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Hugh,
I am relearning the piece so I can move along at any pace you set. This is a very valuable experience for me and I can't tell you how much I appreciate your efforts. Thanks for everything!!

Thanks, everyone, for pitching in with your words of encouragement and participation! It's been another one of those hectic weeks, but I'm turning over a new leaf that hopefully helps me to stop turning into a "data potato" and spend more quality time away from the computer! I'm rendering the next lesson, and it should be posted by the end of the day. Many thanks for your patience and persistence!

Lesson #50, Measures 35 & 36

The good news is that measures 35 & 36 are virtually the same as measures 27 and 28, with the exception of some extra notes in the left hand and some different "spellings" of the notes which look different, but sound (and play) the same. Notes that are spelled differently but sound the same are called "enharmonics". We also spend some time talking about sharps, which are the opposite of flats in that they raise the pitch of the note (moving the written note slightly to the right on the keboard).

If you're interested in exploring more of the theory of "Clair de lune" in depth or other musical subjects, I'd like to invite you to sign up for one of my live webinars at http://pianofromscratch.com/webinars

Hi All ,
Thanks for the welcome Hugh ! I'm still here :))) Believe it or not I'm up to measure 30 ! My husband thinks I sound great ( I don't lol). Having trouble moving on because I keep playing the first part I've learnt over and over again. I think that's because it's been such an effort for me to get this far that starting another difficult measure is going to take a big push ! Still can't believe the progress I've made with your help Onwards and upwards !
Hope everyone is well!
Tracy

Lesson #51, Measure 37 Pt. 1

We start off going more in depth about how to read sharps, and in particular how to interpret the new key signature coming up that is made up of sharps. I then talk about the "traditional" fingering for this measure, and why it might be a problem for those with smaller or less flexible hands. Feel free to use this fingering if you feel comfortable with it (I actually use it myself), but in the next lesson I will show a special fingering designed for smaller hands (this is in response to a blogger who complained about difficulties with this and the following measures due to the small size of her own hands). Hope these next few lessons help!

Double-header today! Couldn't leave folks hanging at the end of that last lesson, so enjoy today's bonus lesson!

Lesson #52, Measure 37 Pt. 2

The traditional fingerings rely on octaves in both hands to help find the notes easily. The problem is that the way the notes are positioned in the left hand makes things very difficult for the 4th and 5th fingers, particularly for smaller hands and those with less flexibility in those normally weaker fingers. As an alternative, I offer a creative fingering that uses the right hand to once again "come to the rescue" by sharing some of the left hand notes, leaving the left hand with a smaller, more comfortable note grouping. Try both of these fingerings and be sure to let me know which one you prefer. Everyone will have different preferences depending on their hand size/shape, so don't feel obligated to follow someone else's personal preference!

Lesson #53, Measure 38

We've been running into an awful lot of notes with ledger lines, so I thought I'd make up a new set of mnemonics to make it easier to quickly identify those notes. By the way, in case I forgot to mention, the "regular" lines that contain the clefs and most of the notes are called "staff lines", and the ledger lines (or "ladder lines" as I sometimes call them) are notes that are written above the staff lines.

Using our new mnemonics, we quickly map out the right hand notes, and in mapping the left hand notes we see how to play an E-sharp. I close by offering some alternate left hand fingerings and a suggested pedaling. If you can hold the right hand melody, that will help to distinguish it from the running accompaniment notes below.

Hugh,

It has been a real privilege to learn this piece with your help. I started learning it on my own and amazingly it seems you started these lessons at about the same time. Obviously you are a gifted pianist and teacher, as my playing has progressed greatly with your help. I am having some trouble with measure 37. Normally when I play measures at a slower pace I can still hear how it is supposed to sound at speed. With measure 37 though it just sounds like random notes to me. Is there something I am missing? Is it just that it doesn't work unless it is played at the proper speed? Perhaps I am not bringing out the melody properly, maybe some accents added to the score would help. Any suggestions would be great. Thanks for all your help and generosity.

Chris

Hi Chris - this is an excellent question, and I'd like to address this in the upcoming webinar on Oct. 24th. Measure 37 is a transitional measure - it's function is basically to move us from the "flat" harmony to "sharp" harmony, if that makes sense. Don't worry about bringing out the melody too much - every note is actually part of one single chord, being modulated upwards in different positions. I'll try to illustrate that in the webinar to help you understand what's going on. In the meantime, try playing measure 37 and actually keep the pedal down for the entire time - hopefully you'll see that everything can actually blend together quite nicely.

