White Ripple Community Band August 29th, 2016

This week we addressed an issue that has plagued us at open mics all over the county; namely, no one knows how to play Happy Birthday. Which is kind of a problem, since any time there's a birthday at Paul Henry's (which happens at least every week), Dave has to hunt Rich down from whatever hidey-hole he's crept off to and has him bang out the chords. Basically, knowing how to play Happy Birthday will enable Rich to hide out more successfully.


Here's Happy Birthday in a nutshell. In class we did it in F, but on the video I do it in G.

If F is your I chord, then the V chord is C and the IV chord is Bb.
If G is your I chord, then the V chord is D and the IV chord is C. It all depends on where you want to put home base.


            I                  V
Happy Birthday to You
            V                I
Happy Birthday to You
            I                               IV
Happy Birthday dear ______________,
            I             V  I
Happy Birthday to You!




Next we did another one that comes up fairly often, especially in July and around the Summer Olympics: The Star-Spangled Banner. This is Rich's favorite rendition in the whole world.

Song 3 was Across the Universe by The Beatles, which we're going to play this Saturday at Tinker's Attic. I hope you can join us!

We've going to take this Monday off for the Labor Day holiday but will be playing Second Saturday's event on the 10th and will be back to class on September 12th for a brand spanking new session, which will also mark our 1-year anniversary. Sue Ross from the Post-Tribune will be there to talk to band members about your experiences this past year as a musician and as a performer in a community band.

I'm so happy to get to the chance to teach this class every week. Teaching and music are my passions, and I hope I get to combine my two favorite things for a long time to come.

Happy Birthday to you

Who doesn't love getting birthday wishes and songs just for them on their special day? Communists, that's who.* Here are the chords you can use to wish your loved ones well. It's in the key of A, but really you can transpose it to any key you want.

 

 

In fact, here's a fun thing I read in Daniel Levitin's This is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession: "In 1890, Christian von Ehrenfels was puzzled by something all of us take for granted and know how to do: melodic transposition. Transposition is simply singing or playing a song in a different key or with different pitches. When we sing "Happy Birthday" we just follow along with the first person who started singing, and in most cases, this person just starts on any note that she feels like. She might even have started on a pitch that is not a recognized note of the musical scale, falling between, say, C and C-sharp, and almost no one would notice or care. Sing "Happy Birthday" three times in a week and you might be singing three completely different sets of pitches. Each version of the song is called a transposition of the others."

 

 

 

*Communists love birthdays just as much as everyone else.