(start with 2 tutors in a split screen dialogue – this first part can also be used for Lesson 7b First notes on trombone)
Tutor1: “If you’ve got this far, you’re doing really well. You can play your instrument, and copy rhythms”
Tutor2: “We hope you enjoyed playing along with Rock around the Clock! Would you like to play some more tunes with us?”
Tutor1: “You only needed one note to play along with Rock around the Clock, but to play tunes, we are going to need more notes!”
Tutor2: “Which notes do we need? We need to know what to call them.”
Tutor1: “Maybe we could make up some names? What about Annie, Binky and Squidgy?”
Tutor2: “Hmmm, perhaps not…luckily for us, musical notes already have names – they’ve had the same names for 100s of years, and they are very easy to remember. We just use the letters A, B, C, D, E, F, and G”
(I will edit in a visual of the letters A, B, C, D, E, F, and G)
Tutor1: “A, B, C, D, E, F, and G? Is that all? Not very exciting names are they? Squidgy would be much better!”
Tutor2: “Well I’m very sorry, but that’s what they’re called. OK? A, B, C, D, E, F and G!”
Cut to one tutor, full screen – I suggest this is all done by one person, but we could have several versions for parts of it as alternative approaches?
You can put any of this in your own words – e.g. how do you explain to a beginner how to get a higher note?
“You’ve already met the note C. It’s the low note you get when you play with no valves pressed down, like this (play a low C)”
“Let’s play it together. Remember to take a good breath as I count you in, and use your tongue to start the note. Ready? 1, 2, 3” (breathe on ‘4’ and play C for 4 beats, indicate the end of the note with your hand)
“Now you might already have played a higher note than C, because if we blow the air a bit faster and vibrate our lips a bit faster we get the note G with no valves pressed down, like this” (play a G)
“I’m going to play C then G a few times. Listen and see if you can hear the difference” (play C, G, C, G, C, G, about 2 beats each)
“Did you hear the difference? The G sounds higher than the C. Listen again” (repeat)
“Let’s try that together. To play the G you will need to blow the air faster, so tighten the lips a bit, blow slightly downwards and think of the sound ‘ee’. To play the C, relax the lips again and think of an “‘or’ sound. Have a go with me. I’ll hold my hand down here for C and up here for G (indicate). We’ll go slow. Ready? 1, 2, 3, C”
(play C for about 3 slow beats then say “G” and indicate a higher note, play G similarly, C, G, C, G)
“Don’t worry if that seems hard. It can take practice to get good at it. Just do your best and listen to the notes you play”
“So that’s C and G but there are 3 other letters between them: D, E and F!”
“To play these notes you will need to use your valves. Let’s check you are holding your cornet correctly.”
“Hold the cornet in your left hand. Put the little finger of your right hand on the pinkie ring like this. Rest your right thumb on the cornet here, and put the middle 3 fingers on the valves like this.”
“The valves are numbered 1, 2 and 3. Valve 1 is the one nearest the mouthpiece, i.e. nearest you! Valve 2 is in the middle, and valve 3 is the one nearest the bell, i.e. furthest away from you.”
“Try pressing each valve in turn with me. Ready? Valve 1…. 2…. 3.”
“The valves should pop back up when you stop pressing them. If any of your valves are a bit sticky, gently ease it up like this, then press it and release a few times until it pops up freely. Be careful not to force the valve up, in case it breaks. If the valve remains sticky, it may need cleaning and oiling so please ask for help from your music teacher at school, or contact us for help.”
“OK, on with the lesson. We’ve played C like this (play C). The next note, a little bit higher, is D like this (play D)”
“To play D press valves 1 and 3 right down like this (demonstrate). So, press valves 1 and 3, and play D with me. Ready? 1, 2, 3, (breathe on ‘4’ and play D for about 4 beats). Let’s try that again… (repeat twice, i.e. play 3 times)”
“Let’s try playing C then D, like this (play C and D, 4 beats each, make sure the video shows the valves being pressed down)”
“Ready to play with me? 1, 2, 3,” (breathe then play, C and D, 4 slow beats each, 3 times)
(when playing a note for 4 beats, I suggest actually playing the note for about 3 beats with a 1 beat rest to breathe and separate them clearly, and say the name of the next note)
“You might find pressing the valves hard at first because your fingers aren’t used to it!”
“Like everything else, it just needs practice. The more you do it, the easier it gets!”
“But you can have a rest if your fingers get tired. It’s better to do a little, but often”
(Similarly show them how to play E, then C and E, then F, then C and F.)
(Then take them through playing C, D, E, F, G slowly (4 beats) and then down again)
“There is a video below where you can do some more practice playing C to G”
“Before we finish, what about the notes we haven’t played yet? We’ve played C to G, but what about A and B?”
“Here’s how we play B…” (the note below low C – demonstrate as before)
“Here’s how we play A…” (the note below – demonstrate)
“Don’t worry if you find it hard to get the lower notes at first”
“You can also try playing the A that comes after G. It’s a higher note like this…”
“So now you know how to play 7 notes A, B, C, D, E, F, and G.”
“But for now, it is enough to practice the 5 notes we started with: C, D, E, F and G, because we have some tunes for you to play with those notes!”
“Keep practicing and see what you can do! The more you practice, the better you will get”
“See you soon”
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