Tonal music, the common practice period and music theory.

Tonal music, the common practice period and music theory.

Music written during the period from around 1600-1900 A.D. (Anno Domini from the latin meaning in the year of our Lord) is generally considered to be "tonal" music because it is based on the common practice principles of the well-tempered major, melodic minor and harmonic minor scales and the harmonic system (chords) built on those scale tones. This time period included the baroque, classical and romantic periods of music history as well as the beginning of the post-romantic and impressionistic movements that would lead into musical modernism. Tonal music is still being written today. Most music that is pleasing to listen to is tonal. The opposite of tonal is atonal or without tonality. Actually, atonal music has a tonality but it's a tonality different from that of the common practice period. What follows is generally taught over a two-year period in college music departments as freshman and sophomore music theory and ear training classes. It doesn't take two years to learn the basics of music. And it doesn't matter if you are a singer, want to sing, what instrument you play or want to play - the basic building blocks of music are the same for everyone.

Many people believe mistakenly that the piano or keyboard is the most difficult instrument to play. Actually, it is the easiest, next to singing. When you sing, you are the instrument and you just have to hear the correct pitch or note in tune and sing it by breathing out the notes and breathing in at the breaks or pauses. Most people can sing, even if just a little bit. It's not necessarily easy to be a good singer - that has a lot to do with natural talent and how hard one works at it. The same is true of playing an instrument.

The piano keyboard is probably the easiest way to learn to play the notes because they are laid out in order and are easy to see. The keys are white and black. There are 88 keys on most pianos. There are 52 white keys and 36 black keys. But don't get scared or confused because there are only 12 different notes - 7 white notes and 5 black notes. This means that there are only 12 different notes or tones that can be used to make up many different kinds of scales or chords. (A scale is a pattern of notes played like a melody - one note at a time. A chord is a combination of 3 or more notes played at the same time.) 8 notes are repeated 8 times up or down the keyboard. 4 notes are repeated 7 times up or down the keyboard. Notes sound higher or lower because of where they are located on the keyboard. Play any key - if you play a key to the right of it, the note will sound higher. If you play a key to the left of it, it will sound lower. So, as you play notes moving to the right or up the keyboard, they will sound higher. As you play notes moving to the left or down the keyboard, they will sound lower.

If you read a page or listen to music at this web site, you have gained something. For many years all the time and work to build this site has been given away for free. Please give something back - keep free music online and support the teachers, composers, arrangers and performers who make music online.

All black keys are shorter than the white keys around them and they fit in the spaces notched and cut away from the white keys. The black keys are all thin and about 2/3 as long as the white keys.
There are 36 black keys but only 5 different black notes. When you look at a piano, you see all the notes up and down the keyboard. The only choices you have to make are which notes to play and with what fingers. There is no set fingering for the piano. Players usually use the closest finger over the note or whichever finger(s) make it easiest to play the notes that precede and follow. Let's take a brief look at all the other instruments and what you have to do to play them. If you play or want to play a guitar or any other stringed instrument (mandolin, banjo, violin, viola, cello, string or double bass, lute, harp, etc.,) you have to know which note you want to play, if the note is playable on an open string or what fingering is required to play that particular note. There are two families of wind instruments - the woodwinds and the brass. If you play or want to play a woodwind instrument (piccolo, flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, English horn, saxophone) you have to learn how to shape your lips to blow air into the instrument or make the reed vibrate so that you get a good tone. Then you have to learn if a note is played open or with what fingering. The brass instruments include the trumpet or cornet, the trombone, the French horn, the euphonium or baritone and the tuba. If you want to play any of these instruments, again, you have to learn how to breathe into them properly to get the right buzz on the mouthpiece so that you produce a good tone. The way in which a player shapes their mouth to the mouthpiece of a brass or wind instrument is called an embouchure. Then you have to learn if the note is played open or with what fingering or, in the case of the trombone, what position the slide is in. Most percussion instruments and drums are played by beating, striking, stroking or tapping on them in rhythmic ways. Unless you are playing them wihout music, you have to learn to read the different shapes of noteheads that represent different instruments or drums and how to read the symbols that tell you exactly how to play them. With the piano, you just look at the note you want to play and press the key. As long as the instrument is in tune, it will always sound the same no matter which finger you play it with. You can make it louder or softer by touching the key harder or softer. You can get different kinds of expression by touching the notes in different ways. But, the basics are very simple. And, with a piano or keyboard, you can see and hear enough of the entire range of every other voice and instrument, that the piano is the ideal instrument for learning the basics about music and for writing (arranging and composing) music for any instrument.

