Lesson with starving artist.

The goal of this lesson is to familiarize starving artist. with the names of the notes in three clefs; treble, alto, and bass.

Before we start examining the staves, however, I'd like to look at the piano keyboard to see very visually where all of the notes in an octave lie. Forgive me if you know this well already, I just want to run through all of the basics to ensure that there's no confusion later on.

As you can see, note are named A - G and then repeat, but typically we begin with a C as the most basic scale of all white notes is C major (as shown, C D E F G A B). The only way of knowing which white key is which is knowing where they are in relation to a group of black keys.

The first part of becoming familiar with the keyboard is the white keys. For this entire lesson I encourage strongly referring back to the labeled keyboard, but try to do without. Remember that the keyboard pictured begins on a C and the notes run 'A - G' before repeating on A.

An important thing to note is that the smallest distance between two notes is called a 'half step'. This can be between one one of the white and black keys that are right next to each other, or even the notes E and F which are both white but are still only a half step apart.

Please do the following exercise:

In the subsequent images, you will see a keyboard with a certain white key highlighted. In your response to this thread, give an answer for each image labeling the highlighted key (just state the number of the image, i.e. 1, and the correct answer, A - G).

Then, for each, count the number of half steps (begin counting on the lowest C on the keyboard) to the given note. For example, if the given note were E, count up the number of smallest steps you can take until you reach E. In this case, it's 4 (see this diagram). To go to F would make the number of half steps 5, because only one more step can be taken between E and F (there's no black note inbetween).

1.

http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q136/smbf/keyboard1.jpg

2.

http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q136/smbf/keyboard2.jpg

3.

http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q136/smbf/keyboard3.jpg

4.

http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q136/smbf/keyboard4.jpg

Now part two of this lesson looks at the remaining untouched portion of the keyboard; the black keys! The black keys are always named in terms of one of the closest white keys. In order to label a black key, we must begin with a white key and change it somehow to move it one half step (smallest possible distance!) either up or down. To move a half step up is to make it "sharp" (marked by the # sign), and to move a half step down is to make it "flat" (marked by a lower-case b). These "accidentals" as they are called are easily remembered of you keep in mind that to flatten is to suppress, to lower, and that's what you do to a note when flatted. The first black note on the keyboard provided can be either C#, because you take C and make it the smallest possible distance higher, or Db, because you take D and make it the smallest possible distance lower. This causes weird occurrences like an E#, which (when you move the smallest distance up) turns out to be an F (as a vocab note, different names for the same note seen on the keyboard are known as enharmonics; C# and Db are enharmonics because they are in fact different names for what shows up on the keyboard as being the very same note).

To sum up, to find a black key take the closest white note above it and make it flat (like, "Bb" to get the black key right below B) or take the closest white key below it and make it sharp (like, "A#" to get the black key right above A; A# is an enharmonic of Bb).

In the following four exercises, take the information about accidentals provided and provide two appropriate labels for the following notes (one sharp, one flat) as well as following the same process of counting half steps on the keyboard from the lowest C to the given note.

1.

http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q136/smbf/keyboardB1.jpg

2.

http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q136/smbf/keyboardB2.jpg

3.

http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q136/smbf/keyboardB3.jpg

4.

http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q136/smbf/keyboardB4.jpg

Take your time to read the lesson thoroughly and be sure you're clear on whatever you're working on in the exercises. If you have any doubts, go back and check the information provided again until you're sure of the process.

1st exercise..

1. F 5 half steps

2. D 2 half steps

3. G 7 half steps

4. B 11 half steps

2nd exercise..

1. D# OR Eb 3 half steps

2. A# OR Bb 10 half steps

3. F# OR Gb 6 half steps

4. C# OR Db 1 half steps

This was a tad confusing cuz im not familiar with the piano or keyboard and how they work..but i seemed to have gotten it.

All correct, very well done! The reason I'm beginning with this is mostly to create an understanding between the keyboard, which is the literal pitch interpretation, and the notes as they appear on a staff. Though the distance between a B and a C, and a C and a D, appear the same on the staff the actual distance between the pitches (as demonstrated by the keyboard) is actually different; a half step versus two half steps.

New lesson coming up tomorrow, I'm a tad exhausted right now. :P

Will do. I'm quite tired myself at the moment but i also will not be home at all today. I'll check back on Sunday.

Alrighty, our next step is to look at the treble clef (pictured in the first post). The treble clef is known as a 'G-clef' because the point at which the spiral more or less ends (on the second-to-last line of the 5 line staff) is the note G. When determining notes in treble clef, that G is a good point of reference.

The lines of a staff in treble clef are (from bottom to top) the notes E G B D F, while the spaces are F A C E. The lines can be remembered with the help of the mnemonic (a tool that helps us memorize information) "every good boy does fine"; there are lots of variations on this (every good boy deserves fudge, for example). For spaces, F A C E is fairly obvious. Remember that this is always bottom-to-top.

When a note is written with a "b" to it's left, that indicates that the note is to be played flat (a half step lower), and when a "#" is written, it is to be played sharp (a half step higher).

Exercise:

In both exercises, just write out the notes as written on the staff (i.e., if you see an A with a # to its left, simply write A#). The exercises are formatted slightly differently; the first is isolated notes while the second has two very short coherent melodies.

1.

2.

Exercise 1...

G...Cb...F...Bb...Ab...F#...D...B...E...E#...Gb...A...C#...E#

Exercise 2...

