Lesson 19: Sharps and Flats – Putting it all together

Category: Lessons, Music Theory

Now that you’ve learned all about sharps and flats, it is time to get the bigger picture.  Although sharps and flats can exist in the same piece of music (and often they do), they are like … enemies that can’t live without each other. OK, bad analogy. But you will learn that sharps and flats are similar, but opposite… I’m still not making sense…Let me start over…

I think this picture will explain it best.

So, as you can see, there are keys on the piano that can be referenced by more than one name.  The C sharp key is the same as a D flat. A D sharp is the same as an E flat, and so on…  Even the white keys can be referenced by more than one name.  C can also be called B sharp!

Now, you are probably asking, now why would someone want to use B sharp instead of C  – well.. usually they wouldn’t.  But there are some special cases where it would make sense to use a B sharp instead of a C.  We will discuss those another day,  as it is a more advanced topic.

Check out the worksheets section to get more practice with sharps and flats!

Lesson 18: Musical notation – Flats

Category: Lessons

You already know all about sharps.  They are those little signs you find in front of notes that tell you to play the key that is the next one to the right on the keyboard.  Well, there is another little symbol we will learn about today that is similar to a sharp.  This little symbol looks like the letter ‘b’ – sortof… ok – not really. A flat symbol tells the musician to play the note one semitone DOWN (or lower)

It doesn’t matter if the next key down is a black key or a white key – either can be flat.

Look in the worksheet section if you want to practice finding sharps and flats on the keyboard.

Practice Technique: Practice without the piano!

Category: Practice and Performance

photo credit: ooOJasonOoo

As silly as it might seem, practicing without the piano can shorten the time you need to practice significantly.  I’ve used this technique on many occasions. When encountering a new piece of music, I ALWAYS practice it in my head first, before putting my fingers on the keys.

VISUALIZATION is great for all levels, but is most useful for late beginners and up.  It is important that you have a good feeling for the keyboard before you try to use this technique.

Here are some basic steps to start using the visualization technique for piano practice:

• Start with a piece of music that you have already memorized.  (Once you have mastered the technique you will be able to use it on any piece of music – even music you have never seen before.)
• Read through the music at the same pace you would use to play it, and imagine that you are playing through it.  Now is time to use that vivid imagination of yours!  Make it as real as possible in your mind. Visualize the notes, and the fingers that you will use to play the notes. Visualize your hands moving up and down the keyboard.

Beginners can make visualization easier by using these techniques:

• Visualize practicing one hand a time. Like hands-separate practice for your brain
• Mix up playing and visualization.  Play a passage of music, then visualize it, then play it again!
• Read the music while you visualize playing it
• Move your fingers as you visualize the keys on the piano and the notes you are playing

Visualization is a great technique to use when you don’t have a keyboard available, or as an additional technique to make the most out of your practice time.

Lesson 17: Musical Notation – Sharps

Category: Lessons, Music Theory

So far we have introduced the concept of note names and found out where they are located on the piano keyboard.  Well, you may have noticed that we only covered the white keys!  You might be happy to know that a whole other world of keys exists for you to discover.  OK, you might not be so happy to know that.  But the black keys on the piano also play an important function.  In this lesson we will learn how to name the black keys.

So – remember our piano key names: A,B,C,D,E,F,G.  There are a group of two black keys and a group of 3 black keys.

First I’ll introduce the concept of a SHARP.  Have you ever heard someone comment on a piece of music, saying it was a little sharp?  This means that it was played at a HIGHER PITCH.  In musical notation, a sharp symbol is placed in front of a note to tell the musician to play on the key located UP one SEMITONE.  In Western music, a SEMITONE is the smallest step located on the keyboard – either between a black key and a white key, or between two different white keys.  On the keyboard located in this post, can you find a semitone located between two white keys?

OK, so when you see the SHARP symbol in front of a note, instead of playing the note – play the NEXT NOTE TO THE RIGHT.  That is, play the key that is ONE SEMITONE HIGHER.  This could be a black key, or it could be a white key.  If you want some practice naming sharps you can download the worksheet from this section from the worksheets section.

Try to find F#, C#, G#, D#, and A#.  And when you have mastered that – find E# and B#.  The frequency with which these sharps are used in a piece of music depends on the KEY of the music.  We will cover this concept in a future lesson.  Please mosey on over to the download section when you have a chance and practice a bit!