If you will work through the early, more technical instruction, you will shortly reach a point where you begin to play music by ear and even read sheet music. Along the way, you will learn to play all styles of music. There are some lessons in all the popular styles including country, blues, jazz, rock and pop. But, first you must learn the building blocks of music. These musical materials, from which all music comes, were developed and codified during the common practice period in a form that would shape all the music that followed. All along the way, you are encouraged to listen to the music you like and try to play it at a piano or any other instrument that you are learning to play. You can do this by simply hunting until you find the right notes. Have you every noticed that there are many people who can sing the melodies of songs they like but they don't play an instrument. When you learn to hear the notes in terms of scales, intervals and chords, the you can play anything that you hear. The more often that you try to play a melody and the chords that accompany it, the more skilled you will become and it will become easier.

Sit down at a piano or an electronic keyboard. Before you begin, remember that there are 88 keys on most pianos, but only 12 different notes. Learning to play simple songs on a piano or learning about the building blocks of music is not difficult if you start out with the basics.
If you know where middle C is, you can skip to the next paragraph. If you are at a piano, using the white keys only, count up 24 keys from the key farthest to the left - the lowest key on the keyboard. Or count down 29 keys from the highest key on the keyboard - the key farthest to the right. If you want to count using both the white and black keys, count up 40 keys from the lowest white key or 49 keys down from the highest white key. That key is middle C - it is a white key with a wide base that is notched on the right side and the wood is cut away towards the thinner top of the key. It also looks like the letter L with a large base. The key was cut from a block of rectangular wood that was notched and cut away to make room for the black key to the right of it. All of the white keys on the piano are notched and trimmed in different ways to make room for the black keys between them. They all have a wider base or bottom part so that there is plenty of room for your fingers when you are playing them. For now, we will be looking at and playing the white keys. Middle C is called that because it is near the middle of the keyboard - sometimes the brand label on the piano is above it. If you are sitting with an electronic keyboard, they often have less keys than a piano. So, middle C will have to be found another way. Try this. Near the center of the keyboard, there are two white keys with the same shape - like the letter L with a notch on the right side. Both of these keys have a white key next to them on the left and a black key next to them on the right. Between both of those white keys are two more white keys and two black keys. The two keys that match this pattern are middle C and the F to the right of middle C.

Play the key middle C and hear what it sounds like. Look at the keyboard. The white key to the right of middle C is D. The next white key is E. You may have already guessed that the next white key is F, followed by the white keys called G, A and B. The next white key above B is another C. Compare how it looks with middle C and you will find that it looks the same. All of the white C's on the keyboard look the same - they have the same shape.

The piano keyboard is divided into what are called octaves. An octave is all the white and black keys from one C to the next C. There are 7 different white keys in the octave - C-D-E-F-G-A-B. Then we come back to another C. You can make it easier if you think of the dashes between the notes as the words up to. That would be C up to D up to E up to F up to G up to A up to B. This is what the notes look like on the staff. A staff is simply a group of five lines on which the notes are drawn or written. We can also write notes below and above the staff by using ledger lines. Ledger lines are short dashes on which notes are written. Look at the photo of the staff. The first note - the note C, below the staff - is written on a ledger line. Notes are written on lines and in the spaces between them. The symbol or sign at the far left of the staff is a G clef - commonly called a treble clef sign. Notice that near the bottom of the staff, the sign curves around the second line of the staff. This tells you that the second line of the staff is where you will write the note G - that is why the sign is called a G clef sign. All the notes of the scale go up and down the alphabet using the letters from A-B-C-D-E-F-G. We can start on any letter using only the same 7 letters. That means that if you start on A, when you reach G you start over with A again, A-B-C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C-D-E-F-G-A, and so on. The scale on C starts with C. For now, we will be playing up the scale, from left to right on the keyboard. When we build an interval or a chord, it will be from the bottom note up or from left to right. If you count the keys, middle C is 1, D is 2, E is 3, F is 4, G is 5, A is 6, B is 7 and the next note, another C, is 8. Eight notes is called an octave because a latin word octava means eight or eighth. To play an octave you play middle C and the C above it at the same time. Try pressing down middle C and the C above it at the same time. Now play middle C and the C below it at the same time. You have just played the interval of an octave.

