Hanukkah Piano: Dreidel Boogie

I took a book of Hanukkah songs yesterday and rearranged them in my own way.  I had never played a Hanukkah party before this weekend, so I had to do my homework.  Most Hanukkah songs are sad-sounding, folk-like melodies in minor keys, with simple chord progressions.  With most of the songs, I took a pretty, classical interpretation, adding the usual bling (you know, arpeggios, scale runs, thickened chords, change of register, octaves in the melody, more bass/tremolos, beautiful intros).  But when it came to "I Have a Little Dreidel," I had to do more. This song has the child-like quality of a nursery rhyme.  It's about as sophisticated as "Baa, Baa, Black Sheep," or "Mary Had a Little Lamb."  In my humble opinion, it's just kinda dull! With the need for some musical spice, I thought about spinning up a boogie around this tune. Boogie is typically characterized by a left-hand ostinato (repeating pattern) played fast and swingy.  Simple songs with only two or three chords lend themselves nicely to a boogie accompaniment in the left hand. Jingle Bells is another simple holiday song I play in boogie style.  So this two-chord folk song was just begging to boogie yesterday!  Here is what I came up with, in about ten minutes of jamming out my ideas:

How did I do it?  Here is what my left hand is doing (below).  If you don't know this left-hand pattern, you should add it to your tool box.  It's a great work-out for the left hand that uses all five fingers.  It keeps the lazy hand in shape (yes, it gets lazy because, even if you are left-handed, left hand parts in general are less physically challenging than right-hand parts).

Piano Boogie:  Left Hand Accompaniment Pattern No. 1:  www.freethepiano.com

Just memorize the pattern in scale degrees (thinking in numbers is always a good idea in music!), and apply this pattern to whatever chord you're in.  When you go to the V chord (G here) in the song, the pattern looks like this:

Piano Boogie:  Left Hand Accompaniment Pattern No. 1, transposed to G Ma:  www.freethepiano.com

Of course I also jazzed up the melodic rhythm and added some blue grace notes to the melody (more on this later), but you don't have to do that if you don't want to.  I hope you enjoy trying some boogie on your Christmas and Hanukkah tunes this year.  Have fun!