Lesson 25: T-T-T-Triplets!

Category: Lessons

The best things in life come in threes… Like… umm…uhhh… Well, maybe the best things in life don’t come in threes.  So this introduction isn’t going to work very well… But I’m pretty much committed to it now. I’ll make it work. Here goes…. Although the best things in life usually don’t come in threes, some notes do. (Awesome.)

So far we’ve figured out how to fit one note into the duration of one beat, using a quarter note. To fit two notes into one beat, we can use two eighth notes. To fit four notes into one beat, we can use four sixteenth notes. All of this we have learned in previous lessons. But… and you can probably see where I am going with this… how do we fit THREE notes into a beat? *insert anticipatory pause here…*

We can use TRIPLETS! The use of triplets tells the musician to play THREE notes in one beat.  Triplet notes look like 3 notes that are connected together using a bar. Additionally, the number “3″ is displayed above or below the notes, depending on their position in the staff.  See the image below for two examples of triplet runs.

Now that we know what the triplet looks like, we need to know what to do when we encounter triplets. There are different ways to count triplet notes, but I like to use the phrase “One-and-a  Two-and-a  Three-and-a Four-and-a… ” etc.  If you have triplet note runs, it can sound a lot like a gallop. Just try repeating the phrase “One-and-a Two-and-a Three-and-a Four-and-a” over and over again. You’ll be lucky if you don’t end up galloping around the room by the time you are done.   Now, you don’t HAVE to use the “one-and-a..” counting technique to count triplets. Some people like to say “trip-uh-let” when they encounter a triplet run. This doesn’t make much sense to me because the word triplet only has two syllables. But hey, whatever works for you!

So, in the phrase above, try to count out the rhythm using the method summarized in Lesson 14, including what you learned about triplets in this lesson. It will sound a lot like this: “ONE TWO THREE-and-a FOUR. ONE TWO THREE-and-a FOUR”. Remember to tap your foot slowly and evenly, and that each number will fall on a foot tap. Pretty soon I hope to get some worksheets up in the download section so you can practice your triplets!

Lesson 22: Key Signatures and Accidentals

Category: Lessons

Key signatures tell us which sharps and flats to play consistently in a piece of music. But just because a piece of music has a key signature, does not mean that no other sharps are flats are allowed. Often, a piece of music will have a combination of a key signature and ACCIDENTALS which are sharps, flats, and naturals that are located in the piece of music. An accidental is located in front of a note, and alters the pitch of the note for the remainder of the measure. (If you remember naturals in Lesson 21, all accidentals act much the same way.)

There are several particulars you should know about accidentals:

• Accidentals do not affect the same note in a different octave
• Accidentals are not repeated on tied notes.
• Accidentals affect the pitch of the note for the remainder of the measure

So you’ve learned the basics of accidentals – basically they are SHARPS, FLATS, and NATURALS that can be strewn throughout a piece of music (rather than being in the key signature).

But wait! There is more!  We haven’t learned of every type of accidental.  Soon we will learn about DOUBLE SHARPS, and DOUBLE FLATS, which alter the pitch of a note by 2 semitones instead of 1.  I’m sure you are looking forward to learning about that, but I will leave that for the next lesson.
photo credit: oh_candy

Lesson 21: Key Signatures and the Natural Sign

Category: Lessons, Music Theory

Now that we know all about key signatures, we really need to know more about playing music with a key signature. Remember that a key signature consists of 1 or more sharps or flats. This group of sharps or flats is located at the beginning of the music. And what does this group mean? Well, it means the notes located in the key signature are ALWAYS played sharp or ALWAYS played flat. Or are they….. *insert eerie music here *….

Well, in fact, you can change the note back to it’s original or NATURAL state IN the music. How, you ask? Well, I’ll tell you! With a NATURAL sign. Nice and intuitive, right?  In case you haven’t guessed already, a natural sign looks like the symbol on the left.   OK, so how does this work?  Lets say you have a key signature that contains an F# and a C# (Like the music below).  In the music below, in the second measure the first C is marked as a natural.  These means it should not be played sharp, but in it’s natural state: on the white key.  In FACT, and this is an interesting and important tidbit to know, when a note is marked natural, it remains natural for the rest of the measure!  So, in the piece of music below, BOTH of the C’s in the second measure should be played natural.  Similarly, in the 3rd measure.  In the 4th measure, the first C should be played sharp, and the second C should be played natural.

OK folks, well thats how naturals work with a key signature. Check out the worksheets section for downloads of practice sheets.

Lesson 20: Key signatures

Category: Lessons

Key signatures are a very important topic, but difficult for some to grasp.   The key signature tells you what notes (sharps or flats) will be played consistently during the piece of music.  The key signature is denoted by a group of sharps or a  group of flats positioned after the clefs and before the time signature.  Key signatures will never mix sharps or flats.  Whats more, the sharps or flats in a key signature are always presented in the same order!  That is, the first sharp is always F#, the second sharp is always C#.. and on and on.  Never will you have a key signature with only a C#.  F# ALWAYS has to precede it.  These are the rules – take ‘em or leave ‘em.  But if you leave them, you would be wrong.  Actually, not wrong – just not conforming to the standards of Western music.

So how do you remember the order of sharps and flats in a key signature? Well, like we always do – with a little saying!  The saying to remember the order of sharps is:  Father Charles Goes Down And Ends Battle.  Isn’t it nice?  Well, the saying to remember flats is a little morbid, even though it is the same words but backwards: Battle Ends And Down Goes Charles’  Father .  So when you write a flat key signature, B flat always come first, followed by E, A, and so on.

These are the basics of key signatures. Remember: the key signature is there to tell you to play certain sharps and flats every time you see the note in the piece of music.  So if your key signature has an F# in it, every time you see an F in the piece of music, you should imagine that there is a sharp sign in front of it, and play it sharp.

I’ll be posting a key signature worksheet in the next little while.  So check the worksheets section for some practice!