Class 3, the scale

[Eiric Biançéu]

All will be revealed tonight after I get back from the Doctors.
I had an allergic reaction to my new diabetes meds and have been pretty messed up for about 3 days.
You have my apologies.

If you read the section in class one about the difference between keys and notes you will see how the Major scale is laid out.

I will repeat some here but I will also go into the Circle of fifths and a little more music history. All the way back to the 11th century!

[Eiric Biançéu]

Gods I hate being the one with no real immune system.
But nevermind, here we go.

As I put in Class I the basic major scale is made up of the set group of intervals as follows:
2 whole steps, 1 half step, 3whole steps, one half step.
in the case of the C scale this would be c-d 1whole step or 2 keys on the keyboard of your choice. d-e is the same, e-f is a half step or moving only 1 key on the keyboard, f-g, g-a, a-b are also all whole step (2 key) movements, b-c is again only a half step (1 key).

Since all major scales have the same pattern we cannot start on any other note besides C without adding Flats or Sharps, thus creating "key signitures"

Example: If you wanted to start the Major scale on F instead of C it would work as such:
F-G (1 whole step/2 keys),
G-A (1 whole step/2 keys),
so far fine but: A-B would be another whole step and we know the pattern calls for a half step there so we half to go to Bb (flat) instead of B (also called B natural). On the keyboard we would go from the A to the black key above it.
This also gives us our whole step we need next Bb-C,
C-D (whole step),
D-E (whole step),
E-F (Half step) stay the same.

This gives us our Key signiture for the F scale: 1 Flat (Bb)

More in just a little bit.

[Eiric Biançéu]

Now I'd like to pose a couple of questions before moving on to Music History and the circle of fifths:

Is everything understandable?

Can you see the relationship between the scale and the "key signature"?

I'm asking these questions because I don't want to lose anyone and in the live classroom it is easier to catch these before we get too far.

[Danihel Txechescu]

I'm following on this most extraordinary day.

I didn't get at first why in the key of F the next step after A would be B♭, instead of A♯, but Wikipedia (on Musical scale) had a very instructive note about it:

In naming the notes of a scale, it is customary that each scale degree be assigned its own letter name: for example, the A diatonic scale is written A–B–C♯–D–E–F♯–G♯ rather than A–B–D♭–D–F♭–E♯♯–G♯."

[Eiric Biançéu]

A very good point that I should have posted. Thanks for the catch Danihel!

Basically the scales are set up to move from one "letter" to the next. That also works with any "key" also.
So when you look at a scale line it will always move in a identifiable pattern.
d will always follow C and so on.

This leads very nicely into the section on the circle of fifths as you will see.

I will write out a couple of scales here and I ask you to tell me what notes (letters) should be "sharpened" or "flattened".

c-d-e-f-g-a-b-c

d-e-f-g-a-b-c-d

f-g-a-b-c-d-e-f

g-a-b-c-d-e-f-g

Don't forget your Major scale pattern.
whole step, whole step, half step, whole step, whole step, whole step, half step

Here's a freebie:

Bb-C-D-Eb-F-G-A-Bb
so Bb key signature has how many sharps?
how many flats?

forgot to add b= flat, #=sharp
have fun!

[Eiric Biançéu]

I will update again as soon as I can focus. In the mean time let's see some answers guys and gals!

[Eiric Biançéu]

I am very sorry for the way this class has bounced around with dates and times. I promise you I am usually much better than this. Mentally I'm still a bit of a mess, but I will do my darndest to get back on Schedule.

Does anyone have answers to the questions posted?

Thanks again for your patience with me.

[Eiric Biançéu]

Here is an andendum to this class.
Guido D'Arezzo is usually credited with creating both the four line staff and the Sol feg method of teaching basic music. He was a monk and teacher in 11th century and is considered to be one of the founders of "modern" western music theory.

Now, the circle of Fifths is a mnemonic device created to help people remember their scales.
It basically works this way:

.................................C Major (no flats or sharps)
.......................F Major (1 b).....G major (1 #)
.....................Bb Major (2 b)........D Major (2 #)
...................Eb Major (3 b)...........A Major (3 #)
......................Ab Major (4 b)........E Major (4 #)
.......................Db Major (5b).......B Major (5 #)
....................................Gb/F# Major (6 b/6 #)

[Eiric Biançéu]

SO IF EVERYTHING DOESN'T FALL APART,...hopefully.
I will have a class up tonight.