An interval is the space between two notes on the keyboard. Not only the counted space, 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8, in the interval of an octave, but the space of how the notes sound when they are played together - more about that later. Let's get back to looking at the keys.

The only other key that looks the same as a white C is a white F. Both C and F are shaped the same way and both have a white key next to them on the left side (below them.) All the white F keys look the same. Count from middle C to the white F above it (to the right.) C is 1, D is 2, E is 3 and F is 4. From C to F is 4. C and F are a fourth apart. From C to F is called the interval of a fourth.

Look at middle C again. The white key to the right of middle C is D. Count from C to D - C is 1 and D is 2. D is the second white key in the octave. C and D are a second apart. From C to D is called the interval of a second.

An interval is the difference in pitch between two musical notes or sounds. Each note played on the piano keyboard has its own unique sound or pitch. Pitch is simply the quality of the sound of a note. The sound quality is created by the vibrations of the piano strings when the note is played. The same is true of vibrating guitar strings, the strings of any stringed instrument or the vibrating column of air created when wind players blow into their instruments.

Look at the white note D again. It has a thin top, about 2/3 of the length, and the base of the key is wider. D has a wide base at the bottom and the key is notched on both sides and cut away towards the top. The upper, thin part is almost in the center of the lower, thicker part of the key. But, if you look closely, you will see that the notch on the left is deeper or longer than the notch on the right. All of the D keys on the keyboard look the same.

The next white key to the right of D is E - all the white E keys on the keyboard look the same. They look like the letter J with a thick base. The white E keys are notched on the left above the wide base and the upper part of the key is thinner - just like the other white keys. White E keys look like a reflection of a white C key. That means that a white C key looks like an L and is notched on the right - a white E key is notched on the left and looks like a J. The mirror image is |_ _|. The typed symbols are not an exact mirror image but if you look at the keys you will see it. There is another mirror image between the white C and the white E keys. The white C keys have another white key below them (on the left) and the white E keys have another white key above them (on the right.) What is the interval between the white D and white E keys? That's right - a second or a 2nd! This is because D and E are adjacent white keys - that means they are white keys that are next to each other. All white keys that are next to each other, even if they have a black key in-between them, are the interval of a 2nd apart.

The next white key - the one above the E - is F. You already read about a white F - it is the interval of a fourth or a 4th above a white C. The white F keys are shaped like the C keys with the notch on the right side above the larger area of the key that is played.

G is the next white key. It is the mirror image of the D key. The notch on the right of the white G key is a little deeper than the notch on the left. G is the interval of a fourth or a 4th above, or to the right of, the D key. D is 1, E is 2, F is 3, G is 4 or D-E-F-G.

A is the next white key and - you guessed it - it is a second above G. The white A key is unique. It does not match or mirror the shape of any of the other white keys. The white key that it looks the most like is D. But the white A key has a deeper or longer notch on the left and a shorter or shallower notch on the right than the white D key. From white D to white A, is the interval of a fifth or 5th. D-E-F-G-A or D is 1, E is 2, F is 3, G is 4 and A is 5.

B is the next white key. It looks the most like the white E key, a 5th below it (E-F-G-A-B.) But, the notch on the left of the white B key is just a little shallower than the one on the white E key. Both the white E and white B keys have a slightly thinner base than the rest of the white keys. This helps the player to have a keyboard that is not any wider than it has to be. Another thing that the white E and the white B keys share is that each of them has another white key on the right or above them. There is no black key in between the white E and the white F keys and there is no black key between the white B key and the white C key. In between every other white key - C-D,F-G,G-A - there is one black key. The white B key is not an exact mirror image of the white F key, but close. The white B key has a notch on the left that is shorter or shallower than the notch on the right side of the white F key.

