Instant Harmonica - play the great Irish tune Molly Malone!

Name: Instant Harmonica - play the great Irish tune Molly Malone!
Rating: 4.5 (4 reviews)

Have fun playing this tune instantly, no musical experience needed.You will easily pick it up straight away; GUARANTEED

Created byBen Hewlett

Last updated 11/2018

English

What you'll learn

play Molly Malone like a pro and amaze your friends and family

Course content

4 sections • 13 lectures • 1h 2m total length

Introduction2:31
Today we start Molly Molone - Cockles and Mussels
How to play single notes2:07
Any course in my INSTANT HARMONICA series needs only two things:

a harmonica (key of C, 10 holes, diatonic)

and the ability to play single notes - but I'll show you how to do that now in this lecture

Make your mouth into the shape you might use if you whistle - it's known as the pucker, pursed lip or kiss shape. Allow your lower lip to drop and push the harmonica in a little; the further it goes in the better it will sound! Relax your lips to let the harmonica in and gradually try to get the shape that gives you a single note.

Some people use a pencil or straw to model the shape you need so try that as well.

I have a bigger course with five lectures on this subject if you want to go deeper - it's called 'INSTANT HARMONICA - how to get single notes in 5 easy steps' so dive in and take that one if you like

The more complicated way is called 'tongue blocking' but I will not go into it here except to say you use your tongue to block the holes to the left (or sometimes the right) side of the hole you want to play. Here's another of my courses that explores the use of the tongue in harmonica playing - 'Killer Harmonica sounds using the tongue and bending notes'

Molly Malone - the first bar 'In Dublin's fair...' (there are many bars there!)5:43
PLEASE BE SURE TO OPEN THE PICS IN THE DOWNLOAD TAB FOR EVERY LECTURE - THEY ARE SCREENSHOTS OF THE WHITEBOARD AND WILL MAKE EVERYTHING MUCH CLEARER FOR YOU IF YOU ARE USING A SMALL SCREEN TO VIEW THE VIDEOS

Let's listen to the tune first - you can sing along if you like, the words are in the download tab.

Fire up the backing track in the download section and take a listen.

Sing along

Please note the form - it's verse chorus verse chorus etc.

The chorus is

Alive alive o!
Alive alive o!
Crying cockles and mussels,
Alive alive o!

This is important when you play along to the backing track and knowing this will stop you getting lost.

Sinead O'Connor sings it beautifully here –play along or sing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ouqhCtIh2g

Do tell me if the link breaks - they often do
Molly Malone - the second bar '..city, where the...'5:26
Recap last lecture

Sing the next bit

'...City, where the'

Can you work out the next required note?

Must be 4 BLOW

Watch my face to see when I'm breathing IN or OUT

Also you can see if I'm moving a little or a lot

I play first then you play

Play it with the piano chords
Which holes do we need for this song?
Molly Malone - 'girls are so...'4:49
Recap last lecture with piano

Can you work out the next notes? Are they IN or OUT?

Add the new notes and make them swing!
What does the RED ink mean on the whiteboard?
Molly Malone - 'pretty, I...'4:11
Recap and play the whole of the top line except 'pretty'

Are they breathing IN or OUT?

Do you see the pattern - all OUT notes and then all IN notes

Note the end of each phrase - it looks like this '

Molly Malone - 'first set my...'4:56
Recap the whole of the top line

'First set my' same notes as Three Blind Mice - what are the notes?

IN or OUT? Watch my face. Same hole or was I moving?

If you have learn the scale of C this will all be very familiar

I played a wrong note - how did I know it was wrong?

Play it round and round speeding up if you can
Molly Malone - 'eyes on sweet...'6:00
'Eyes on sweet' - 3 notes only

Can you sing them?

Do they rise or fall?

Is the first note higher or lower than the last note of the previous phrase?

Play the first two bars of the second line.

Transitions from one note to another can be tricky

Especially if you have 4 and then 6 but not 5.

Take your time to zoom in and learn this

Find a Grandma and play tunes to her as she sings along - go to an Old Folks home....

Play the phrase and speed it up for practice
Molly Malone - 'Molly Molone'4:58
Next, the notes for the words 'Molly Malone'

IN or OUT?

Long notes run on at the end of the phrase

Play the whole of the 2nd line with the pick-up note at the end of bar 4

Sing it first

This phrase starts and ends on 4 DRAW

Molly Malone - 'she wheels her wheelborrow, through streets broad and narrow'7:23
Wait a moment, this is the same as the top line with the pick-up line

So now you can play the first three lines

Try it with the backing track

Or play along with me on piano and bodhran
Molly Malone - 'singing cockles and mussels a...'4:20
Let's start the last line now - 'Cockles and mussels a...'

Can you work it out?

The next bar is the same so take the phrase round and around

Can you speed it up a little?

Play from the top up to here
Molly Malone - 'live alive-o'9:15
Last few notes

'Live a live-o'

IN notes feel like a question, so you can't end a piece of music on an IN note (when playing in the key written on the harmonica)

Add vibrato on long notes anytime you like

Play the whole of the last line to give good context

Now play the whole tune with me accompanying on harmonica chords and piano

Remember to use the backing track as well and play along with Sinead with the link I gave you before

Now we'll try with Bodhran a little faster to finish it off
Wrapping up the course1:00
Now you can whip your harmonica out and play Molly Malone at a moments notice!

Try typing 'groovy' into some of my other Instant Harmonica courses to get a bargain!

Requirements

you need nothing for this course - just a harmonica (10 hole diatonic in the key of C)

Description

INSTANT HARMONICA – play Molly Malone right now!

If you have a tune that you would like me to teach please message me.

Take this course and play the tune instantly. No musical experience needed.

You will pick it up straight away without needing any music skills. This is easy to play and really fun to learn. You will be proud of your achievements and happy with the results.

'INSTANT HARMONICA' is a new series of courses where you learn one tune per course. You will find it is taught in a friendly and encouraging manner and most importantly is it taught v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y.

Ben Hewlett is a very experienced music teacher who is able to be very patient and methodical. Each lecture will introduce you to the next group of notes – usually just 4 new notes and that's it.

This method is very easy for you to pick up the tunes as they are repeated over and over again until you have got it. You can even re-run the video if you find it useful.

Take one course and learn your favourite tune. The try another. Remember you can always get your money back if you wish but otherwise you have lifetime access to the course.

Imagine how amazing it will feel when you whip out your harmonica and play this tune – your friends and family will carry you shoulder high in triumph. Hopefully they don't carry you out of town and dump you in the river, but hey, swimming's good as well.

The health benefits of playing the harmonica are well documented – google it. Your lungs get exercised, your lung capacity increases, aerobic movement is good for you, playing music makes you smarter they say.

You will have fun on your own and with your friends, and more oxygen to the brain will make you think you are having a good time so it's all good.

Who this course is for:

This course is for complete beginners; you don't need any musical experience, I'll walk you through the whole thing very slowly step by step. If you are an advanced player you will cover the whole thing very fast and you may find it is too slow for you

Instant Harmonica - play the great Irish tune Molly Malone!

What you'll learn

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Course content

Introduction2 lectures • 5min

First line of music4 lectures • 20min

Second line of music3 lectures • 16min

Third and fourth lines of music4 lectures • 22min

Requirements

Description

Who this course is for: