For Pachelbel’s Birthday Party, I made a medley of songs that follow the eight-bar chord progression in Pachelbel’s Canon. In selecting the songs, I noticed that most of the 24 songs I had listed did NOT follow the progression in full or exactly.
After I chose the seven songs for the medley, I transposed some of them so I could reach (sing) the notes comfortably. Thereafter I put them in an order that flowed easily. The result was a medley of seven songs in three keys.
To share this medley to a wider audience, I gave two FREE workshops (9th and 29th September 2023). I may give a third workshop on this medley in ONE key to illustrate how you can create your own medley. Please revisit this blog post for the announcement of this next workshop in Zoom.
Learning Objectives
Focus on the following seven aspects of playing:
- alternative accompaniments for each song
- how to quickly switch between chords
- how to transition between song excerpts
- how to find the starting melody note for the next song
- how to identify a better key for your voice (for a song)
- template for transposing the songs to your best keys
- the above steps will help you craft your own medley
The Medley Workshop on 9/9/2023 focussed on
- strategies to quickly switch between the chords in the Pachelbel Canon progression in the three keys used in the seven-song medley.
- transitions between the songs
- finding the starting note of each song after transitioning from the previous song
- suggested strum and fingerpicking accompaniments for each song
- intro, outro, and instrumental interludes (transitions)
The second Medley Workshop on 9/29/2023 focussed on
- identifying the best key for a song from the medley that you know and sing well
- transposing all seven songs into best keys for your voice (transpose on sight, mindfulness in singing, awareness of melodic notes being too low, too high, or just right)
- filling in the Pachelbel Medley Template so you can sing and play the song
To get the most out of the workshops, it’s best to have watched the previous workshop videos and have the handouts with you to prepare and study in advance. It’s not necessary but the hour will go by fast. You can order the material from the previous workshops (handouts and videos) via the Pachebel Project Order Form.
Preparation for the workshops
Various chord exercises, song sheets, play along videos, arrangements, and templates have been produced to support these workshops. You can order them via this Google Form.
FAQ
How will the next workshop (3rd Medley Workshop) be different from the previous two workshops?
The seven song extracts will all be in the key of C major, so that you can play Pachelbel’s Canon in C, without any change of key. This allows you to superimpose the song melodies in the Canon itself and focus on fingerpicking the melodic notes, accompaniment, or chord melody arrangement rather than singing the songs. This will be an instrumental (fingerstyle, chord melody) session, rather than vocal session. There will be no discussion of vocal fit or transposition. This workshop will be scheduled in due course.
How is the medley workshop different from the first Pachelbel Birthday Workshop? The medley workshop is one hour long and does not go into the melodies of the Canon except for the bass line. The Birthday Workshop is 90 minutes duration and more about breadth than depth.
How are the medley workshops of 9/9/2023 and 9/29/2023 different? The first workshop on 9/9/23 focussed more on chords, switching, and accompaniment. The second will focus on the medley itself, your voice, transposition, and creating a medley in the best keys that you can sing and play. If you miss either, you can always order the video recordings.
Will it be recorded? Yes, but UNLISTED and not available to the public. You can order the indexed unlisted video to review, replay, use as play along to practice etc. Use the Google Form.
Which chords are used in the Medley? A, Am, Bm, C, D, Em, F, F#m, G
Which ukulele should be used? Either high G or low G ukulele. Tune up before the workshop.
Handouts needed? No, the song sheet will be scrolled and shared on screen. If you already have a handout from the previous Pachelbel Birthday Party workshop, you can use it to look ahead and to practice. Or you can order any handouts via this Google Form.
Preparation and set up. You can enter the Zoom room at any time. Check your sound. Make sure your left and right hands can be seen.
New handouts? If you have already ordered the Ukulele Bundle or the Medley Song Sheet from the Pachelbel Birthday Party workshop, you might be interested in the new ukulele exercises that support this medley. It contains a chord switching exercise to help you finger and switch between chords without looking at your left hand and accompaniments from this workshop. Order via the Google Form.
Songs the Medley (Alphabetical Order by Title)
The Pachelbel Project
These workshops are part of a bigger Pachelbel Project, inspired by George Winston’s Pachelbel Variations. Read about Pachelbel Progression. Order any supporting material via this Google Form.
The fourth workshop in this series will dive into the Canon itself and examine the fingering and fingerpicking technique to produce the best sound from your ukulele. Canon for a Wedding workshop is scheduled for Monday 23rd October 2023 at Noon EDT.
Workshops
- Friday 1st September 2023 Pachelbel Birthday Party (90 minutes)
- Saturday 9th September 2023 Pachelbel Medley I (60 minutes)
- Friday 29th September 2023 Pachelbel Medley II (60 minutes)
- Monday 23rd October 2023 Pachelbel Canon for a Wedding (90 minutes)
- To Be Scheduled Pachelbel Medley III – instrumental in the key of C major (60 minutes)
Testimonials
Feedback from the second medley workshop on Friday 29th September 2023
This was a great workshop – especially the parts about transposing songs to fit your voice range – I’ll need more practice, but at least I can watch the video again!
I enjoyed the beginning lesson. I would recommend that attendees remained muted. Lots of interruptions as well as some technical issues.
So much information. I have a lot of work to do. Enjoyed it very much.
Mostly I enjoyed the creative concept of playing other songs while keeping to the main theme of a popular song like Pachelbel Canon. And would be interested in other opportunities to explore songs that can be turned into a medley like this.
Feedback from the first medley workshop on Saturday 9th September 2023
The information was so helpful as I learned about the Pachelbel chord progression and got to play it in various songs. The different ways to change chords and strum or pluck was lots of fun.
Great opportunity to learn more about Pachelbel, his canon, the massive amount of other music he composed, his popularity and success, and his life in general.
Creative way to understand and perform song medleys based on chord families. Useful information on how to efficiently finger chords to make smooth changes.
Learn part of 7 popular songs that use the Pachelbel Canon chord progression, including melody, chord melody and accompaniments.
Using the same chord progression as the Canon, I learned many popular songs.
Very useful instruction on finding better ways to efficiently finger chords. Anne’s excellent music research and innate curiosity gave us fun information on Pachelbel, which makes the workshop both art and lesson.
BRILLIANT!! Finding 25 songs, new and old, that uses the sequence of the canon, then reducing it to 7 songs, is BRILLIANT!
Lots of new information to digest and practice, which makes the workshop actually hours longer than it was in real time!
Excellent
This workshop analyses Pachelbel’s formula and how it can be found in songs ranging from 1600 to the present day.
About the instructor
After publishing her MA in Music dissertation on ukulele song sheets in 2018, Anne Ku taught ukulele courses at adult education establishments in Arlington, Cambridge, and Milton. Since March 2020, she has been teaching almost exclusively online in Zoom and arranging music for the ukulele. She hosts 3 Chord Thursday, the thematic recorded online song session series, and the monthly meetups for Ukulele Instructors International.
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