today we're going to be learning about

some piano basics, and by the end of this

lesson, you'll be playing your first song

on the piano. So let's come to the piano

to get started.

One nice thing about the piano is how

visually the keys are organized. These

things you push are called the keys, and they

come in just two simple colors, black and

white, and the further you go to the left

the lower the sound they make.

So this is the low area of the piano, but

if we come up to the right we get the

high notes. Now let's experiment with

your own piano. I want you to try this

along with me. Find any key in the high

area of your piano and play each key one

at a time moving to the right,

black and white keys, and listen to the

sound getting higher and higher until

you get to the very highest key of your

piano.

Did you make it to the highest key on

your piano?

You're always welcome, of course, to pause

the video if you need extra time to try

something. Now let's go back down to the

low area of your piano

and this time find a low key, any key, and play

each one moving down to the left, one key

at a time, and listen to how the sound

gets lower and lower,

until you get to the very bottom note, the

bottom key of your piano.

Good, now let's take a look at the

patterns of the black keys. Can you tell

me about how the black keys are grouped

together?

You probably noticed that there are

groups of two and three.

Let's say how many are in each group

that I point to. Can you say it with me? Two, three, two, three,

two, three, good, now let's try the pattern going

down. We have two, three, two, three, two, haha the pattern

changes here.

This really should be a group of three

but way back when they invented the

piano they decide to make this the

lowest note, so this black key has to be

all by itself.

Sorry little black key. Now that you know

where the high notes and the low notes

are, and about the groups of two and

three black keys, you're ready to learn

your first song, "Hot Cross Buns." This song

comes from hundreds of years ago in

England, back when kids used to have to

help their families earn enough money to

live, the kids might go around town

selling bread. A hot cross bun is a

special kind of roll that would have a

cross shape on it, and you know how these

days when an ice cream truck comes and

you can hear the sound of the truck

coming? You know it's time to go buy some

ice cream.

Well, back hundreds of years ago in

England the kids would sing this song,

"Hot Cross Buns," around the streets, people

would hear it, and that's how they would

know it was time to buy some hot fresh

bread.

Here's the song, "Hot Cross Buns."

Hot cross buns,

Hot cross buns,

One a penny,

Two a penny,

Hot cross buns!

Now this time can you sing "Hot Cross

Buns" along with me? I know you might be

thinking, whoa wait a minute, I thought

this was a piano lesson, and now you're

asking me to sing? Well, remember that

singing is one of the very best ways to

develop the musical areas of your brain.

You actually become a better pianist

faster if you'll sing each song before

you learn to play it, so we're going to

sing "Hot Cross Buns" together, and here

are some hand signs to go along with it.

If you were to touch some bread right

out of the oven

you might go like this, hot, and then on

the word "cross" we're going to make a

cross shape, and then "buns" are going to

make the shape of the bread. Here we go.

Can you try the hand signs with me and

sing along?

Ready, go. Hot cross buns, hot cross buns,

one a penny, two a penny, hot cross buns.

Good job, now

one reason for these hand signs is

because it shows you when the notes of

the melody are high, middle, or low. This

song is made up of three notes in solfège

which is a kind of special musical

language.

This one is called MI. This note is

called RE. This note is called DO and

they're all a step apart from each other.

Bah Bah Bah. Let's sing 'Hot Cross Buns"

one more time and this time in solfège.

Can you sing along with me?

Ready, go. MI RE DO MI RE DO

DO DO DO DO

RE RE RE RE

MI RE DO. Good job. Now as we were doing that

did you notice any patterns? Did you

notice the place where we did the same

note over and over again? That's called a

repeating note and it happened on DO DO

DO DO

The DO repeats four times in a row. Then we get

another repeating note on RE RE RE RE, also

four times, but then did we have a

repeating note on MI?

