Songs · Beginner
Hot Cross Buns
Traditional · English nursery rhyme and street cry (the words were in print by 1767)
C major4/4 time4 barsright hand only
Arranged: Teddy Rook Book: the three-note version of the tune, right hand only. The notes here are not exactly the ones the composer wrote.
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About this piece
Three notes and three fingers. Put your right thumb on middle C, finger 2 on D and finger 3 on E, and leave them there the whole time. In bar 3 the notes go twice as fast: these are eighth notes, two to each beat.
What it practices
- right hand only
- three notes: C, D, E
- steps and repeated notes
- quarter and half notes
- first eighth notes
Where the notes come from
Traditional tune, played in the three-note form that is usually taught first. Wikipedia notes that the rhyme is sung to more than one tune; no printed score was checked note by note for this one. Date of the words from Wikipedia.
How to practice with it
- Listen first. Press Play and follow the moving line with your eyes. The lit notes and keys show what sounds right now: blue is the right hand, orange the left.
- Slow it down. Use − and + to set the tempo. 60% is a good place to start.
- One hand at a time. Choose Right or Left, learn that hand, then put them together.
- Wait for me. Turn it on and press Start. The lit keys show what to play, and the music waits until you play them, on the screen, on your computer keyboard or on a MIDI keyboard.
- Loop the hard part. Turn on Loop, pick the bars, and play them a few times in a row.
Click a bar in the music to start from there. Space plays and pauses. The computer keys A S D F G H J K play C D E F G A B C (press ⌨ Computer keys under the music to see them on the piano).