All of you are probably either going:
"it's about time!"

or

"I don't pay attention anymore."

Judging by the "homework" responses I got, I'm going with the second.

[Ián Tamorán S.H.]

When I was very young, I was taught mnemonics to remind me of the order of the sharps and flats in the various keys. The keys (starting from no sharps or flats, and adding one sharp each time) are:
Citizens, Go Down And Enter By Force
C - no sharps (or flats)
G - 1 sharp
D - 2 sharps
A - 3 sharps
E - 4 sharps
B - 5 sharps
F# - 6 sharps

But which sharps are they? They are:
Frederick Charles Goes Down And Ends Battle

So
C major - has no sharps or flats
G major - has one sharp - F#
D major - has two sharps - F# and C#
A major - has three sharps - F#, C# and G#
E major - has four sharps - F#, C#, G# and D#
B major - has five sharps - F#, C#, G#, D# and A#
F# major - has six sharps - F#, C#, G#, D#, A# - and here's where it gets a bit weird - E#

And the Battle in Frederick Charles... ? That's for the really weird key of C# major, which has seven sharps - yup, all of them: F#, C#, G#, D#, A#, E#, B#. Yes, I know E# is the same note as F, and B# is the same note as C... but you can forget about these last two keys (F# major and C# major) for a while, until you are comfortable with the others.

[Ián Tamorán S.H.]

... and the "flat" keys are just the same - but in reverse. The keys, starting from C major (with no sharps or flats) and adding one flat each time are:

Can Famous Boys Enjoy Any Delicious Greek Cooking

and the flats that are added are:

Begin Each Afternoon Drinking Good Cool Fresh Coffee

(cold coffee? Yuk!)

So:
C major - has no sharps or flats
F major - has one flat - B♭
B♭ major - has two flats - B♭ and E♭
E♭ major - has three flats - B♭, E♭ and A♭
A♭ major - has four flats - B♭, E♭, A♭ and D♭
D♭ major - has five flats - B♭, E♭, A♭, D♭ and G♭
G♭ major - has six flat - B♭, E♭, A♭, D♭, G♭ and C♭
C♭ major - has seven flats - B♭, E♭, A♭, D♭, G♭, C♭ and F♭

Yes - I know - these last two are rather odd, aren't they! C♭ is the same note as B, and F♭ is the same note as E - but, again, you can ignore these last two until you are familiar with the earlier ones.

In case your browser does not render the ♭ (flat) character correctly, it should look like a lower-case b, with the bottom rather pointed.

[Eiric Biançéu]

Wow, awesome stuff Ian. Again sorry for the delays on everything. Will give no excuses.

[Eiric Biançéu]

My wife has told me to get over myself and get back to doing this so I am going back to the Scale to introduce a few new ideas.

First is the Minor scale: All minor scales are based on the 6th of there parent major. Yes I know I am speaking in music, so let me explain a lot better.

1) When we look at the C scale we start on C and go straight up the "white" keys on the piano. So if we wrote it out numerically it would look like this:
c=1, d=2, e=3, f=4, g=5, a=6, b=7.
So if the Minor scale starts on the 6th scale than the Minor of C major starts on A.

Now if we look at the awesome chart supplied to us by S;r Iàn we will see that the sharps progression is C, G, D, A, E, B, F#. The corresponding minor scales would be A, E, B, F#, C#, G#, D#.
The Flats Major progression is C, F, Bb, Eb, Ab, Db, Gb, Cb. The Minor version is: A, D, G, C, F, Bb, Eb, Ab.
The minor scales are played in the same way as the major scales in most cases. At sometime I will go into those.

The Minor scale produces a darker more meloncholy sound than the Major scale. It is used as the bases for numerous Dirges, Pavonnes and slower movements in more modern symphonies. It will also be used by composers to create a change in feel in the midst of a more upbeat piece. Mozart used this effect alot in his Symphonies and Instrumental concertos.

Listening list for Minor melodic Ideas:
Pavone for Dead Princess by Ravel
2nd movement of the Strauss horn concerto #1
Linkin Park, "I tried so hard"
Openning section of Tchaikovsky's 1812 overture.