Nope, after that it goes back to our

stepping down pattern, MI RE DO. Now

let's practice moving our fingers to

these patterns so we can get ready to

play it on the piano. Please hold up your

right hand and get ready to copy what I

do. For "Hot Cross Buns," since we have

three notes

we're going to need just these three

fingers. This finger will play MI then

we're going to step down to RE and then

step down to DO.

Let's practice. I'll show you first and

then you try next. MI RE

DO. Now you try. Good, when you take a

turn remember to move your fingers and

sing too. My turn again. MI RE

DO. Now you try and sing. And now here

come the repeated notes.

DO DO DO DO, now your turn. Then it steps up

to RE and repeats. RE RE RE RE. Your turn. Now my

turn again. We do one more stepping down,

MI RE DO.

Your turn. Great work. When you play

the piano you want your fingers to feel

relaxed and comfortable. We'll talk more

about piano posture and the shape of

your hands soon in another lesson, but

for now just make sure instead of using

flat fingers, that your fingers have a

natural, relaxed, curved shape. For "Hot

Cross Buns" we're going to use a group of

three black keys. This black key furthest

to the right is MI, this middle one is

RE, and this lowest one is DO. Put

that together and you can hear it makes

"Hot Cross Buns."

Now instead of playing with one finger

like this we're going to do a more

advanced way of three different fingers

for those three notes, so go ahead and

get in position on those three black

keys. I'll play a pattern, you listen, and

then you try next.

My turn first. We're going to start with

finger, this ring finger, on MI. My turn. MI

RE DO. Now you try. Sing and play. Good.

My turn again. MI RE DO.

Now your turn.

Good. Now we do the repeating note.

DO DO DO DO. Your turn.

Good. Then it steps up to RE RE RE RE.

Your turn.

Good, and then we finish with MI RE DO.

Now your turn

Great job. Now if you like you can press

pause and practice the whole song a few

times on your own, or if you feel ready

we're now going to try and play the

whole song together. Make sure your hand

is in position and now don't get

distracted by what I'm playing. I'm doing

this kind of jazzy accompaniment, but your

job is to simply play and sing "Hot Cross

Buns" just like we practiced. We'll go nice

and steady.

First I'll play an introduction. Wait for

me to say go and then begin with "Hot

Cross Buns."

I'll sing along to to help. Here goes.

Wait for it.

One two, ready, go.

Hot cross buns, hot cross buns,

one a penny, two a penny, hot cross buns.

Great job. If you didn't play perfectly

that's no problem. You can just rewind

and practice it again, or press pause and

practice by yourself a few times, then

try it again with me. Now let me show you

a few more fun ways you can try "Hot

Cross Buns" for practice. You could try it

way up high on your piano, baby style.

Hot cross buns. Or you could do it way down low on

your piano. When you go low I recommend

using your left hand since it will be a

lot more comfortable playing that in the

low range. So this would be, let's say,

grandpa style. Hot cross buns, hot cross buns. When

you practice on your own

be sure you're trying it in both your

right hand and your left hand. Pianists

need to become comfortable using both of

your hands, in fact for an extra super

challenge, you can actually try playing

it with both hands at the same time,

like that, but that's pretty tricky so

maybe don't try that for a few days or

so. First you want to get really solid

with the right-hand and left-hand alone,

then try that challenge when your ready.

Now let's talk about where you go from

here.

In fact, if you're a kid watching on your

own, pause the video go and grab your mom

or dad and bring them over.

Ok, don't actually grab them, just kind of

gently but firmly guide them over to

this screen for this important message.

For kids, teens, adults, anyone who is

learning with me, I created Hoffman

Academy to make it so anyone who wants

to can learn to play piano. If you work

hard and practice every day there is no

limit to how awesome you can become at

the piano. I really believe that the only

thing standing in between you and your

piano awesomeness is practice. Daily

consistent practice. So please, decide

now that you are going to practice every

day no matter how busy,

no matter how tired. For right now don't

worry about how long you practice, just

get in the habit of doing it every day,

even if you only have a few minutes. If

you do I promise you you're going to see

your skills improve, and the more your