 Hi guys, this is Jason here from Nathaniel. In this lesson, what I call as a peaceful pop etude on the piano. I'm going to just show you a way to create, well, harmonic progressions which are very melodic in nature. And like some of my lessons in the recent past, most of these lessons revolve around just the scale and no chords. So you don't say, okay, what is the chord progression, this chord, that chord, that chord. There are no chords in this exercise. It's just a concept and you just have to know your scale and a few other little things here and there. So what you heard in the introductory performance is exactly what I'm going to teach you, which sounded like, you know, just that sort of looping, sort of an unending kind of melancholic progression, which can be in a more sadder, peaceful kind of environment. So to do this, strangely enough, or for me it wasn't very strange, it just so happens that some scales bring out a certain kind of music when you play or I would say some keys. So if you take the B-flat minor scale, which is exactly what this lesson was on. So the B-flat minor scale is this B-flat C, D-flat, E-flat, F, G-flat, A-flat, B-flat, B-flat, A-flat, G-flat, F, E-flat, D-flat, C, B-flat. There we go. That's your base. It's a B-flat minor progression. And as we may know, B-flat minors derive from the D-flat major scale, which has five flats. Even B-flat minor will also have five flats. So this is B-flat natural minor or you can even say B-flat relative minor if you're looking at it in relation to D-flat major. Okay. So the exercise goes like this, just a looping thing. So if you observe there are a few static elements and there are a few dynamic elements. So let me break that down for you and then let's go ahead. So before we get cracking, it'll be great if you can hit that subscribe button, hit the bell for notifications and do consider following the lesson via the Patreon PDF, which you will get, which is a booklet containing all the notes for this lesson. And on that, you'll have a subscription where you can consider like a yearly thing, where you'll have access to pretty much all the lessons which have ever been done at least in the past two to three years and which are going to be done. And for Indian students, please understand that we would recommend a yearly subscription because it'll work out cheaper and you don't have to keep renewing it, which is one of the problems currently, which is going around with our government restrictions and so on. You can't resubscribe. So please check that out and please get that done. Okay. So with this exercise, I'm keeping F as a pivot note. In other words, it's not going to change for the whole lesson with the pinky. So slightly tricky. You may want to angle your hand slightly in order to play the other stuff which is coming up. So let me just break it down for you. And this is an etude. You just learn it as it is. And then we slowly build on it. And an etude means I guess in French, it translates to a short study or a simple study. Essentially, a teacher trying to give something to you, the student, where you kind of learn something from it and then make it your own or maybe you can make your own etude from there for someone else or for yourself. That is the concept of an etude. However, you have people like Chopin as well who've composed certain etudes which are arguably unplayable. Some of it is really, really tough. I don't know why he called it an etude. Maybe it should have been called something more scarier. But anyway, let's start. So you go. Let me just break it down. Very simple. Okay. So the first thing you want to do is map out all your thirds. You need that under the belt. So in the B flat minor scale, what are the thirds? B flat to D flat, C to E flat, D flat to F, E flat to G flat, F to A flat, G flat to B flat, A flat to C. And then of course, we repeat that. So it's just going to be stacks of thirds which float along the pivot, which is going to be F. And the pivot creates a challenge because I'm calling it a pivot or an anchor. That means it can't move. Everything has to move around one note. And that one note is being played by the pinky, which is not the world's strongest finger. So you go, you have to hold that. It's also very good finger independence exercise with a lot of other stuff going on in it. So learn this exactly the way I'm teaching you. Okay. So you go. What's happening there? So two and four, one and two and three and four and one. It's almost like this is played before the entire bar, right? One and two and three and four and one and two and three and four and one and four and one and two and three and four and one and eight notes. Okay. So that's the drill. And maybe in the gap, you can kind of float around with these two notes. If you want to change fast, you have to just slam the third. The first time you hit the third should be together. Then you're just kind of filling up the space. Otherwise it may sound boring. Maybe wondering why is my left hand snapping at the moment? Why can't I do something with with the left hand. Well hang on I will tell you for now I am just showing you the importance of maintaining a steady pulse which needs to happen. These are all chords by the way but let's not bother about the names of the chords at the moment. Just get the pattern right. I quite like that as well. I will come to that once the left hand provides a context to the right hand. Okay so we have covered it right. Stay there or fill there and you need your sustain pedal when you play this lesson. So you may want to hold the pedal throughout the bar before you change then you lift it and then press it again or at the point of changing depending on what you prefer. On. On. It's always on especially for this peaceful stuff or something melancholic like this. Those harmonics which are created by the lingering pedal effect