A few days ago it was my brother’s birthday. On the same day, at least two other people I know celebrated their birthdays. After all, every single day of the year it’s the birthday of countless people all over the world.
We acknowledge the special date when it’s someone we know. We celebrate the whole day when it’s someone we love. We give cards, maybe presents too. We go to parties (or invite others to our own). There’s a special meal, a cake with candles…. all the traditions we love.
And then there’s the song!
On Sunday, after the Norfolk Showcase, I went out to dinner with my family. During the course of our meal we heard two separate groups of diners singing “Happy Birthday!” to someone who was special to them. Is this the only time people sing out loud in restaurants? If you can think of any other song people are happy to pipe up with, please let Humoresque know!
The problem is, “Happy Birthday”, though it’s such a well-known tune, has an awkward interval in the third line.
In music, an interval is the gap between two next door notes. Some intervals are easier to sing than others. In the case of “Happy Birthday”, the awkward interval is what’s known as an octave. The two next door notes are an octave apart – a gap of eight notes. In theory, this shouldn’t be hard to pitch. In practice, people mostly fail. They fall short of the octave, and only manage to make the gap about five or six notes apart.
Why does this matter?
It doesn’t. People are having a good time celebrating a birthday, and that’s what matters. Humoresque knows this, just as well as you do. But it’s an interesting observation all the same, and one Humoresque is keen to explore.
The first two lines of “Happy Birthday” are easy to sing. But less easy to pick out on your instrument!
That’s because “Happy Birthday” doesn’t start on the first note of the scale. The first note of any scale is called the “tonic”. Our song starts on fifth note of the scale, known as the “dominant”. It doesn’t matter which scale we’re talking about, so let’s pick an easy one: C major.
If you play the scale of C major, you start on C and go up all the white notes. When you get to the next C (an octave above the one you began on), you can come down again. That’s the scale of C major.
To play “Happy Birthday”, don’t start on C. Start on the fifth note up, which is G.
From here on, you can play the first two lines by ear. You may get some notes wrong the first few times, but your ear will tell you, and you can experiment with different notes until you find the right ones.
But in the third line you have that octave jump. This is easy on the piano! Just go from the G you started on to the G above it. It’s downhill all the way after that, and you should end on the note C.
When you can play the song, teach your family how to sing it. If I hear your family group singing “Happy Birthday” with a correct octave jump next time I’m eating out, I’ll let Humoresque know and you will get a prize!
I hope you have a go at playing it by ear, but if you prefer, you can read it from the little score below. And have fun celebrating the next Big Day!
If it’s your birthday today or any time soon, Humoresque wishes you a Very Happy Birthday, complete with Octave Jump!
I’d love to know what you think of all this. You can put a comment in the box below this post, or you can email me directly. I read and respond to everything.
Humoresque is available to anyone who might be interested. You don’t have to be one of my pupils, or even learning music. If you know anyone who might be interested in subscribing to Humoresque, please let me know. I will only need their name and their email address. Thanks.
Humoresque = a whimsical or fanciful piece of music. Be whimsical, be fanciful, but play in time!
This is Humoresque Number 21