Pachelbel CanonTHE MUSICARTA CANON PROJECTMODULE TWO – THIRDS IN THE TREBLEThe Pachelbel Canon in D is the perfect starting point for learning to play along with a chord sequence. The popular, well-known chords repeat predictably while melodic figures in the treble provide ideal material for learning about harmony, composition and improvisation. This is Module Two of the Musicarta Canon Project, a series of free online piano lessons which will show you how to play a chord sequence freely and put together your own unique Canon performance from easily-mastered musical segments. (components?)
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Thirds in the treble
Using just the index fingers (pointing fingers) of both hands, pick out the following string of double notes on your keyboard.
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The right hand plays the top note, the left hand plays the bottom note.
The audio recording ‘counts you in’ – you hear the first four chords, then “Five and six and seven and eight and…”. Use the count to get ready to come in at the start of the second ‘verse’ – the next count is “One”, where you start playing.
Using MidiPiano to play the MIDI file – with Piano Roll view on – you see this:
Use the music, the audio and the MIDI performance files to help you learn to play along with your Canon recording.
Thirds
These pairs of notes are called thirds because they encompass three note-names – three letters of the musical alphabet:
Memorise the string of thirds
Use all the clues you’ve got to memorise these pairs. One clue is the way the pairs ‘slant’. Because the black keys are further away from you, black key/white key pairs slant away. Here is the music again, with lines above showing the slant of the pair of notes.
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Imagine or draw four dots on your desktop and rehearse the pairs of notes, ‘seeing’ the black and white keys of the scale of D major as you tap through the string of thirds.
Did you know...?If you double-click on one of the MIDI files you’ve downloaded, Windows Media Player (WMP) will play it. You can set WMP to automatically repeat the track by pressing Ctrl+T or checking ‘Repeat’ in the drop-down Play menu. MidiPiano also has an auto-repeat function. Either of these applications will give you a hassle-free play-along track. Plus, you can slow down the MidiPiano performance using the ‘Speed’ slider. |
Variations using the thirds
Now we will explore some simple variations using the two notes of the thirds.- Break up the thirds into top and bottom notes
Break up the thirds into top-bottom pairs in time with the music. Play top-bottom-top-bottom for each third.
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The music you play is spread out over two lines now. The original string of eight thirds is shown just for reference in the smaller music above. You only play the second and fourth lines.
- Play next-door scale tones in the right hand
We can easily embellish our thirds using next-door scale tones in the right hand. The right hand uses the D major scale tone immediately above its ‘third’ tone, like this:
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Once you start playing like this, you can’t keep using just one finger in the right hand. The music gives a suggested fingering. You don’t have to follow it slavishly, but you should avoid running out of fingers or using your thumb on a black key.
The audio and MIDI performance files from here on are slowed down to practice tempo to help you learn the pattern. Remember, you can slow down the performance still more in MidiPiano while you’re learning.
Give the next-door-note pattern a different rhythmWe can make this pattern more interesting by making our next-door scale tone shorter:
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The audio and MIDI performance files are slowed down to practice tempo to help you learn the pattern. Remember, you can slow down the performance still more in MidiPiano while you’re learning.
Note the right hand ‘tweak’ in bar 8. Mechanical ‘formula’ patterns often sound better if you change (‘tweak’) a note or two here or there.
- Double the number of left hand notes<
We can continue to develop the pattern by doubling up the left hand notes:
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Look out for more tweaks in bar 7 (right hand) and bar 8 (left hand).
Further variations – audio challenge
Listen to these two audio clips:The first variation has fewer notes in the right hand, the second one has more, but always the same next-door-above scale tones. See if you can play the variations from just the audio clips, without looking at the music in the next section. The MIDI performance on MidiPiano will also help.
The ‘Further variations’ MS
- Type One: Fewer notes
This is the same as the last variation above, but the second right hand note is tied to the first – it doesn’t sound separately.
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- Type Two: More notes
This version still uses the same notes, but changes more often:
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The pattern gets clearer if you see it as types of movement:
You see that the pattern is: same – up – down – up – down – down, repeating.The last two bars are slightly different:
A lot of music is made of repeating patterns. Once you spot the pattern, you learn the pattern and then you don’t have to spend so much time ‘reading the dots’ – you play the pattern instead. Here, one pattern equals seven notes – learning the pattern is effort well spent.
Your own Canon performance
Practice the patterns in this module until you can play along with the audio or MIDI performance files, then get up to speed and play the patterns with your official CD or mp3 recording as a backing track.Keep your ‘inner ear’ open for variations. Here are two you might like to copy.
You can hear these two patterns in the Module Performance audio, which mixes all the patterns you have learnt in this module.
Put together a performance of your own from the thirds patterns in this module. You can play whole 'verses' of each one - the same pattern for each repeat of wight chords - or you can 'mix and match' in pairs, as in the Module Performance audio.
Here it is again:
This is the end of Module Two of the Musicarta Canon Project. When you’re ready, go on to Module Three, where you learn the bass line – the roots of the Canon chords.
Study Tip: Get Organized!
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