Hope this helps!

Buzzing

Wow Hugh, this is fantastic! I am just now finding out about what you're doing. I'm 28 years old and a beginner taking my first piano lessons ever, something I've been wanting to do for a long time. I love Debussy but thought it would be ages, if ever, that I could play something of his. I am only on your third lesson but almost weeped with joy at hearing myself play the first measure! I know it's going to be a long haul but am looking forward to getting through it with you as my guide!! Many thanks!
And great insights like what it would sound like in the white keys, i guess that would be the key of C?...

I finally got all caught up on the lessons! I have registered for the webinar and am looking forward to it. I do have a question for the webinar. Do I post it now on the webinar page or wait until we're under way? (Just trying to think ahead a little).

CMohr

Welcome aboard! I'm so glad you find these lessons helpful - it's been tremendously rewarding to hear stories like yours from folks who have dreamed of playing this piece! And yes, you're right - that was an example of what the piece might've sounded like if it was written in the key of C major!

Yay! Congrats, CMohr! More lessons are on the way, btw (it's been a very, very busy weekend for me!)

Feel free to post your questions now if you'd like. I'm going to be collecting some of the best ones from this forum, as well as from the scattered YouTube comments and emails to present at the Webinar this Saturday. We can also take questions "live", which is part of the fun of putting this webinar together: the ability to interact in real time with questions and comments!

See you on Saturday at 1 pm EST!

Lesson #54, Measure 39

Options, options! I do some waffling and decide on a specific fingering for the left hand in the previous measure leading into measure 39, mainly because I don't like relying on a weak pinkie to move to multiple notes. In the right hand, we find that the ledger lines actually climb a bit higher, so we extend the mnemonics a bit higher to help find the higher notes more easily ("But Don't Fall"). I give another set of options to use fingerings to find higher notes, using the octave hand again as a "measuring stick" as one of the options. I also give an interesting option in the end of the measure to use the thumb to jump down more securely than jumping with the "traditional" pinkie.

Hugh,

I have a question about the timing in measure 33. After looking and playing more closely, (btw my score doesn't show dotted eigths in the melody line or base line) I figured it could be counted bum-ble-bee, bum-ble-bee, buzz-ing, buzz-ing with the sixteenth notes.

Correct me if I'm wrong, please!

I know that in the second half of the measure RH is NOT playing triplets.(I did think they were awhile ago). But they would be played a little faster than regular sixteenth notes. Question?

I hope I've expressed this question so you can figure out what I'm talking about. Thanks!

CMohr

Great question, CMohr! We can definitely use this one for the webinar - here's the answer in the meantime, but it'll make more sense when I can play it for you and explain what's going on.

The 16th notes stay exactly the same, they don't get played any faster - what actually happens is that the beat groupings in the melody shift from sets of three to sets of two - it's an amazing effect that gives the feeling of being "displaced" in time!

If you're using the "bum-ble-bee buz-ing" to represent eighth notes for each syllable (remember, there would be 2 16ths for each eighth), then the melody line could be represented as "Bum-ble-bee / (buz)-ing Buz-ing" (the () represents the note that's tied over)

Does that make sense? Let me know if this helps - or just tune in to the webinar and we can hash it out in more detail "live"!

Lesson #55, Measure 40

(Woops...just realized that a bunch of these videos were missing the "Clair de lune" title at the beginning! Silly me...)

Before I forget, I'd like to invite you to sign up for an upcoming live webinar class lesson at http://pianofromscratch.com/webinars - these webinars will give me a chance to go much more in depth with the music, and we'll be able to have live interaction via chat and shared webcams.

In this lesson, I offer two sets of fingerings: a "traditional" one that is better for connecting the melody notes, and an unusual one that relies on the pedal to connect the notes, but might be easier to use for some folks who may have difficulties jumping around the keyboard.

Hugh,

I just ran across this (where, oh where have I been?) and I'm definitely looking forward to working on this. Claire de Lune was one of the first pieces I attempted when I re-started piano lessons some years ago, but I only got through the first 28 or so measures before I got frustrated and burnt out with it. This looks like it will get me back on track with this.

Thanks for taking your time to help us poor struggling pianists!

Hey Hugh, this a bit cheeky (hope you don't mind!) but I thought I'd make a couple of suggestions for other pieces just in case you were intending any follow up "from scratch" courses!

Anything by Bach!
Satie - Gymnopédie No.1
Chopin Waltz No 19 in A minor

I appreciate that this has been a tremendous amount of work for you and understand completely if this is a one off!