Old MacDonald: both hands

Lesson 9 · about 15 minutes · the opening verse in a simple C-major version

Today's win: play the four-bar opening with both hands three clean times in a row.

1 · Warm-up: Tetris, cold

Play Lesson 8's four-bar opening once from memory. Keep the score and note-name hints hidden; check the score afterwards.

2 · Meet the new tune

The tutorial shows the song in C major. This is a deliberately simple version, not a note-for-note copy: the right hand plays the opening tune, and the left hand holds one bass note through each bar.The learner's chosen tutorial labels the key as C major and shows the tune in falling-note notation. This lesson uses a simplified arrangement.

Set Octave 0, Transpose 0, Sustain off and Arpeggio off. Keep your left hand over C3–G3 and your right hand around C4–A4. The notes fit the PSS-A50 without changing its octave.

3 · Right hand alone

Read the staff and play the melody by itself. Keep the quarter-note pulse even; let the longer notes ring for their full value. Start at 75 bpm and use Slower if the note changes feel rushed.

4 · Left hand alone

Now play the bass by itself. Hold each note for the whole bar, then move to the next one. The two-key change from C3 to G3 and back is the whole left-hand part.

5 · Put them together

Keep each left-hand note held while the right hand moves. Begin slowly, listening for the bass change at each new bar. Once three runs are clean, try Faster a step at a time.

6 · Check yourself

7 · The next three days

  1. Tomorrow: play the Tetris opening cold, then Old MacDonald right hand alone with note names hidden.
  2. Day after: play the bass alone, then put it under the melody at a comfortable tempo.
  3. Day 3: play the whole four bars three times without stopping. Keep the bass held when the melody changes.
Primary source: the learner's chosen piano tutorial Old MacDonald Had a Farm · YouTube. Its falling-note labels use a different notation; this lesson converts a simplified C-major version to staff music.
Which was harder today: keeping the bass held, or changing the melody while it rings? Tell me how many clean runs you got and what felt awkward.

Previous: Lesson 8 (Tetris, the opening) · Reference: Keyboard map · Glossary