Why is so much attention given to the shape of the keys? The keys are cut and shaped so that all the white and black keys will fit together without rubbing against each other. They are shaped so that they can be easily played. If you look closely, you may notice that the highest and lowest keys on the keyboard appear to be just a little bit smaller. If that is the case with your piano or keyboard, it is so because the player has to reach farther to play those keys. Being a little smaller makes them easier to reach. Over time, a piano or keyboard player gets used to the distance between the keys. If the keys were different sizes from octave to octave, the patterns of size and distance between the keys would be harder to memorize or get a feel for.

If you read a page or listen to music at this web site, you have gained something. For many years all the time and work to build this site has been given away for free. Please give something back - keep free music online and support the teachers, composers, arrangers and performers who make music online.

There are 52 white keys on the average piano but only 7 different white notes. Those seven notes are repeated at higher or lower pitches in higher or lower octaves. Take some time now to review and practice what has been taught so far. It will help you later.

Well, that was quite a detailed description of the white keys! It will help you as you learn to play because you know more about the instrument that you are playing. Even if you are not learning to play the piano, you have learned a great deal about the theory of music already. You have learned a lot about intervals, notes and pitch. The piano or an electronic keyboard is the easiest and, for many, the best instrument for learning about the building blocks of music. You can learn how to read, write, arrange and compose music if you learn the layout of the keys and the notes that sound when you play them.

The process of learning should get easier from here because you now have many of the basics. Later, we will learn about the black keys, more about intervals and the musical scales. For now, let's learn a little about the instrument. Sit down at a piano or an electronic keyboard. The word piano is the Italian word for soft - like a soft or quiet sound. The piano used to be called a pianoforte because piano means soft and forte means loud. Pianoforte meant that the instrument could be played softly or loudly depending on how the keys were touched, struck or played. Choose any note and touch it very softly and then then strike it just a little harder. Notice how much louder the tone is when you push the key with more force. Some electronic keyboards are touch-sensitive, which means that they too can be played softer or louder depending on how easy or hard the keys are played or how far they are pushed down.

The piano keyboard is simply the layout of the keys that are played - the notes of the musical scales.

The piano keyboard is probably the easiest way to learn the notes of the scale because they are laid out in order and are easy to see. The keys are white and black. There are 88 keys on most pianos. There are 52 white keys and 36 black keys. But don't get scared or confused because there are only 12 different notes - 7 white notes and 5 black notes. This means that there are only 12 different notes or tones that can be used to make up many different kinds of scales or chords. 8 notes are repeated 8 times up or down the keyboard. 4 notes are repeated 7 times up or down the keyboard. Notes sound higher or lower because of where they are located on the keyboard. Play any key - if you play a key to the right of it, the note will sound higher. If you play a key to the left of it, it will sound lower. So, as you play notes moving to the right or up the keyboard, they will sound higher. As you play notes moving to the left or down the keyboard, they will sound lower.

All black keys are shorter than the white keys around them and they fit in the spaces notched and cut away from the white keys. The black keys are all thin and about 2/3 as long as the white keys.
There are 36 black keys but only 5 different black notes. Each of those five black notes can be called either a sharp (#) or a flat (b) note. Don't be confused by the words key or note. They are often used to mean the same thing. The piece of wood that you push to make a sound is called a key and it is sometimes also called a note by piano players. When we are talking about musical intervals and scales, the word note is used so that it is not confused with the piece of wood that the key is made of. A group of notes in a particular order is also called a key. That note order or pattern is called a scale. Musical intervals and scales are made up of notes and a scale is named by the key of a particular pattern of notes - such as the key of C. Please don't get confused and give up. Allow yourself time to get used to the words or terms and it will all make sense.

