4 Music Keys

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A common music teaching challenge is finding tunes for students who have only learnt a few notes. No longer a problem for us though. Once we have the new note for this lesson, a high G, a vast tune repertoire awaits.

First, the note, shown below.

It sounds like this:

Similar to the low G, left hand fingers L1, L2 and L3 are used, with no right hand fingers. The left hand thumb is pinched, similar to high E and high F#. Try the exercise below.

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For this exercise, the first high G is (hopefully) easily reached. Just play a low G, the first note, then crack the thumbhole. You are getting better at this? The high G to high E transition at the end of the 1st and 3rd bars has another challenge. Your right hand fingers must be exactly above the holes, so they land precisely for the E. Try fingering an E before the exercise starts, then lift your right hand fingers, so they are correctly located.

In a previous lesson we played the D major scale. Now with the high G (hopefully) in place, we can try the G major scale. Here it is. Play the scale by itself, then with the backing.

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Note that a slightly stronger air flow may be needed to support the high E, F# and G. Now try the descending G major scale, by itself at first, then with the backing.

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You may have trouble getting the first high G to sound properly. If so, practise a few low G to high G transitions, the try the exercise again.

Now a brief but useful music theory tutorial. The major scale. We've learnt two, G major and D major. What are they exactly? First, the technical explanation. Previously we looked at tones and semitones. The interval between F and G is a whole tone, the interval between F# and G a semitone. A major scale is 8 adjacent notes, starting from the bottom, the intervals are whole tone, whole tone, semitone, whole tone, whole tone whole tone, semi tone. For example, the C major scale has the notes C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C. The interval between E and F is a semi tone, likewise the interval between B and C. All other intervals are a whole tone.

OK. So what?

It turns out that the major scale, described in too much detail above, just sounds right. Listen to the G major scale again, from the player above. Even to untrained ears, the notes sound familiar, and right. Moreover, different cultures around the world recognise the major scale as the basis for music.

We're nearly there. Listen to the D major scale, introduced earlier, repeated below. It sounds like the G major scale, only it starts and ends on a D rather than a G. If the D major scale is used, then we play in the "key" of D. Likewise the key of G if the G major scale is used.

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For the G major scale to have the same order of whole tones and semi tones as the D major one, some notes must be changed. For example, C# becomes C. Hence the "key signature", introduced in the previous lesson, shows which notes are changed, and therefore which key the music is in.

Understanding music keys is a fundamental to understanding music. Again, apologies if you know this already.

Within each scale there is a group of notes, called an "arpeggio", which define the key of the scale when played together. The G major arpeggio is shown below, the notes are G,B,D, and G. Try this arpeggio a few times

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Arpeggios are common in most music pieces. Practising arpeggios is a fundamental music learning activity.

The lesson introduction said that that learning high G would unlock many tunes. Here is why. We can now play a G major scale, also the notes below it, down to low D (in musical terms, the fifth below G). A vast collection of tunes lie within this note range. Some are in the library below.

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The Girl I Left Behind
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Moll in the Wad
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Air
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