Play Piano 01: Oh! Susanna
Time to learn some music basics. But there’s no theory nor scales here. In fact you have to work out how to play this simple, 6 note melody yourself, on a piano or other keyboard.
If you are really stuck, there’s a 2nd clip with basically the answer.
Firstly, a reminder of this 1848 song:
The melody starts on a C note and only uses it and the next 5 white-key notes. So just C,D,E,F, G and A:
There are more than one C notes. They are easy to find.
- Look at the black notes and see they repeat in a 2,3..2,3 note grouping.
- Find a 2 grouping and a C note is always the white note ‘underneath on the left‘, as the arrows above show.
In the rough middle of your keyboard there is a C note. It’s no surprise this is called Middle C. You can start there if you want, but it’s up to you.
Some clues:
- It starts, as I said, on C
- If you are on an F note when you play “Oh! Su…” start of the chorus, you are doing well.
If this is too much you can check out this fun ‘here’s the note names as I play them’ clip.
