The
Musical Alphabet (ABCDEFG) SAMPLE LESSON (complete
as it appears within PMMO)
*******************************************
Naming
The White Keys AUDIO DISCUSSION (1:26)
Please
allow up to one minute for audio to load. (Just Listen)
*******************************************
Whoever
named the keys of a piano was a pure genius! I have no clue who
it really was, so for the sake of discussion, I'll call him Adam;
Adam the key namer.
Starting at the far left side of a full size piano (88 keys),
Adam might have said something like, "I'll call the first white
key A, the next white key B, then C, D, E, F, G...".
As the next white key following G was about to be named, Adam noticed
something VERY IMPORTANT. The sound of what would have been called
H sounded identical to the previous A, except that H had a
higher pitch.
Instead of continuing to add more alphabetical letters, Adam decided
to repeat the alphabetical sequence with A, then B, C, D, E,
F, G... then again ABCDEFG, and again, and again, and again, etc.
Thanks to the musical insight of our genius, Adam, each white
key gets its name straight out of the alphabet, and follows alphabetical
order!
Illustration
5.
Alphabetical
names of tones on the keyboard.
The musical alphabet is seven (7) letters long (ABCDEFG) and repeats
itself as many times as necessary to cover the entire length of
ANY keyboard instrument.
Fortunately, the alphabetical name of each white key can ALWAYS
be identified by how it appears in relation to the black keys.
The black keys form a pattern that makes each white key look
unique.
Say the following aloud as many times as it takes to remember
it:
"The
WHITE key "C" is ALWAYS to the LEFT of the TWO black keys."
If you can identify just ONE of the white keys, you can locate all
the others. (Illustration 6.a. & 6.b.)
Because keyboard instruments come in a variety of sizes, the first
white key on the far left is NOT always A. It is important to remember,
if you can identify just ONE of the white keys, you can locate all
the others.
POINTS
TO REMEMBER:
The musical alphabet uses only the first seven letters of the
English alphabet (ABCDEFG).
The keyboard is laid out in ALPHABETICAL ORDER from left to
right.
The WHITE key "C" is ALWAYS to the LEFT of the TWO black keys.
If you can identify just ONE of the white keys, you can locate
all the others.
ASSIGNMENT
Study Illustrations 3, 5, 6.a. and 6.b. Learn to identify the white
keys (ABCDEFG) in relation to the pattern created by the black keys,
then take the test below.
