Class 1, Basic notation

[Eiric Biançéu]

Here we go!
First attachment is the C scale, but we will be using this as a note teacher only!
The bottom note is middle C.
When you look at a standard piano keyboard it is the fourth C from the bottom.
(I will post the piano keyboard on the next link)
As you can see the progression is quite easy and is continuous in both directions. Meaning that the note above the "high" C will also (and Always) be a D. Also given is that the note below middle C (or any other C) will always be a B.

This means that to read in music in any clef all you have to do is find C and work your way out.

Now if any of you have used the sol-feg method (as in Do Re Mi) the basic idea on paper works like such:
In the case of the C scale shown on the attachment C would be Do, D would be Re, E would be Mi, F would be Fa, G would be So, A would be La, B would be Ti and of course C would be Do again.
Yes it works just like the song you are probably now humming.
If the scale starts on any other note, that stating note becomes Do.
EXAMPLE: In the case of a F scale F would be Do and C would be So. (Hopefully that's easily understood)

Next I will tackle Accidentals, probably in about an hour.

Please leave me lots of comments and questions.
I have taught but never on line. It feels very different.

Please print the attachment.

Attachments:

[Eiric Biançéu]

Accidentals are ways to charge the tone of a pitch.
Sharping a note raises the tone by a half step.
Flatting a note lowers the note by a half step.

Looking at the piano keyboard at the highlighted middle C, if you sharpen it you will move up to the black key (C#/D flat) next to it. If you flatten it you will move down to the adjacent white key (B).

On the musical notepad a sharp would be represented by a #, a flat would represented by a b. So for the middle C you would simply add the correct symbol.

Hopefully that was easy enough to follow.

Again, please make comments, I have never taught an on-line class before and would love to get as many tips as I can.

I will be answering questions all week.

I'm an idiot and cannot figure out how to attach the file I wish to so here is a url of a keyboard with middle C highlighted.
simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_C

Thanks for being patient with me.

[Eðo Grischun]

I have no questions at this point as this, for me, has been a revision exercise rather than a learning exercise, so far.

I'm looking forward to the next lesson (and you're doing great!)

[Danihel Txechescu]

I must say I was completely foreign to the concept of a "movable do". I knew about Indian's sa-re-ga-ma, but didn't know that do-re-mi could move as well. Great thing I'm learning from the very start!

Also, here's a humble PDF contribution.

Attachments:

[Eðo Grischun]

For the sake of discussion (and I do actually have a question) I have trouble with the 'movable-Do'. See the point of finding Do is to find the tone of C (in a C scale), but if you can also hum Do in a G (for a G scale) then how do I know what Do I'm humming? I get the theory but would you have any tips on learning that skill of humming a C and knowing for sure it's a C and a G for a G?

[Eiric Biançéu]

movable Do is constant. When we study key signitures you will see why.
Most basic songs that use the Sol-Feg notation are in C for ease of use.

I do see how it can be easily confusing though. I'll try to put together a group of songs that show how the system can help you find your starting pitch.

Danihel, thanks for the Attachment!

[Eðo Grischun]

Apr 7, 2012 23:53:11 GMT -6 Eiric Biançéu said:

movable Do is constant. When we study key signitures you will see why.
Most basic songs that use the Sol-Feg notation are in C for ease of use.

I do see how it can be easily confusing though. I'll try to put together a group of songs that show how the system can help you find your starting pitch.

Danihel, thanks for the Attachment!

Oh, please do not go out of your way with extra material. I will wait for the lesson on key signatures and take it from there. I asked at school and teachers never really had answers for it other than listening practice, which I know is the answer, I was grasping for an elusive 'insiders-tip'

Thanks so far, looking forward to next lesson.

[Ián Tamorán S.H.]

Apr 6, 2012 15:20:15 GMT -6 Eðo Grischun said:

... would you have any tips on learning that skill of humming a C and knowing for sure it's a C and a G for a G?

Alas there is no good and easy answer to that question. Some people (very few) have what is called "perfect pitch". If you ask these people to sing a C then, without any trouble, they will sing a C and not a G or an F# or an E or...

But most people (like me, and - probably - you) have to go to a keyboard or a pitch-pipe or a tuning fork or a guitar or some other instrument, play a note on that and then sing. I have been playing the piano for over 60 years (and other instruments too) - but even I have to go to a keyboard to get a note - I do not know "what a C sounds like" without help. So don't worry.

One thing you can do, however, is find out what are the highest and lowest notes you can comfortably sing, and see if you can judge other notes from those. That's not a fool-proof technique, though - it doesn't work for me, for example (some days I can sing higher notes than on other days).

If you're like me, be happy to be in the 999 out of 1,000 that do not have perfect pitch. And enjoy singing anyway.

[Eiric Biançéu]

Here is the list of treble clef instruments:
French Horn (yes I am Biased)
Trumpet
Baritone Horn
Flute
Clarinet
Oboe
Violin
Piano
Bells and Glockenspiel
English Horn

This is only a partial list. Note: Viola Plays in Tenor Clef, not going into that one right now.
Have a good evening all.

[Doug Earnest]

Sorry I'm a little behind. I don't want to hold the rest of the class back, but there are a few things that are confusing to me.

I understand some of the basics, like "a note on this line makes this sound" but I'm lost when it comes to key of C, key of D, key of E, etc. I know it would be easier if I had a piano and an instructor in front of me, but since we can't have that, I've made a graphic to illustrate my question.

So, have I got this right, or wrong?

Attachments:

[Eiric Biançéu]

Unfortunately, no.
Lets take a look at this one step at a time.

1) When a note is written on the staff it is always that note. So in the case of the C you have in the example it will always be a C no matter what the "key" of a piece is.

2) Let me qualify this by saying that it can be a C#(sharp, raised a half step) or a Cb (flat, lowered a half step). They are still a C.

3) The "key" of a piece refers not to the notes themselves but to the scale the piece of music is based on. (I hear you saying: "Nicely put, now can you say that in English?"). Well, yes in a round about way.

When we look at the piano keyboard and play the white keys in order from Middle C to the next C we play the C major scale. It is the basic scale which all other major scales are based on. It created a pattern of notes we identify as a "major" scale. This pattern is as follows:
2 whole steps (in this case, C-D, D-E), 1 half step (E-F), 3 whole steps (F-G, G-A, A-B) and one final half step (B-C). A half step on a keyboard is moving from one key to the next with no intervening keys, a whole step has one intervening key (black or white) between the notes.

(I won't go to much into the History of the Renaissance Clavier or Harpsichord that clarified the basics of music tonality in the west from the melodies of the monks and tavern folk of the middle ages.)

So if you wanted to make the same scale sound as C but start on D you would have to change some of the internal notes of the scale. In the case of D you would have to raise the third and seventh to create the same pattern. (so: D-E, E-F#{2 whole steps}, F#-G {1 half step}, G-A, A-B, B-C# {3 whole steps} and C#-D {1 half step})
On the Keyboard it would start on the yellow highlighted D go to the next white key up(E), than to the next black key (F#), than to the white key right next to it(G), than to the next white key (A), white key (B), Black Key (C#), white key (D)

This creates the "key" of D. It has 2 sharps (F# and C#). It has a bit of a brighter sound than C. A lot of celebratory music was written in this Key.

Hopefully this explains the difference between notes and "keys"

Middle C is a note and will always be a "C" (C, C#, Cb) no matter what key your in.

[Doug Earnest]

Okay, thank you for the clarification. I think I understand the concept in general, and I presume it will mean something to me at some later point when it's put into practice.