Easy Play Method

I'm back to teaching piano lessons this new semester. I like many methods of teaching. One approach I've been using is from Carol Tornquist. More specifically, her easy play method is about:

1. Notation - eventually reading 4 octaves (including sharps, flats and ledger lines)
2. Theory - necessary for a full understanding of making music (emphasis on intervals, chords, keys, and harmony)
3. Melody - beginning on 3 black keys (L.H. and R.H.), then moving to C position (5 fingers) and other key groups.
4. Rhythm - beginning with a simple meter (2/4, 3/4, 4/4) and an introduction of a compound meter 6/8.
5. Chords - introduced I, V7, eventually using major, minor, diminished, augmented chords (block and broken)
6. Keys - use of all major and minor key signatures, the order of sharps and flats.
7. Accompaniment - Use harmonic intervals, then 3 note chords.
8. Creativity - writing melodies, "questions"/"answers", harmonies for melodies.
9. Transposition - encouraged to help students think in "keys"
10. Technique - ear training exercises.

By Level 1 and 2, my students know some music definitions. Here's just a few:

1. D.C. al Fine - To go back to the beginning and play until Fine.
2. Forte - Loud
3. Transpose - To play in a different key
4. Mezzo Piano - Medium Soft

Many boys and girls have learned some Italian words to describe TEMPO. For example:

1. Fast - Allegro
2. Medium Tempo - Moderato
3. Andante - Slow

Level 1 Fundamentals

Introducing Patriotic songs for Level 1 students helps them to hear the interval distance. For example in the Key of F when they play America the Beautiful, students hear the first melodic interval, which is a 6th, from Middle C up to A.

So, kids have learned that an Interval is a DISTANCE between one note and another and that there are two kinds on Intervals: Learn Intervals

• Melodic: 2nd (C to D), 3rd (C to E), 4th (C to F), and 5th (C to G)
• Harmonic 2nd (C and D together), 3rd (C and E together), 4th (C and F together), and (C and G together).
• An interval of a 7th is either: line to line (G to F) or space to space (F to E).

When students learn about half steps and whole steps, they start listening to tones. Many enjoy playing the Chromatic Scale at this time.

• Half Steps - A Half Step is the shortest melodic interval there is on the keyboard. In other words, it's the distance from one key to the next... black or white... up or down. For example G to F#, E to F. C to C#, and E to Eb.
• Whole Steps - A Whole step is a distance from one key to another, with just one key between them. For example G down to F, E to F#, C to D, and E down to D.

All ages on different levels like to practice scales, especially the C Major Scale. Every Major Scale has 8 notes grouped into a "pattern" of half steps and whole steps. Sliding your thumb under your 3rd finger on "F", play the C Major Scale from C to C (ascending). Then try it going down (descending) crossing your 3 rd finger over your thumb on E. One of the most well-known Christmas carols begins with the Major Scale descending, and that is "Joy to the World" by George F. Handel.

Many junior high students are writing their own songs using broken chords. In the Key of C, you  play 3 major chords:

C Major (I) = C-E-G
F Major (IV) = F-A-C
G Major (V) = G-B-D

Children and adults enjoy listening to seventh chords, hearing how they are alike or different. Many play 3 Dominant Seventh Chords in Level 1. History of Seventh Chords

G7 (C Major) - BFG
D7 (G Major) - F#CD
C7 (F Major) - EBbC

When a chord changes from one to another, it's called a Chord Progression. To help with more improv skills, one must learn left-hand patterns and chord inversions.

Remember that the I chord is also known as the Tonic. C root position = CEG
Also, the IV chord is called the Subdominant. (FAC)
And that the V chord is also known as the DOMINANT. (GBD)

Subdominant Chord Inversions

Root = FAC
1st = ACF
2nd = CFA
Root = FAC

Dominant Chord Inversions

Root = GBD
1st = BDG
2nd = DGB
Root = GBD

The Dominant Seventh chord is formed by adding the "7th" above the "root." (GBDF)
Since the Dominant Seventh chord has 4 notes in it, you may leave out 1 note and still have a triad:
BFG.

Hope this helps. Keep practicing... I know I will!

Blessings!

-- LadyD

 "The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you." B.B.King

Mailbox Monday: How Do I Modulate?

Virginia, I want to thank you for your note and for your request. Such a great question... "How do I modulate?" If your playing for your own enjoyment or for church, you'll definitely want to learn how to do it. I've blogged about it before and if you have the time, look at these posts: What if there isn't a transpose button? and How to transpose, modulate, and memorize.

