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Leeanne V., Australia

Many of the runs in Family Tree Arr. 3 are from Squidgies Boogie in Level 6. Each bar can be identified as a line from Squidgies – L6, Billy at the Footy – L4, Family Tree – L3 or a slight variation of one of those runs. If you want it to “make sense” then it might be best to at least wait till you have Squidgies Boogie in Level 6 processed into your fingers.

Once Family Tree Arr. 3 is learned you can slow the bass line down a bit and improvise over the top with the right hand. This is similar to the first song in Level 9 – Walk at 11 and that is why it has probably been suggested to wait until level 9.

Beth S., Tennessee

Hi, Melani. I am also currently working on this one. I had put it away for a long time because it didn’t make sense to me either, but with a fresh, new look, these are my thoughts:

Billy at the Footy didn’t really have any consistent pattern of any kind but we learned it frame by frame, so to speak, of 4-note segments, and it eventually came together, although on a much simpler level. I am learning FT the same way. The issue for me is one of being patient. It seems like a good majority of the songs we learn to this point are quick, easy, full of patterns, and not requiring much plowing. So, when I do have to plow through something, be patient with it, there’s a natural tendency to resist. But I’m finding that it is coming quite easily just through the repetition of it, thinking through good fingerings, etc.

So, the lesson in it, for me, is the following:

1. Being patient

2. Taking the time to puzzle out a good, logical fingering that flows (in most sheet music this is already done by the editors, so in traditional music, I don’t think it is very often that people–teachers or students–have to figure it out for themselves)

3. Memorizing the feel of a song and doing it with my eyes closed. I’ve put below the fingerings I’ve decided upon, but I wouldn’t memorize “by rote” as you put it. Use them to help you with choices if you need to, but then memorize the feel of it, the way a blind person would, or, for me, it’s back to the choreography idea of memorizing the lilt and movement of your hands. It comes pretty quickly after a few times of doing it and just go “frame by frame” adding another to what you have comfortable so far until you’ve got it all.

That’s my approach to it, but there may be something else I’m missing.

These are the fingerings I’m using through the first stretch:

1234*1234*1543*2345*4143*2123*5432*1212*1212*1234*5432*1432*1

Gordon Harvey, Australia

Just a small further observation about this piece.

With this and other pieces (like Billy at the Footy and Squidgies L6) target notes are very useful to be aware of. Leanne observes that each bar is a version of something from one of those songs or the original Family Tree, but it might be an additional help to be aware of which step in the 12-bar cycle you’re up to and which step you’re heading for, using Leanne’s cross-pollination clues as you go. In giving us those clues, Leanne might be assuming we’re doing this, but I find it helpful to be really conscious of the next target note.

So you’re saying to yourself “From I, Squidgies down to IV, zigzag to I” and so on. The first beat of each bar will always be a I, IV or V note – usually the root note, but if not, another note from the chord. You could even learn the target notes first – go through the first note of each bar, noting whether it’s I, IV or V and whether it’s a root note or another note from the chord. Then look at how we travel between each, kind of like doing the easy bits of a jigsaw puzzle first then filling in the spaces between.

If this only confuses you more, no problem. It’s only a perspective. I just always like something that gives me the bigger picture. Of course, the RH also follows the same structure, so one hand can help confirm where the other is up to.