- Listen to the Hot Cross Buns audio a few times and follow the music notation with your eyes.
- While listening to the audio and reading the music notation, tap your foot to the beat and sing along (“Too, Too, Too…”).
- Without the audio, play the song on Coda by following the music notation. Play very slowly at first! Remember to tongue each note: “Too, Too, Too.”
- When you’re ready, try playing Coda along with the audio, following the music notation with your eyes.
Notes:
The fingering diagrams below each note show you which tone holes to cover.
If some of the notes sound a little strange, it may be because you are not covering the tone holes completely. This is very common at first, so don’t worry! You’ll soon be covering the tone holes more consistently, and eventually it won’t be a problem.
Hot Cross Buns –and all the other songs in Units 1 and 2– use only B, A, and G. These notes are easy to remember because they spell the word BAG.
Five horizontal lines make up the musical staff.
Take a moment to notice where the B, the A, and the G are located on the staff. Learn these notes well! They’ll serve as anchors for learning all the other notes.
- B is on the MIDDLE line. Easy to remember!
- A –right under B– is on the 2nd space from the bottom.
- G is on the 2nd line from the bottom.
Visualize: Close your eyes and picture where B, A, and G are located on the staff.
Draw, pardner!
Draw the five lines of the musical staff. (Do it a few times!)
Draw a whole note on the B line. (𝅝 = 4 beats)
Draw a half note on the A space. (𝅗𝅥 = 2 beats)
Draw a quarter note on the G line. (♩ = 1 beat)
Before you go, try playing Hot Cross Buns a few times on Coda by heart (without looking at the music notation).
Take advantage of Coda’s portability to practice new songs anytime — whenever you have a minute! Short, frequent practice is very productive and boosts your confidence as a musician.
The next song in Unit 1 is Au Clair de Lune.
Hot Cross Buns
