Your First Song

We've learned the C major scale and some chords, but haven't learned a song yet. We will start with a little song, "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star". We'll start with this song to learn the tools you'll need to pick up a melody. Sing the song, and as you do try to pick out the notes on the piano.

Start with the C. The second note is the same as the first so that is easy, but where do you go after hitting the C twice? Well, try it. You know from singing the song that the melody goes up, so sing the song and try the second interval. No, it's not that. Keep going up the scale until you find the one that sounds right. If you are paying close enough attention to your ear, you'll find that the correct note is the fifth interval, the G.

As you train your ear to pick up on the intervals you won't need to use the trial and error methods like we did above. You'll be able to hear it and play by ear. Let's move on. So far we've gotten C C G G as the notes that make up the lyrics "Twinkle Twinkle". What notes do we use for "little star"? Well we can hear that it goes up just a little. The note is A.

If you continue this trial and error method you will see that the notes for the song are C C G G A A G / F F E E D D C / C C G G E E C. Try to use this method to figure out the melody lines to some other simple songs.

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