My answer: Usually it's the V7 chord of the next key you want to go to that is the pivotal chord. You can hear how the sound sets it up. So, if you're playing along in the Key of D, you've landed on the V chord which is A, and you want to head over to the Key of E, then play B7 chord. Do you hear the change?



Modulation and the Pivot Chord
Most basic teaching on the process of modulation concentrates on the role of the pivot chord. A chord is chosen which is common to the two keys involved. The chord is ambiguous and takes on one function in the first key and is reinterpreted as a chord on a different degree of the scale in the new key. For the chord to be truly ambiguous then it should be neither the tonic nor dominant of either key. This process smoothes the flow from the first key to the second key. An outline of this would be as follows:

In this harmonic outline, the A minor chord is common to the keys: C major and G major and consequently can be used to smooth the transition form one key to the other. The A minor chord is moved to as chord VI in C major and quit as chord II in G major. This idea assumes that the mind perceives chords differently in relation to the keys preceding and following the chord. This is only an assumption. (Credit: http://www.harmony.org.uk/book/modulation_basics.htm)

While we're on the subject of transposition, I'd like to share Chapter 18 from Edly's Music Theory For Practical People - Third Edition. I sure hope the information helps many of you.

Transposition

What is transposition? It is simply changing the key of the melody, a chord progression, or even an entire song.

Why might one want to transpose? Common reasons include: to put a song within a certain singer's vocal range, or a certain instrument's best playing range, or to allow instrumentalists to play in a key with fewer accidentals, or for a transposing instrument to read from concert key sheet music. Lastly, transposition is used part way through a song in the form of modulation (changing key), to "freshen" the aural palette, and especially in pop music, to create a feeling of intensity.

Basic Transposition... Transposing Melodies

How does one transpose? The most basic way to transpose a melody is to use the chromatic scale, and move each note the same number of half-steps up or down. A common example of this is men and women singing the same melody together. Women's vocal ranges are naturally about an octave higher than those of men. Singing the same melody separated by an octave is the simplest transposition: octave transposition.

Some melodies fall into a range that men and women share. In this case, they can sing in unison. An example requiring a bit more thought on the part of the transposer is a melody which is a bit too slow for a female singer and a bit too high for the male singer to sing in unison. A solution for this is to transpose the melody up, for example, five half-steps for the woman, and down seven half-steps for the man.

One could use this method (of transposing using half-steps) to transpose any distance, but there is an easier way for anyone comfortable with intervals. This easier, quicker, way is to transpose by interval. If you know your intervals, transposing each chord or melody note up or down the appropriate interval is a breeze. Up five half-steps is a perfect fourth, and down seven half-steps is a perfect fifth. Why count half-steps when you can calculate by interval? So, both of these techniques yield the same result: the men and women will be singing in octaves in the key a fourth higher (or a fifth lower).

More Advanced Transposition... Transposing Chords

Chords can also be transposed. I'll show you an example... When transposing chords, change only the root of the chord! Do not change the chord type at all. If you were to change the chord type, you'd be reharmonizing (changing the harmony), not transposing. 

For example, take the chord progression Em, Eb, Abmaj7, G6, and transpose the roots up a minor third. You wind up with Gm, F#, Bmaj7, Bb6. Easy!

* There's lots more to the chapter but basically this last point is essential here. *

The quickest way to transpose is based on understanding keys well enough that you can think of (and ideally, hear) what you're playing, whether melodies or chords, in non-key-specific terms. This would mean that you are sufficiently aware of chords' (or notes') relationships to each other, that you see (and hear) the original key as just one of twelve possibilities. That is, instead of thinking of C, F, and G7, you think think of I, IV, V7 occurring. If you know your keys and scaled well enough, it is easy to think of I, IV and V7 in any of the twelve keys.

The more you transpose, the more it will come naturally to you!

You may want to check out Song Robot Software to help with modulation of songs.

Best,

"The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you." B.B.King

How To Transpose, Modulate and Memorize Music

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Have you ever tried to memorize a song? Have you ever experienced the frustration of finding that no matter how many times you played the melody, it still eluded you? One of the best ways to memorize involves transposition, or "moving" a melody from one key to the other. When you transpose, even though the notes change, the distance between them (the intervals) remain the same. First, let's look at one of the easier transpositions- up a half step- and next we'll use this as an aid in memorizing.

There are different ways to transpose. Following is one of the simplest involving cooperation between the eye and ear. This is what I share with my piano students:

1. Select a melody and get to know it by playing it a few times.
2. Then, to transpose it up a half step, play the melody while visualizing sharps being added to all the notes. For example, C would become C#. If a note already has a sharp, make it double sharp. Don't forget to change the accidentals in the key signature, too.

