Skyfall Music Lesson

Introduction

So Skyfall. What a great film! James Bond. Adele really hit the big time by being asked to do this song, and she wrote it with her main songwriter, Paul Epworth, who's a great songwriter and has written lots of songs previously. This is a real great collaboration for them.

This song is a fantastic tune. The format of this song is pretty much what was performed on the record. If you listen to the track, you'll hear that intro straight away on the piano. The minute you play that, it's distinctive. Everyone knows, "Ah, it's Skyfall."

Why This Piece?

What a great piece to get into, you know, for grade three! Instantly, you've got something that people are going to recognize, something that you're going to feel good about playing. You can play along to the track from beginning to end. This is an exact arrangement of the score. Nothing's watered down. It's a perfect transcription for you to really get your teeth into.

Technical Aspects

Okay, so let's take a look at some of the technical aspects of the piece as you start looking at it. I'm sure you've had a lot of lessons on it already, but if you're new to this, I think firstly, the key signature is C minor. We've got three flats, so make sure that you're very familiar with the way that the circle of fifths works, which is where all the keys come from.

Key Signature

• Three flats:
  • B flat
  • E flat
  • A flat

At the very first bar, you've got this squiggly line going all the way down, which is basically just to roll the chord. That's a static chord. A rolled chord is much more dramatic.

The Bond Feel

How James Bond is that, to have a chord like that as a start? And then you've got these very tiny notes. What's that? These are just appoggiaturas. They're great notes that are given; they're so quick and so light that they're not even in time with the beat. They are done specifically to create a sense of urgency, so you want to play them as quick as you can.

Left Hand Rhythm

So this left hand, there's instantly a challenge there in getting that rhythm right. You have this great dotted rhythm working against the static kind of beat. That's your solid crotchet beat, and that's the same all the way through.

• Finger Positioning: I'm using a 1, 1, and a 5 on that. Later on, it becomes...

Keep a nice steady hand position, you shouldn't have to move hardly at all, and then you're back to it as well.

Playing Dynamics

What I'm going to try to keep is a nice natural rhythm to your playing here and let the left hand do the work. The left hand is kind of driving the song rhythmically at the moment before Adele comes in and starts singing.

We want this. Feel free to bring out that left hand, really make it dominant, until the vocal comes in. Then we're kind of back to the same thing again, so that just carries on.

Moving Into the Chorus

So, moving through the piece, we start moving into where the chorus starts, and it starts building up. Suddenly, we've got these octaves in the left hand.

• If you want to bring them out, this is a real dramatic piece.
• It's such a huge arrangement in the original song.

I like to use a 4 on the black notes for octaves, but feel free. It's up to you whether you want to do that.

Attention to Chords

As you work through this piece, pay attention to some of the chords. Make sure all the voices sound in the chord, especially on those suspensions that resolve down.

• Example: C is resolving down to the B. We want that to come out, okay? Excellent!

Difficult Aspects

Moving on to some of the more difficult aspects of the piece: when first learning this, I recommend trying to get a sense of what fingers you want to use for those left hand notes.

• Suggested fingerings:
  • Thumb to 2 to 4
  • Then to a 2 and a 1

You'll find that the music starts incorporating some more professional elements of music notation, such as repeat marks.

Verses

You've got a first-time bar and second-time bar so that you don't have 50 pages of music but can go back to the second verse. Pay attention to that! If you're not fully aware, get your teacher to explain it, or write in, and I can give you more information.

Chord Patterns

As you follow through the song, you'll notice it's this chordal pattern all the way through.

• Chorus Change: In the chorus, you suddenly have this F7 to F minor.
• It's very important not to blur the pedal.

Listen to this: That's not very nice. So make sure you lift the pedal in between.

• Technique: Lift and change there.

Bar 38 and Beyond

Moving on to bar 38, we've got this big chord here. You want to have a nice steady count and really bring those out, especially the melodic notes.

• This part feels very James Bond.
• Then suddenly, we have this chord.

Listen closely: Hear that? It's a real crunchy chord due to the clash of the E, A flat, and G together.

Recommended Finger Position

I recommend doing thumb 2, 3, 5. Practice playing those as one chord. It's quite hard using all the fingers. That's a difficult chord. So practice getting those voicings right.

Developing the Coda

As the piece starts to develop into the coda (the end of the big finale), you've got a beautiful piano moment. You want to bring those out. It's tricky!

• Use 4, 5, and 4 together to build up your fingers.

Scale Practice

Remember to practice your scales. Do your C minor in both hands, hands together frequently to get used to the shapes.

Recap

To recap:

• Take your time learning this piece.
• Get your fingers around those chords.
• Try to listen; your ears are your best teacher with anything that you play.

Tips

• Try to get a nice sense of rhythm.
• Don't rush! It's very easy to rush when you have a repeated pattern.
• It's got to be really metronomic for you.

Take your time, keep it nice and gentle to begin with, and build up the crescendo slowly throughout the piece as it gets more and more dramatic. You can increase the volume as it intensifies.

At the end, you've got this lovely coda! Play along to the track, that's what I would do, because it's such a great song.

Conclusion

At the end, you finish on this beautiful chord. This time it's not rolled; it's just more final and finite right there.

You're going to have a lot of fun learning this song. Best of luck to you! If there are any questions, just let me know.

Rhythm Accuracy

You've got some interesting rhythms here to deal with in the left hand, specifically 4 to 6. Pay close attention to that and make sure you get those absolutely accurate so that you don't make any mistakes, because you'll be marked on getting those rhythms correct.

Make sure you play them along to the song, so you've got that right. Thank you very much! Hope you enjoyed that. Cheers!