CH 2- Major Scales and Key Signatures

Theoretical Skills

Tonality

• A key is a musical expression referring to the scale on which the composition is based

• Music written in a major or minor key is called tonal music

  • Practice of tonal music happened in Baroque period

  • Jean-Phillippe Rameau

• Tuning system called “equal temperament” divides octave into twelve equal half steps

Major Scales

• Pattern: WWHWWWH

• Scale is a series of pitches represented in stepwise arrangement

• The word major refers to particular eight note pattern of half and whole steps

• Transposing is moving the pattern to other starting pitches

  • All transposed major scales will beed one or more accidentials to make same pattern

• Diatonic means “in a scale”

  • A diatonic half step would be the distance from A to Bb

  • A to A# is a chromatic half step

***Do not mix sharps or flats together in a major scale

Key Signatures with Sharps

• Every time a scale is started five notes higher (from C), a sharp is added to the key signature

• We organize the names of scales by ascending intervals of a fifth

• Order of scale names for sharp keys: CGDAEBF#C#

• When counting half steps in an interval, do not count the first note

• Order of Sharps: FCGDAEB

***If you know the order of sharps and can name the scales up in intervals of a fifth, then you can easily learn to match all the major scales with their corresponding key signatures

Key Signatures with Flats

• We start at C major and go down a fifth for flat keys

  • ex. the interval of a fifth down from C is F

• Order of scale names for flat keys: CFBbEbAbDbGbCb

• Order of Flats: BEADGCF

• Circle of Fifths:     

  • As names of the scales goes up by fifths, the number of sharps in they key signature increases

  • As names of scales goes down by fifths, the number of flats in key signature increases

  • Represents both sharp and flat keys

Identifying Keys and Key Signatures

• For sharp keys, the name of the key is always one half step up from last sharp

• For flat keys, the name of the next to last flat is the name of the key

  • F major only has one flat (exception)

• To create key signature that contains sharps, add sharps in the correct order until just before the name of the key

• To create key signature with flats, add flats until you reach the name of the scale, then add one more

Aural Skills

Melody

• Solfege/ solmization is when syllables are assigned to notes to reflect their position in the pattern

Rhythm and Notation

• A dot placed beside a note adds half of the original number of beats to that note

• A tie connects the values of two notes into a single musical sound

  • If a curved line connects notes of a different pitch, it is not a tie

• Two staves of a grand staff make up a system of music

Dictation

• Contour is a way of describing the shape of a melody

• Motion of music is described in two ways

  • Conjunct: Stepwise movement

  • Disjunct: Movement that involves leaps