Piano Matters Archives

Piano Students Lord the Keyboard with One Music Ring to Bind Them All in Perfect 5ths

Piano students can become Lords of the Keyboard by learning to command the Circle of Perfect 5ths. A perfect 5th is an interval of 7 half-steps. A half-step on the piano keyboard is from one key to the very next key. The Circle of 5ths begins on C. Ascending up the keyboard from Middle C in 5ths we find Major Key Signatures from 0 to 6 Sharps. Descending down the keyboard from Middle C we locate Major Key Signatures from 0 to 7 Flats. It is a circle because the consecutive order of perfect 5ths repeats itself. Each of the 12 Major (and Minor Keys) are built on a note that is in the Circle of 5ths.

In any Major or Minor Key Signature there is one Tonic note, one Dominant note, one Subdominant note and their corresponding chords. We call these primary chords I, V, and IV.  The leading tone is the 7th degree (note) of each scale.

Take the simple melody, Deck the Halls, lots of kids enjoy playing this piece during the holidays, usually in the key of C. By the second year of piano many students are able to play in a number of hand positions and thus could probably transpose this melody to other keys such as F Major and G Major. But the fun part of this process, called musical transposition, is in creating a smooth transition from one key to the next without stopping the song and starting over.

Following the Circle of 5ths students can learn to quickly identify the Dominant note in each key and the Dominant Chord. By walking the melody to the Dominant note of the new key and then to its Leading Tone and then Tonic note, the melody quickly arrives in a new key that sounds like the same song, but in a new voice. This variation of the melody adds interest to compositions and gives students a fun and motivating reason to learn to play in new key signatures. The variation can return to the original key by walking the melody back down in the original key to return home and finish its Tonic note.

In this way piano students can scale the heights of Piano Land fighting evil and seeking goodness in every key around the Circle of 5ths, and always find their way back home again!

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Google Earth to Piano - Find the Music

Cynthia VanLandingham
President of
PianoBears.com

To unearth keyboard treasure and access musical potential, imagine a globe of the earth, or download the Googleearth program on your computer. Find the northern hemisphere, the southern hemisphere, and the equator. Now locate your city or town by typing your address in the find box and clicking on search. Watch as the view of the earth narrows as the locator flies across the globe to your home town, one location on the earth.

Now visualize the grand staff of the piano. There is a top staff for the high notes, a bottom staff for the low notes, and in between the two staves is some white space, where you will find a note with a short line through it - Middle C. This is the equator of Piano Land. Can you find the North Pole of Piano Land? Sure you can. It's the highest note on the piano keyboard. The South Pole is the lowest note on the piano. There are 8 C's on a full size, 88-key piano, but only one of these is Middle C. Just as your home town is one location on the globe, each line or space on the Grand Staff is one specific key on the piano. So you see, the Grand Staff is actually a map of the piano keyboard.

To unearth a great source of keyboard treasure, begin visualizing the keyboard while reading notes. Without this connection many students who can read notes fairly well still can't find them on the piano. That's why note reading books or notespellers can be ineffective. To overcome this learning gap students need to visualize the keyboard by keeping their eyes on the music, not always looking down at their hands, once they have the hand position. This simple, down-to-earth habit of keeping eyes on the music makes learning scales, chords, memorizing music, music theory, and note reading much easier. A keyboard in the imagination is a powerful tool. Piano students, you have a world of musical treasure waiting to be discovered - Google it, by keeping your eyes on the music!

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Piano Knowledge at Your Fingertips

Cynthia VanLandingham
President of
PianoBears.com

Beginning piano students can get stuck playing in one hand position where they feel secure, and get lost learning new music in another key. But learning a new hand position doesn’t have to be scary for students. The simple strategy outlined below will remove this road block and help beginners learn new hand positions with ease.

Piano music (the Grand Staff) is a map of the keyboard. Just as students learn to identify different regions of the globe in social studies they can also learn to find the different “regions” of the piano keyboard. Each line or space note on the Grand Staff is one location on the piano, similar to the way your hometown is one location on the globe. Each new hand position beginners learn in piano is another “region” on the Map of “Piano Land.”

Here are thee steps to visualizing the piano keyboard from the Grand Staff.

1. Draw a "piano picture" of the five-finger hand position of the new key. The key of F Major for example is F, G, A,B-flat,C. On a piece of paper draw three black keys, leave a space and draw 2 black keys, then fill in the white keys around the black keys for a total of 7 white keys and three black keys. Label F,G,A,B-flat,C.

2. With their eyes on the picture, not looking down at the hands, students play and say the keys under each finger. Start with the lowest note and going up and then starting with the highest note and coming back down. Do this for each hand.

3. Now play and say each note in the new hand position again, but with eyes completely closed.

Teaching students to read new notes on the staff without first learning to visualize the corresponding keys creates a learning roadblock. Follow the steps above to remove this roadblock to playing in different hand positions and your students or child in piano will learn to play new music with ease and enjoy piano more.

To learn the best way to share the gift of music with children visit Amazon.com with this link Piano Adventure Stories for Children My exciting Piano Adventure stores for children ages 5 to 11 feature the loveable characters, Mrs. Treble Beary and her passionate, new piano student, Albeart Littlebud. In these beautifully illustrted, inspirational stories children follow along with Albeart to Mrs. Treble Beary's piano studio in Musical Acres Forest. Here they learn what piano lessons are all about in a fun way that kids readily understand and appreciate! Piano students laugh and giggle while reading "Little Bear's Musical Garden" and "Little Bear's Piano Goals."

Don't Wait to Begin Piano Lessons

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