actually creates additional overtones you know physically that's what's happening on a piano. It enhances those overtones and the resonance which they create with each other. It provides for like almost like a pad effect or atmospheric effect. Okay so that's another reason why the pedal could help. We've done a lesson on the sustain pedal so we'll link that up in the description. You should definitely check that out. So we have this entire activity in the right. Let's just do it again. Try to play along with me if you can. One, two, three, four and one. Add some fillers. There we go. Then we build it from there. It doesn't have to always sound peaceful. Okay there's only a couple of things left. I'm going to show you how the pinky can float around a little bit if you can. Otherwise I think this sounds quite cool on its own to explore and create your own themes you know and develop a vibe which serves either your personality or the movie you're trying to work on or the visual in whichever form or whatever. It's up to you really. This is just an idea. You take thirds float them around and keep the fifth or the pivot consistent. More on this elaborate technique. Definitely we will consider this in another lesson but for now just learn the etude. Okay now what can you do in the left hand? Well just single notes is more than enough. B flat there at the beginning. Maybe A flat. F sharp. Very simple because it pretty much just copies the right hand. It's not great there conceptually but it just the impact is brilliant if you ask me. So use the octaves. A flat. F sharp. A flat. B flat. A flat. F maybe if you want to do F sharp. A flat. You could also do if you want to create a nice dominant sound and then back to B flat. So it's very strong dominant could be. You do an E flat. A G base here in the right hand with an E flat there. So you could use that as a variation. That one. Then end on E flat. Explore it in different pitches. Explore it in different areas of the piano. That's the cool thing of this piano. You go there. The emotion completely changes versus you go here. You have epic stuff going on here and you have very sober moody stuff going on here. So explore that and before I conclude with this lesson I'd also like to point out the pinky. Sometimes it may just get congested or in my case since I'm holding it for so long it may even pain a bit you know because your pinky is not your strongest finger. So to avoid the pain rather than kind of stick it there and do something else let's change it and let's do something else. Let's innovate the pinky and see what it can do. Remember you created a wall here but it's just like an imaginary wall. It's not like an actual wall. Your pinky can go. So you develop this small motive. And so on. So where is that at? 1 and 2 and 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and I like to add the impact at the ends. It gives you a better impact rhythmically. 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 1 and 2 and 3 and Of course there are physical limitations. My hand is not going to stretch so much. It's not going to go to play everything. There are limitations of this instrument no doubt. So you have to deal with that but within those limitations you can be quite artistic. So you can even consider the A flat. Let's check that out. It's just one finger. There's no more fingers left right. So the pinky has to do everything. So it's a good workout to create not only finger strength but also to build hand independence. And in some cases as a teacher for so many years now I try to tell my students if I give you an exercise don't think that that's the end of the world. You know at the end of the day you have to make it music. It's your job to put a stamp on it make it your own and create something whether it's out of an exercise or even a song given to you you should try and make it your own because this is an art form. So no one should eventually tell you what to do. You have to put the final stamp on your own music when you finally make it. So even the lesson I've given you for you today you can do it the way I've told you but then try to kind of make it your own. Remember the choice of the thirds is completely your call. Where the pinky goes is completely your call. The base note movement what you choose in the left hand completely your call when you want to do it how fast you want to do it is all your call. So that's the exploration I would encourage you all to do okay and before I sign off I'd like to play the etude in a kind of a defined form and I'm going to also have this notated for you. So just like some of the recent lessons you'll have the notes the theory the formation with my hand written stuff you'll also have the notation. So if you read sheet music this may be a great opportunity to get your hands on that notation right. So I'm going to play an etude now a defined version and before I sign off it'll be great if you can hit that subscribe hit the bell like our channel leave us a comment we would love to hear anything from you regarding how you thought this lesson was or what you'd like to suggest me to teach you in subsequent lessons. Some of you have been following the channel for a while thanks a ton and also share the video there's a share button somewhere there feel free to use that and follow us on Patreon for a subscription very very affordable one if you ask me. Also if you'd like to do any of our courses at our music school you could consider signing up by hitting any of the links in the description where you could connect with us via our chat or WhatsApp or email or directly call our line and discuss with us and see if you'd like to do a course or something like that. Okay guys to sign off I'm just going to play and the etude in a defined organized form I hope you learned something from the lesson catch you in the next one and stay safe.