Are you emphasizing the first beat in the bar? What dynamics have you used to add expression? Are your phrases dying away? Did you start quietly or get louder? Did you play the repeat of the section as an echo? How have you done it? Let's move on to part two of our lesson, it's the middle section. "Fur Elise" as an ABA structure. The first section, melody, the A section, is repeated at the end with a contrasting middle section, the B section. What patterns do you see in the B section melody? Have a look at the notes. It's got four similar motifs, each with the same rhythm. The last three are played in a descending sequence. The B section melody is going to need a hand position change. The hand moves up by one note from A to B. Watch the video to see how that's done. (gentle piano music) Did you see what the new hand position looks like? Now, your thumb is on B, your second finger is on C, third on D, fourth on E, and fifth on F. So when you're performing the B section, you need to find your B position first, which is one note higher than your A position. The first motif rises in a four-note scale, and then the next three motifs are played in a descending sequence. And you wanna remember to play it in a legato style. Let's do a check for understanding. Which is the correct melody or rhythm for the B section? Have a listen to these clips. Is it A, B, or C? What do you think? (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) If you've got A, well done. Which of the following is showing the correct position for the B section of the melody? Is it A, B, or C? Look carefully and decide. If you've got C, well done. So let's move on to task B, practicing the B section of "Fur Elise." so the success criteria for this is going to be finding that B position first with the right hand shape. Use the finger prompts and the notation to help identify the order and rhythm of the notes you're playing. Play in a legato style, and remember the four-note motif pattern, the first one ascends in a scale and the rest are the same pattern in a descending sequence. Have a go at practicing, and here's the score. How did you get on? How do you think your performance has been successful? How could it be even better? Did you have your hand in the right position and in the correct shape? Are the pictures of each note accurate? Have you got the rhythms right? And are you performing in that legato or smooth style? Let's move on to our final section of this lesson, putting it together. The complete melody for "Fur Elise" is in an ABA structure, the opening section is used again at the end. Here's the full melody. Watch this video. What do you notice about the hand position and the tempo, that's the speed, in this performance. (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music continues) You might have noticed that the hand position moves up for the middle section and back down for the final section. And you also might've spotted that the tempo is not strict throughout the piece. So let's talk about rubato. Rubato is when you slightly pull the tempo around. This is another way musicians play with expression. With rubato, it's important not to overdo it so that the performance is expressive, but also fluent. You don't wanna lose a sense of the beat of the piece. The first phrase in this performance starts slowly, but the rest of the phrase is quicker to make it up. It also tends to slow down towards the end of the phrases. However, the performance still feels natural and to a pulse. Have a quick listen. So if you want to use your rubato in your performance, the performance should still be fluent. It needs to be playing to a steady pulse and flowing from one bar to the next. You need to give back what you take. So for example, if you start a bar or phrase slowly, you might speed up to make this up so you're staying in the same overall time. Try using it at the start or end of phrases, where it works well, and only use very small changes of tempo. Let's do a check for understanding. True or false: "Fur Elise" starts in the A position, moves down one note for the middle section, and returns to the A position for the final section? Is that true or false? What do you think? If you've got false, well done. It's false because the piece starts in the A position, moves up one note for the middle section to that B position, and then returns to the A position for the final section. Have a look at what's on the screen. Whose thoughts are more accurate of using rubato? Is it Sam, who thinks that rubato means speeding up and slowing down whenever you want to in a performance? The more rubato you use, the more expressive a performance will be. Or is it Jacob? "Rubato means to pull the tempo around slightly to show expression. The performance should still be fluent, so it's important to give back what you take in tempo." Who's more accurate? Hope you got Jacob. So let's look at task C. We're gonna practice playing the full melody of "Fur Elise." The success criteria for this is that the first and last sections are in the A position. You want to move your hand position up one note for section B. Focus on fluency and consider where you can add some rubato. And here's the full score, showing you where the A position and the B positions are. And finally, have a listen to this performance. How does it meet the success criteria? How is it expressive? (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) So in this performance, the performer uses rubato at the start of the phrases in the first motif, and slightly speeds up throughout the rest of the phrase. They play in mainly a legato style, but they don't change hand positions. So that means part of the middle phrase is more difficult to play and isn't play legato. There is a pause before the middle section, which sounds more like a lack of fluency than using rubato. Let's summarize today's lesson on learning the middle section of "Fur Elise." We have learned to play the melody of "Fur Elise" in a legato style and considering other expressive elements, including different dynamics, emphasizing the first beat of the bar, and the use of rubato. Finding patterns in music helps us to learn it more quickly. The "Fur Elise" melody is in an ABA structure and the middle section uses a descending sequence. Thank you for joining me for today's lesson, I hope you enjoyed learning with me.