Umbra Bella (Décryptage)

Final Piece: Umbra Brella

Congratulations! We're on the last piece of the course.

Overview

The next piece is a Grade 1 Rock School level song called Umbra Brella.

Left Hand

• The left hand consists of:
  • Thirds and fourths played as whole notes.

Right Hand

• The right hand features:
  • A melody that repeats itself twice throughout the piece.
  • A return in Bar 20 with a slightly different ending.

Key Signature

• This piece is in the key of F major, which means that:
  • Every time you see a B, you need to play it as a B flat.

Technical Aspects

There's a fun new technical bit in this piece:

Spread Chord

• Found in Bar 25.
• Think of it as an extended broken chord.
• Practice Tip: Start slowly and build your tempo as you gain confidence.
• The spread chord is represented with a squiggly line from the treble clef down to the bass clef notes.

Accidentals

• You'll notice many accidentals throughout the piece:
  • Accidentals refer to sharps and flats outside the key signature.
  • In F major, anything that's not a B flat is considered.
  • The most common accidental starting from the first bar is C.
  • Later, you will encounter E flat (EB) and what's called a natural symbol in Bar 19.
    • This symbol indicates that the accidental you played before (sharp or flat) will no longer be sharp or flat.

Finger Stretches

• Pay careful attention to the last line, which includes:
  • Some big stretches for your fingers through an octave and even more.
  • Consider what fingers you use on each of these notes to ensure you can easily reach the higher pitches.

Practice Count

Let's have a look at what this sounds like.

I'll count to four:

1. 2. 3. 4.
3. 1. 1. Four.
4. 1. 1. FOUR.
5. 1. 1. four.
6. 1. 1. FOUR.
7. 1. three. four.
8. 1. Three. four.
9. 1. three. Four.
10. 1. Three. Four.
11. 1. three. 4.
12. 1. Three. FOUR.
13. 1. Three. FOUR.
14. 1. Three. FOUR.
15. 1. Three. FOU.
16. 1. Three. 4.
17. 1. three. FOUR.
18. One. two. three. four.
19. One. two. three. four.
20. One. two. three. three. four.
21. 1. two. three. FOUR.
22. 1. two. three. four.
23. 1. Two. Three. FOUR.
24. 1. two. Three. FOUR.
25. 1. two. three. FOUR.
26. 1. two. three. Four.
27. 1. two. Three. FOUR.
28. 1. two. three. FOUR. FOUR.
29. 1. two. Three. FOUR. FOUR.

Happy playing!