![]() In 1855, an English musician named William Cummings made a 1739 composition entitled “Hymn for Christmas Day” fit the Mendelssohn masterpiece. Called “Festgesang zur Eröffnung der am ersten Tage der vierten Säcularfeier der Erfindung der Buchdruckerkunst,” the piece was written to honor the 400th anniversary of the invention of the printing press. ![]() "HARK! THE HERALD ANGELS SING"īefore “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” was a Christmas carol celebrating the coming of the “newborn king,” it was a Felix Mendelssohn cantata that celebrated the coming of Johannes Gutenberg. During the 18th and 19th centuries, the song also became the Danish national anthem, the Prussian national anthem, and the Liechtenstein national anthem, among others. "THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER"īaptist minister Samuel Francis Smith didn't match American lyrics to it until 1831, while he was studying at Andover Theological Seminary. Of the three, It seems like the first to use the French tune was probably “The Alphabet Song,” but it’s hard to say for sure. “The Alphabet Song” (“A-B-C-D-E-F-G”) was published as “The Schoolmaster” in 1834, and “Baa Baa Black Sheep” existed under a different melody as far back as 1744. As for which of them came first, “Twinkle Twinkle” was originally a poem published in 1806, but doesn’t appear to have been set to “Ah! Vous dirai-je, Maman” until 1838. The three popular children’s songs are basic versions of the tune. It was already popular when a young Mozart composed Twelve Variations on "Ah! vous dirai-je, maman” in the 1780s. The tune is based on an old French folk song called "Ah, vous dirai-je, Maman” (“Ah, Mother, If I Could Tell You”). Which song was the original? None of them. "TWINKLE, TWINKLE, LITTLE STAR" // "THE ALPHABET SONG" // "BAA BAA BLACK SHEEP" Some of the most well-known songs in history, like these eight, were once vastly different than what we've come to know today. "The Star-Spangled Banner" is an example of a contrafactum-when new words are added to an old tune. ![]() national anthem at a sporting event, take a moment to consider that it was once a song about drinking and sex. The next time you proudly sing along with the U.S. I'll teach you about some of those in later lessons.įor the next song, you can practice London Bridges Falling Down. We are using simple triads now, but there are many other chords which add notes on top and can give more nuance to your playing. The key to this exercise is to use your ears to hear which chord is best in which spot. ![]() Five chords really like to lead back to the root, which is what we want. But so does A, and A is the fifth chord of the scale. When we get to the E, we have a number of choices. So let's start that verse with a G chord and move back down to a D when we get to the F# in the melody. Let's change back to a D chord when the melody hits the word 'star'. The E minor chord doesn't really sound right, neither does B minor. Let's try all of them and see which one fits better. When the melody gets to the B, we need to change the chord, but which one do we use? We want a chord in the G major scale that has a B in it. Knowing that the song is in D major let's us know that we will be using the C# and the F# instead of the C and F.įinished off the rest of the song by listening to the pitch as we sing and picking out the notes on the piano gives us D D A A F# F# D as the notes for "like a diamond in the sky". It sounds more correct doesn't it? We also notice that our ear is sort of pushed to the D when the melody is playing, so there is a good chance that our song is in the key of D major. Try playing the same phrase with an F# instead of an F. Listen closely and see which note sounds off. ![]() That is a good hint that the song is not in the key of C. You can try playing it as G G F F E E D, but that won't quite sound right. We figured it out using our ear and our piano! The best part is, we didn't need sheet music to tell us that. So, for the first verse we have D D A A B B A. What about the three notes that make up "little star"? Well, if we sing it we'll find that the melody goes up a little for the word little and down a bit for the word star. So we know that the next twinkle in the first verse is made up of two A notes. You'll work your way up the scale until you get to the fifth interval, A, before you find the right note. Well, let's start making our way up the scale and see which note fits. The notes change however for the second twinkle. We know the first two notes are the same, and they make up the first twinkle. Sing the song and pay attention to the pitch of the notes. I'm going to use this song as more of an exercise to train your ears than a song lesson. Learn How To Play 'Twinkle Twinkle' In This Piano Lesson! ![]()
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