A..B..C..D..E..E..F#..G#..A..B..C..A..B..E...A

C..B..C..E..A..G..A..C...F..G..A..F..G..F..E..D..C

This seems to really be starting to help me!

It'll just take a little time to completely memorize along with the other clefs.

All correct, well done! I'm very glad to hear that this is helping, the more practice, the easier it becomes. To take a moment to review what's coming up (don't worry if any of this seems iffy because when the lesson arrives I'll try and explain everything in full detail), I'll go over alto clef right now, next is bass clef, then a cumulative review of the clefs, then ledger lines, and then middle C and the relative positions of clefs. After that I'll try and dig into scales a little (which will tie back into the keyboard from the first lesson).

So now we're onto alto clef, the clef used by and large for viola parts. This clef is known as a 'C-clef' because the point at which the clef converges in the center (middle line of the staff) is the note C. The lines, bottom to top, are the notes F A C E G. The spaces are G B D F. There really aren't any widely known mnemonics for these, but you can call the spaces "good boys do fine" and the lines "fat apes can eat greens" or something.

Here are two exercises, same as in the last lesson:

1.

2.

That sounds great! I shall be ready for school before the summers over. I cant thank you enough.

Exercise 1

C..F#..B..Fb..G..Eb..C#..D#..A..Gb..B#..Gb..Bb..D

Exercise 2

D..E..F..D..C#..D..Bb..A..G.

F..C..A..D..C..D..E..C..C#..A..D..Bb..C..E..F

Now I'm sorta confused with the second line of example 2.

The natural sign throws me off

What does it mean?

oh & what are ledger lines?

Oh wow I totally forgot to explain the natural sign, sorry! That just negates any previous accidental in the measure (or in the key signature, but that comes in a later lesson). If a note is written as an accidental, that accidental applies to every subsequent appearance of that specific note in a single measure (between barlines). For example, if that natural sign had not been on that C in the second measure, the C would have been a C#. Every time you reach a barline, though, the barline resets all accidentals, so if we wrote another measure with a C it would be a plain old C as usual. So, within a measure, if a note already has an accidental attached, in order to dictate that the note not be raised or lowered we add the 'natural' sigh, which as aptly named, makes the note natural, unchanged.

Ledger lines will be explained once we finish with bass clef and some cumulative review, so no worries, all in good time. :( Bass clef lesson coming up tomorrow.

ohhh I see!

Moving right along let's take a look at our last clef in this lesson, the bass clef. As a violinist/violist you'll never encounter this clef unless you take up the piano or a lower string but this clef and the treble clef are the most common so it's a general advantage to know both (in addition to alto clef as a violist).

For bass clef, the lines are G B D F A and the spaces A C E G. Examples of mnemonics for these are "good boys do fine always" (there's something about clefs and good boys) and "all cows eat grass".

And without further ado, the exercises!

1.

2.

Exercise 1..

F..A#..Db..G..Fb..B..Gb..E..G#..D#..F..Ab..C..B#

Exercise 2..

G..F#..E..D..G..B..C..A..E..D..C..B..C..D

E..G..B..D#..E..C..B..A..G..B..G..F#..E..B..E

are they correct?

All correct, now we move right along to the next lesson. First of all I'll explain ledger lines; often the five lines of the staff are not sufficient enough to hold a melodic line. When we go past the last line of the staff on either side, ledger lines act as an 'extension line' for their note alone. To find out what a note on a ledger line (or on ledger lines, as they may extend indefinitely) is we have to count up or down, as pictured.

That's all there is to ledger lines. They will help us now, however, as we figure out why these different clefs exist. If you imagine for a second a large piano keyboard, each of these clefs only covers a certain distance and they are named as appropriate (treble- high range, alto- midrange, bass- low range). All of these clefs can be found oriented around the note middle C, which is the centermost (located closest to the center) key on the piano.

We should take a second to remember details of the three clefs we've covered; the treble clef can be identified by the spiral around the G, the alto clef can be identified by the lines converging at the central line of the staff, and the bass clef is identified because of the spiral around F. The question is, where do these three notes (F, C, G) lie relative to eachother? The answer is this; alto clef is the easiest because the "C" at the center is actually middle C itself. To find the "G" of the treble-clef sign, we go up to the closest G which is up seven half steps (we worked on half steps at the beginning of this lesson). To find the "F" of the bass-clef sign, we go down to the closest F which is down seven half steps. Even easier than explaining this is seeing it; in the following image, middle C is shown on all three clefs. Notice that it is at the center of alto clef, but one ledger line down from treble clef and one ledger line up from bass clef.

When a line is climbing very high or very low in a clef, it is often easier to change clef than to continue adding ledger lines, which can be difficult to read, as illustrated in the following image.

The melody is exactly the same in both examples but it is easier to read the high notes in the second one because of the clef change.

With very little time to prepare more materials, for practice I recommend using this trainer by a guy named Ricci Adams. In the settings you can choose which clefs to practice on (try all but tenor) as well as dragging the range limits of the clefs around. Five minutes of practice of this a day and you'll be well versed in the notes of these three clefs.

If I have time during the next six weeks I'll try and make up lessons on scales and key signatures; if that's not possible, I'll have to resume this lesson on August 11th.

Okay

so I know about ledger lines

I just didn't know what they were called.

I've played a peice or two that have more than one clef used in them

so i'm basically familiar with them as well.

My music teacher says i HAVE to know all the names of the notes right away so this will certainly help.

Okay

thanks again,

if you cant get around to anything..don't worry about it. =]