Transcript
“My name is Paul Sandberg. I’m an actor, singer and teacher in the New York City area. For more information, please visit my website at paulsandberg.net.
“”Dashing through the snow
In a one-horse open sleigh
O’er the fields we go
Laughing all the way
Bells on bobtail ring
Making spirits bright
What fun it is to ride and sing
A sleighing song tonight!
Oh! Jingle bells, jingle bells,
Jingle all the way.
Oh! what fun it is to ride
In a one-horse open sleigh.
Hey! Jingle bells, jingle bells,
Jingle all the way;
Oh! what fun it is to ride
In a one-horse open sleigh.””
That is Jingle Bells, my childhood favorite. The goal of this song is to make it sound as if the piano isn’t a piano at all but Jingle Bells. And to do that, we’re gonna use a lot of stick-cuddle, meaning, keep your foot off of the sustaining pedal for the most part. And then we’re gonna add a lot of bouncing thirds and fifths. Those thirds and fifths are going to be making up the chords G, C, A-minor and D. And those are gonna look like this on the piano. So, we have our G-major, C, A-minor and D, back to G. You wanna make a little bit easier on yourself, you could play just the roots in one hand so your hand can really just stay basically in the same spot. However, the chords really only changed about once or twice in measure and there’s ample time to really let this be a piece where you can practice moving one chord to the other. So, in the very beginning we have,
“”Dashing through the snow
In a one-horse open sleigh
O’er the fields we go
Laughing all the way””
That’s all your left hand has to do. And you can really get away with not even bothering to play the melody in your right hand. If you’re doing this with a whole bunch of people around, every single person knows the melody to Jingle Bells. So then, you’re just left with,
“”Dashing through the snow
In a one-horse open sleigh
O’er the fields we go
Laughing all the way
Bells on bobtail ring
Making spirits bright
What fun it is to ride and sing
A sleighing song tonight!””
And that’s about as easy as you can make it, few chords changes in your left hand and you’re home-free.”
