The Simplified Scale and Uniform Keyboard TM

1. The Simplified Scale and Uniform KeyboardTM Now everyone can do music

2. What we need to learn • Basic Mechanics of Musical Sound • Brief History of Music • Complexities of the Classical Music System • The Uniform Music System • How Technology Helps

3. Mechanics of Music OCTAVES • The human ear perceives doubled frequencies as the same note. • The combination of notes of doubled frequencies is so complete it sounds bland and uninteresting to the ear. • In classical music notation notes of doubled frequency are assigned the same letter and the interval is called an octave.

4. Mechanics of Music • Our western musical taste subdivides the octave interval into 12 equal tone divisions called notes. • Actually the divisions are exponent multiples of 2x/12 , but we will keep it simple • If you line up all of the 12ths in order, it is called the Chromatic Scale. • A pictorial representation of the Chromatic Scale is: High Low Doubled Frequency (called octave)

5. Mechanics of Music • The preferred musical scale of the western world is call the Major Scale. You will recognize the Major Scale as Do-Re-Mi… • If you compare the Chromatic Scale with the Major Scale, you will see that the Major Scale is a subset of the Chromatic Scale. fa so la ti do re mi do Doubled Frequency (called octave)

6. Mechanics of Music • The western culture also prefers that the majority of note combinations be in the Major Scale as well. • The technical term given to these mixes are called Chords. Standard Chords(in red) fa so la ti do re mi do

7. Mechanics of Music • The western culture also prefers that the majority of note combinations be in the Major Scale as well. • The technical term given to these mixes are called Chords. Standard Chords(in red) fa so la ti do re mi do

8. Mechanics of Music • The western culture also prefers that the majority of note combinations be in the Major Scale as well. • The technical term given to these mixes are called Chords. Standard Chords(in red) fa so la ti do re mi do re

9. History of Music • Around the 14th century, the melodies and the chords were exclusively from the Major Scale • Chords using notes outside the Major Scale were considered of poor taste and were unacceptable • Playing these notes identified by the black dots were considered an accident. Thus the term “accidentals” was coined for black notes. Brief History of Music fa so la ti do re mi do

10. History of Music • The organs from the 14th century only had the white keys correlating to the white dots below • The black notes corresponding to the black dots shown below were not played. Playing them was so universally unaccepted, they were not installed in early keyboards. fa so la ti do re mi do

11. History of Music • However there existed some mixtures(shown below in red) contained within the Major Scale that were also undesirable. fa so la ti do re mi do

12. History of Music • However there existed some mixtures(shown below in red) contained within the Major Scale that were also undesirable. • It was discovered that if the B note(called “ti”) was lowered a half tone, fa so la ti do re mi do

13. History of Music • However there existed some mixtures(shown below in red) contained within the Major Scale that were also undesirable. • It was discovered that if the B note(called “ti”) was lowered a half tone, fa so la ti do re mi do

14. History of Music • However there existed some mixtures(shown below in red) contained within the Major Scale that were also undesirable. • It was discovered that if the B note(called “ti”) was lowered a half tone, a new pleasing sound was realized. This “pushing down” of the B note was called “flattening” it. This gives us the term “flat” that is used in music today. fa so la ti do re mi do

15. History of Music • Adding this new note modified the all white keyboard to look like: • Eventually, other mixes of the Major Scale and the accidentals keys (black dots) were introduced until all of the black notes were eventually accepted. fa so la ti do re mi do

16. History of Music • Adding this new note modified the all white keyboard to look like: • Eventually, other mixes of the Major Scale and the accidentals keys (black dots) were introduced until all of the black notes were eventually accepted. fa so la ti do re mi do

17. History of Music • Adding this new note modified the all white keyboard to look like: • Eventually, other mixes of the Major Scale and the accidentals keys (black dots) were introduced until all of the black notes were eventually accepted. fa so la ti do re mi do

18. History of Music • Adding this new note modified the all white keyboard to look like: • Eventually, other mixes of the Major Scale and the accidentals keys (black dots) were introduced until all of the black notes were eventually accepted. fa so la ti do re mi do

19. History of Music • Adding this new note modified the all white keyboard to look like: • Eventually, other mixes of the Major Scale and the accidentals keys (black dots) were introduced until all of the black notes were eventually accepted. fa so la ti do re mi do

20. History of Music fa so la ti • The end result in the dot chart looked like this: do re mi do • The dot pattern above should look vaguely familiar. Any guesses as to what?

21. History of Music fa so la ti • The end result in the dot chart looked like this: do re mi do • The dot pattern above should look vaguely familiar. Any guesses as to what?

