La main gauche de la section 'A'

Music Lesson: A Section Left Hand

So we've got the right hand of the A section. Now let's have a look at the left hand.

In a minute, we're going to add some extra chromatics in the right hand, which will make sense with the left hand. So at the moment, it might sound a little disjointed, but bear with me. We'll get there; it'll sound great.

Right Hand Melody

• The right hand melody starts on the 1:
  A, 2, A, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1.

• Each bar of four can be broken up as:
  1, 2, 2, 3, 4.
  Or split into:
  1 and 2 and 3 and 4.

The melody starts on the 1:
1, A, 2, A, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1.
Ba ba doo da da da.

Left Hand Rhythm

The left hand is going to come in with the rhythm like this:

• C, D, E flat, and E.

Breakdown

1. The first sequence:
   C, D, E flat, E.

2. The second sequence goes down:
   C, B, B flat, A.
   Just chromatics all the way down.

You could start doing it with just one note at a time, or you can put it into octaves. Here's how:

• I like to do my little finger on C and my thumb on C, playing both at the same time:
  Ba da da da da da da da da da da da.

That's the first part of the A section.

Practice Together

Let's try that again:
1, A, 2, A, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1.

Now again:
1, A, 2A, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1.

Then we're going to go to a D and walk up to the G:
D, E, F, F sharp, G.

From the top, we have:

• The last line:
  "Don't get around much anymore."

I'll put the right hand and the left hand together to show you how it goes. We end on both on a C.

Play Together

I'll play the left hand, you play the right hand in the most simple form of the A section.

Starting with Right Hand:

Are you ready? Start on:
E, E, D, C, G, F, E.
You play the right hand, don't forget you're in on one:
1 and 2. 1, 2, 3, 4, 1.
"Mr. Saturday dance."
Da lo da da da da da da da da.

Now again.

Left Hand Versus Right Hand

Great!

Now I'll play the right hand, you play the left hand. Ready?
1, A, 2, A. 1, 2, 3, 4, 1.
D up to the G.
Great! Again:
D up to the G. D, E, F, F sharp, G.

Okay, now both together!