Lesson 21 - 9th December 2016

In the first lesson after the holiday, you will be given a test on everything we have covered so far (including what we did before half term).

So you will need to revise:

• Pitches (ie. where notes are on the stave)
• Sharps and flats
• Major Scales (the pattern of tones and semitone and specifically the scales of C, G and F major).
• Minor Scales of A, E and D Minor (natural minor, harmonic minor and melodic minor)
• Note values (including rests, dotted notes, demi-semiquavers and triplets)
• Time signatures (including compound time signatures)
• Major and Minor triads
• Primary and Secondary Chords in the keys of C, G and F major (including inversions)
• Key signatures (how to find them on the circle of fifths and what they mean)
• Intervals (Major, minor and perfect intervals PLUS augmented 4th and Diminished 5th)

Use the labels to find information on all of these things.

Lesson 20 - Monday 5th December

Independent Learning...

In this lesson:

Those of you who I didn't hear on Friday (or who are being retested this coming Friday) can practise the keyboards.

If you haven't yet finished the written work (Critically Cubed: Deadline this Friday) you can work on that.

If you are still unsure about time signatures, try this link. Try clapping the rhythm and identifying the time signature. It will tell you if you're right or not and play the rhythm so you can check it. You can add more complexity to the rhythms when you are getting them all consistently right.

If you have completed all the above, practise playing Minor Scale (A, D and E Harmonic, Melodic and Natural Minors). In all cases, the fingering should be the same as C Major.

Lesson 19 - Friday 2nd December

We revised compound time signatures.

This link explains it very well.

Lesson 18 - 28th November 2016

We revised time signatures and note values, and particularly looked at demi-semiquavers.


We also looked briefly at triplets. This is where three notes are played in the time of two, as illustrated below:

This link explains triplets quite well.

Lesson 17 - 25th November 2016

Minor Keys

For every Major Key, there is a "relative minor".

It has the same key signature of the Major Key.

It can be found by looking for the 6th note of the major scale (or a minor 3rd down).

eg. The relative minor of G major is E Minor


The relative major is the 3rd note of the minor scale (minor 3rd).

eg. The relative major of F Minor is A Flat major.




Using this method will give you the Natural Minor (otherwise known as the Aeolian Mode). 
There are other Minors (and you will need to know the first two for Grade 5 theory).

Harmonic Minor: Raise the 7th note of the Natural Minor scale

Melodic Minor: Raise the 6th and 7th notes on the way up, on the way down it is the same as the Natural minor.

(Jazz Melodic: Raise the 6th and 7th on the way up and on the way down. (or you can just flatten the 3rd of a Major scale!))

Lesson 16 - Monday 21st November

You should start to work on the second part of Critically Cubed

Task sheet is here.

This should be completed by 2nd December

Reminder: Those of you doing the theory re-test: this will be this Friday (25th November). Make sure you have revised.

Inversions

This link explaings how inversions work.

Remember: a chord’s “inversion” only refers to which note is in the bass - the rest of the chord's voicing/spacing is irrelevant.

Lesson 15 - Friday 18th November 2016

Diatonic Harmony

In any particular key, if we use notes belonging to that key to build chords, then we call in diatonic harmony. If we use notes that don't belong to the key, we call it chromatic harmony.

eg. In C Major, the chord Eminor7 (E, G, B and D) would be diatonic as it only uses notes from C Major, whereas E7 (E, G#, B and D) would be chromatic as it includes a note from outside the key of C.

Primary and Secondary Chords in Major Keys

The Primary Chords are chords I, IV and V and are major
(ie. those built on the 1st, 4th and 5th scale degree in a particular key).

The Secondary Chords are chords ii, iii and vi and are minor

You will need to know at least 1 to 7 in roman numerals:
I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII (upper case)
i, ii, iii, iv, v, vi, vii (lower case)


A triad is a three-note chord in a closed position with the root at the bottom.

Remember: a triad goes line, line, line or space, space, space.

Lesson 14 - Monday 14th November

Here is your other task for this term.

You will need to play scales of C, G and F Major, 2 octaves, Right hand and left hand (not together).

Plus a technical exercises / piece of music. (This will be allocated according to your ability / experience at the keyboard).

Lesson 13 - Friday 11th November

In today's lesson:

Finish the worksheets on Intervals (please leave them in a neat pile at the front of the room at the end of the lesson)

Begin work on this new task. (part 1 only!)

Lesson 12 - Monday 7th November

Intervals:

To work out the numerical interval between two notes:

Counting the bottom note as "1", count up to the top note.

eg. from C to A (C, D, E, F, G, A) is a 6th.

Similarly, on the stave:

Count all lines and spaces.


Important: There are no exceptions to this rule. Sharps, flats, double sharps and double flats make no difference to the number of the interval.



Major, Minor, Perfect, 

Imagine the bottom note of the interval is the first degree of a Major scale.

If the upper note belongs to the scale, it will be:
Major 2nd
Major 3rd
Perfect 4th
Perfect 5th
Major 6th
Major 7th
Perfect 8ve

If you flatten the top note of a major interval it becomes minor.


Diminished, Augmented?