22. Classical Music System • Most songs’ melodies will stay on a scale as shown below. From this set of notes comes most of the harmonies that go with the song as well • Accompaniment instruments will usually take advantage of the standard chords mentioned earlier Why is the Classical System Difficult? fa so la ti do re mi do re

23. Classical Music System • Today most multi-note instruments such as the piano or guitar use these standard sets of Chords. • These 3 note combinations are extensively used in most western music from rock to romantic. • Notice the pattern with every other scale note. fa so la ti do re mi do re

24. Classical Music System • Today most multi-note instruments such as the piano or guitar use these standard sets of Chords • These 3 note combinations are extensively used in most western music from rock to romantic. • Notice the pattern with every other scale note. fa so la ti do re mi do re

25. Classical Music System • Today most multi-note instruments such as the piano or guitar use these standard sets of Chords • These 3 note combinations are extensively used in most western music from rock to romantic. • Notice the pattern with every other scale note. fa so la ti do re mi do re

26. Classical Music System • Using the C Major scale, the first 3 note combination would be identified with C-E-G. • Because the first note in this triad is note C, this chord is called a C chord. • This chord is also classified as a “1” chord because the first note of this triad, called the root, is the first note of the scale. F G A B 1 1 1 C D E C D

27. Classical Music System • Continuing on the C Major scale, the next 3 note combination would be identified with F-A-C. • Because the first note in this triad is the note F, this chord is called an F chord. • This chord is also classified as a “4” chord because the root(first note) of this triad, is the fourth note of the scale. F G A B 4 4 4 C D E C D

28. Classical Music System • Also on the C Major scale, the last 3 note combination would be identified with G-B-D. • Because the root in this triad is the note G, this chord is called a G chord. • This chord is also classified as a “5” chord because the root of this chord is the fifth note of the scale. F G A B 5 5 5 C D E C D

29. So, to summarize what we have learned so far for the C Scale: Classical Music System The 3 main chords for the C scale are comprised of: F G A B C D E C D

30. So, to summarize what we have learned so far for the C Scale: Classical Music System The 3 main chords for the C scale are comprised of: • The C chord made of CEG. Classified as a 1 chord F G A B C D E C D

31. So, to summarize what we have learned so far for the C Scale: Classical Music System The 3 main chords for the C scale are comprised of: • The C chord made of CEG. Classified as a 1 chord • The F chord made of FAC. Classified as a 4 chord F G A B C D E C D

32. So, to summarize what we have learned so far for the C Scale: Classical Music System The 3 main chords for the C scale are comprised of: • The C chord made of CEG. Classified as a 1 chord • The F chord made of FAC. Classified as a 4 chord • The G chord made of GBD. Classified as a 5 chord F G A B C D E C D

33. Classical Music System The term that is given to a song that uses the C scale and it’s corresponding cord set is called the “Key of C.” However, only a portion of all music is written in the Key of C. What does another Key look like…for example the Key of D? fa so la ti do re mi do re

34. Classical Music System • To understand the Key of D, we have to rearrange the scale. Our scale of C, will not work with the key of D. F G A B C D E C

35. Classical Music System First, we need to have some new notes added on the right of our scale because the key of D will need these new notes. F G A B C D E C

36. Classical Music System First, we need to have some new notes added on the right of our scale because the key of D will need these new notes. F G A B C D E C

37. Classical Music System First, we need to have some new notes added on the right of our scale because the key of D will need these new notes. Notes from next octave. F G A B C D E C D E

38. Classical Music System • Remember our old scale of C? F G A B C D E C D E

39. Classical Music System • Remember our old scale of C? • These red circles are a distinct pattern for the major scale. This pattern must be adhered to for western style music. F G A B C D E C D E

40. Classical Music System • To make a scale of D, we have to keep the same note pattern but now we have to shift the pattern so that the major scale starts on D. F G A B C D E C D E

41. Classical Music System • To make a scale of D, we have to keep the same note pattern but now we have to shift the pattern so that the major scale starts on D. F G A B C D E C D E

42. Classical Music System • To make a scale of D, we have to keep the same note pattern but now we have to shift the pattern so that the major scale starts on D. F G A B C D E C D E

43. Classical Music System • To make a scale of D, we have to keep the same note pattern but now we have to shift the pattern so that the major scale starts on D. Now we have the scale of D F G A B C D E C D E

44. Classical Music System Lets look at the differences compared to the C scale F G A B C D E C D E

45. Classical Music System • Lets look at the differences compared to the C scale • These notes are not used in the D scale F G A B C D E C D E

46. Classical Music System • Lets look at the differences compared to the C scale • These notes are not used in the D scale. • These are new notes in our D scale. F G A B C D E C D E

47. Classical Music System • Lets look at the differences compared to the C scale • These notes are not used in the D scale. • These are new notes in our D scale. • These notes are reused in our D scale. F G A B C D E C D E

48. Classical Music System • Lets look at the differences compared to the C scale • These notes are not used in the D scale. • These are new notes in our D scale. • These notes are reused in our D scale. • The new notes are called F# and C# C# F G A B C D E F# C D E

49. Classical Music System Comparison: Key of C/Key of D Our old scale of C was the white notes C,D,E,F,G,A,B,C. Now our D scale is D,E,F#,G,A,B,C#,D. Now our 1, 4 and 5 chords are D,F#,A…G,B,D…and A,C#,E respectively. These chords have the same scale configurations as the C scale, just shifted to the right. 1 chord 4 chord 5 chord C# F G A B C D E F# C D E

50. Classical Music System • How does a Key change affect our playing on the keyboard. • For the Key of C, our scale is all of the white keys