Let's try this out on a song, "I've Got The Whole World on a String". Work slowly- one phrase at a time- while listening to what you're playing, letting your ear sometimes take the lead.

Example: single right hand melody notes

C, F, A, D, C, Eb, D, C, B, F, B, A, G... becomes

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

I found this great article called Transposition and Modulation: How To Transpose To a Different Key & Modulate Between Keys by Duane Shinn.

http://www.artiiclesauce.com/Article?Transposition-and-Modulation--How-To-Transpose-To-a-Different-Key---Modulate-Between_Keys/24805


"How do transposition and modulation relate? Are they the same? Let's take a look at both of them and see what makes them tick.

I am sure that you have had the experience sometime in your piano-playing life when someone asks you to play a song -- but in a different key than in which it is written. It might be a singer wanting you to lower the song a step so he/she doesn't screech. It might be a song leader wanting you to play a song in a more comfortable keys for a congregation or group. It might be a trumpet player looking over your shoulder and wanting to play along with you -- but when he/she plays the same note you are playing, it sure doesn't sound the same!

So....it's your job, as pianist, to get that song moved to a different key. That's transposition -- playing or writing a song in a different key than in which it was originally written.

Modulation is similar but different -- modulation means the process of getting from the old key to the new key. In other words, if I'm playing in the key of C, and then want to play in the key of Eb, I have to learn to modulate -- move smoothly from one key to another without being too abrupt and jarring."



Duane goes on to say that:

"There are basically 3 ways to transpose:

1. by intervals

2. by scale degrees

3. by solfege -- the moveable "do" system.

But since solfege applies mostly to singers, we will ignore that possibility and just take up the first two:

1. Intervals: If the new key is an interval of a minor 3rd above the old key, then all notes in the song will also be an interval of a minor 3rd higher. In other words, if you are transposing from the key of C to the key of Eb, which is a minor 3rd higher (or major 6th lower -- whichever way you want to look at it), then all melody notes will also be a minor 3rd higher:

"G" in the key of C would become "Bb" in the key of Eb. "E" in the key of C would become ":G" in the new key of Eb. "A" would become "C", "B" would become "D", and so on. All chords would also move a minor 3rd higher. The "C chord" would become the "Eb chord", the "F chord" would become the "Ab chord", and so on.

2. Scale degrees: Each key you play in has it's own scale degrees. In the key of C the scale degrees are: C=1, D=2, E=3, F=4, G=5, A=6, B=7, C=8. In the key of Eb, however, Eb=1, F=2, G=3, Ab=4, Bb=5, C=6, D=7, Eb=8. So if I want to transpose Silent Night, for example, from the key of C to the key of Eb, I need to notice what scale degrees I am using in the key of C, and then use those same scale degrees in the key of Eb. For example, Silent Night starts on the 5th degree of the scale, goes up to the 6th, back to the 5th, then down to the 3rd. In the key of C that is: G-A-G-E. But in the key of Eb it is Bb-C-Bb-G. Why? Because the scale degrees 5-6-5-3 are constant -- we just need to apply them in each key. What about chords? Same idea. If the chord progression on Silent Night is the I chord followed by the V chord, followed by the I chord, followed by the IV chord, etc. -- then in the key of C that means C-G-C-F-etc., but in the key of Eb it means Eb-Bb-Eb-Ab-etc.

Modulation means getting between keys, so let's say you are playing in the key of C, but you want to get to the key of Eb smoothly, without jarring the nerves of the listeners. There are lots of ways to do it, but the main point is that you have to get to the V7 chord of the new key. So from the key of C to the key of Eb, that means getting to Bb7. How do we do that smoothly? We look for chords with common notes. Since the V of the V of the new key would be Fm7, we have C as a common note. So we hold the C in the C chord, and move the rest of the C chord to Fm7, then Bb7, then Eb, and presto -- we are there!"

Transposition means to play a song in a different key. Over the years of having the experience to play with various worship teams, I've learned that tenor worship leaders usually select songs in their voice range that they're comfortable singing in. So we would play lots of songs in the Key of E or G. Remember that modulation is the process of getting from key to key. So, when playing some of Israel Houghton's songs, as a team we would modulate several times in just that one song. It produces a very effective, professional sound.

Thanks for taking the time to read this music theory lesson. Learn to play one song in all twelve keys... have fun learning!

~ LadyD

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