If you sharpen the top note of a major or perfect interval, it becomes augmented.

If you flatten the top note of a minor or perfect interval, it becomes diminished.



Spelling / Enharmonic Equivalent

It is possible for 2 different intervals to sound the same (and be played the same on a keyboard).

eg. From D to G sharp is an augmented 4th
From D to A flat is a diminished 5th

G sharp and A flat are enharmonically equivalent (ie. sound the same and occupy the same space on a keyboards) so these two different intervals sound the same.

The augmented 4th / diminished 5th is also called the tritone for, I hope, obvious reasons.


RESOURCES:
There are excellent online tutorials on numerical intervals, specific intervals and how to write intervals.

You can test how well you recognise written intervals here.

(If you are confident and want to test yourself on more difficult intervals, try this.)

Guitarists and bassists:You may find this useful

Lesson 11 - 4th November 2016

This link illustrates well how key signatures do.

Note:
If a key signature has an F sharp in it, it means that every F, at every octave, will be sharp.

An accidental, (ie. a sharp, flat or natural written next to a note) lasts for the bar (eg. if there is an F sharp, an further Fs in the bar, written at the same octave will be sharpened.)




Here are some exercises to practise writing with and without key signatures.

Lesson 10 - Friday 14th October 2016

In today's lesson we caught up on missing work and made any necessary corrections.

In the first lesson after half term, there will be a test on everything we have covered so far:

Pitches (ie. where notes on the stave)
Sharps and flats
Major Scales (the pattern of tones and semitone and specifically the scales of C, G and F major).
Note values (including rests)
Time signatures
Major and Minor triads

Lesson 9 - 10th October 2016

We played this song on the keyboards.

Chord sheet is here.

We looked at Sus4 chords, which are explained well here.

Some of you started to look at Seventh Chords

(we will be going back over this so don't worry if you don't get it yet)



If you know your major scales, this should be very easy!

The major seventh chord is formed of the 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th notes of the major scale.

ie. root, major 3rd, perfect 5th, major 7th.

In the minor seventh chord, the 3rd and 7th are flattened

ie. root, minor 3rd, perfect 5th, minor 7th

 

The dominant 7th chord is more of a mixture:

Root, major third, perfect 5th, minor 7th.

Here is a more comprehensive list of 7th chords if you are feeling confident:

Lesson 8 - 7th October 2016

We listened to this:




Then:

By the end of the lesson, make sure you can play Major triads of:
C, D, E, F, G, A and B Major

If you have time, try the minors as well (the same as major but the middle note is one semitone lower).

Those of you who are used to playing chords and are finding it quite easy, try playing the chords with your left hand as well. Also, try using different spacings of the chords (eg. you could play C Major with a C in the left hand and an E and G in the right). Also, you could try different inversions of the chords (ie. with an E or G in the bass instead of a C).

Chords:



This is the C Major triad. (Triad means three-note chord)


Here are a load more major triads.





(Notice how in each case the notes go line-line-line or space-space-space.)



A way of working out any major or minor triad:

To play a Major triad: play a note, the note 4 semitones above and then 3 semitones above that.

To play a minor triad: play a note, the note 3 semitones above and then 4 semitones above that.

Lessons 6 and 7 - 30th September and 3rd October 2016

We practised rhythmic reading using this sheet...

We played this on the keyboard...

Here is the score.

Lesson 5 - Monday 26th September 2016

Please upload your videos to your blog, with the title "Induction Project - Task 5" and labelling it "Induction Project"

Lesson 4 - 23rd September 2016

If you're unsure about these, this link may help.



We practised rhythmic reading using this sheet...


We also looked at the different bits of a note:

Time Signatures

We looked at time signatures in this lesson.

If you are struggling with time signatures, this link may help.




Simple and Compound Time signatures

Some of you worked on the difference between Simple and Compound Time Signatures. Information about these can be found here.

(please note: both the links talk about "measures". This is another word for "bars".)

Lesson 2b - 16th September 2016

1969

Here is a task, as part of your Induction Project.

Lessons 2 & 3 - 16th and 19th September 2016

Keyboard Fingering



We looked at playing the scale of C Major, sheet is here.



Also:

Semitone: the distant to the very next note (ie. from one key to the next on the keyboard or from fret to fret on the guitar.

Tone: two semitones.

What makes a major scale major?

Simply its pattern of tones and semitones. TTSTTTS.

Accidentals: Sharps, flats, naturals. The sharp raises the note by a semitone, the flat lowers it and the natural cancels a flat or sharp. Notice how it goes before the note!

Lesson 1 - Monday 12th September 2016

Here are the rules for the lesson.

In addition, please make sure you bring with you every lesson:

- pen and paper for note-taking
- a pencil and eraser
- headphones (with adapter so you can use large and small outputs)

In the lesson, we looked at:

Treble Clef - shows that all the notes on a particular stave are in the treble register (above Middle C).

Bass Clef - shows that all the notes on a particular stave are in the bass register (below Middle C).

Leger lines - are extra lines added above or below the stave.

Mnemonics (things to help you remember the notes on the stave):

You could make up your own if you prefer...