Keys and Scales Made Easy

May 18
07:59

2011

Ben Dunnett

Ben Dunnett

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Getting to grips with keys and scales is very important when learning how to read sheet music. Follow these quick steps and you will soon be reading music easily.

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If you think of the particular process of understanding how to read music as comparable to that of learning a language then scales/keys could be equated to the dialects - the variances which can be discovered within a language.


Getting Started

A number of basic facts concerning keys: 

i) You will find 2 main different kinds of scale/key - Major and Minor (major sounds glad,Keys and Scales Made Easy Articles minor tends to be unhappy).

ii) You will find there's major and a minor scale for each note (including sharps as well as flats) - consequently you will discover 12 major plus 12 minor scales.

iii) Each individual scale has a unique amount of sharps and flats in it. 


Choosing A Key

Whenever a composer is composing a piece they will need to decide the following....

i) Which key (or scale) to write it in.

ii) If they should write it in major or minor (this will mainly vary depending upon which mood they're looking to bring about).

iii) Which note of the scale to create it on (individual notes possess distinctive sounds to them. e.g. B flat Major is definitely a very rich key, whilst F sharp Major is rather bright in tone). They are going to also really need to think about the range of the instrument they are writing for and also the complexity of the piece (keys making use of a larger number of sharps and flats are inclined to be more difficult to perform in). 


Related Keys

One factor which does help make the whole procedure of learning how to read sheet music much easier is the fact that every single Major scale has a Minor scale using the identical key signature - they are really like a brother and sister. They're termed the Relative Major plus the Relative Minor


Taking It Further

You might have recognized a potential problem.... If I was to write a piece of music in C sharp Major then I would be working with 7 sharps. This would indicate that I would be writing the "hash" sign throughout the page and consequently it would look really messy and very difficult to follow. This complication is overcome by using key signatures. A knowledge of key signatures is extremely important if you are going to learn how to read music swiftly and proficiently and continue on your journey as a musician.