Since both words or terms are used, they will both be used here so that it will be easier to understand. A black key is sharp (#) if the black key is called by the name of the white key below it - the key next to it on the left. Here it is again using the other word. A black note is sharp (#) if the black note is called by the name of the white note below it - the note next to it on the left. The symbol # - the number sign or pound sign - is used in music to indicate a note that is sharp or a sharped note. Here's an example. Find middle C again. The black key or note to the right and just above middle C is called C sharp or C#. Why? Because the black key or note is being called by the name of the white key or note below it.

That same black key or note is flat (b) it if is called by the name of the white key or note above it or to the right of it. For example, the black key or note below or to the left of D is called Db. The symbol b or a lower-case B is used in music to indicate a note that is flat or is a flatted note.

C-sharp or C# and D-flat or Db are the same keys, the same notes and they sound the same if you are playing the same note. That is, they have the same pitch. The reason for the different names is so that music can be written in different keys. The naming differences are for players who read music or chord symbols and need to know what key they are playing in or what chords they are playing. The whole purpose of naming notes is so that players, arrangers and composers can communicate with each other and play together or read each other's written music. Again, in the key of C-sharp or C#, the black key or note above the white C below it would be called C-sharp or C#. In the key of D-flat or Db, the black key or note below the white D above it would be called D-flat or Db. C-sharp or C# is called a sharp key because the black notes in the home key of C-sharp or C# will all be played as sharped notes and notated or written in the scale of the key as sharps.

The key of C has no sharps or flats. The key of C is a major key. The scale of the key of C major is made up of all white notes [C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C.] All other major keys and the scale of that major key will contain at least one flat or sharp. The notes in a major scale fit a pattern common to all major keys. That means that a major scale built on any of the 12 starting notes - C, C# or Db, D, D# or Eb, E, F, F# or Gb, G, G# or Ab, A, A# or Bb, B - will have the same pattern of notes. Although the scales will have different tone colors due to the presence or absence of flatted or sharped notes, the essential scales will have the same pitch relationships - meaning that they will sound similar. The reason for choosing one key over another is the spiritual elevation and emotional mood imparted to the listener by that particular arrangement of tones. That is part of the reason for the subtitle of common practice period being given to the period of tonal music. Tonal music is music that is based on scales made up of notes that have a clearly defined relationship to one another. Chords are built on each tone or note of the scale and those chords also have predictable relationships with each other through the music. Tonal music is music that is generally pleasing to the ear. Most music is tonal and is based on clearly defined scales, chords, rhythm and meter patterns or time signatures. Music is divided into measures. The meter of the music is the number of beats to each measure. The type of note chosen to notate or represent the meter determines the time signature. If a quarter note is chosen as the beat note for the meter, 4 quarter notes in each measure is 4/4 time or common time. Three quarter notes in each measure is 3/4 time - sometimes called waltz time.

A chord with a letter name - C chord - means a C major chord. A major chord can also be called a major triad because it's a chord built on thirds. What is a third? The distance from C to E is a third. If you add another third, you get the major chord or major triad spelled C-E-G. When we are in the key of C major, C is the first note of the scale and also the root note of the C major triad. Root is a word that makes you think of a plant or tree growing out of the ground attached to the root. You can think of the chord as growing or building above the root. Any note can serve as the root of a chord built on that note. A major chord built on C is built on notes 1, 3 and 5 of the scale [C-E-G.] So, a major chord built on C is C-E-G. Play middle C or any C on the keyboard and play the E and G above or to the right of it. You've played a C major or a C chord! Any time you see a chord called by the name of a note only - no matter which note - the chord is a major chord. This note pattern is called a major chord or a major triad - a chord built on the first note of the major scale - in this case C - with the 3rd and 5th notes or musical tones above it.

If we build a triad chord on each note of the C major scale, we begin to see and hear that chords sound either the same or different depending on the notes in them. Here's the C major scale - [C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C.] Let's number that scale and leave off the last C because the scale started with C - [C=1,D=2,E=3,F=4,G=5,A=6,B=7.] Let's build the C major scale tone chords or triads - three note chords made by building two thirds on top of the root. Remember that C-E-G is the major chord or major triad built on C - which is the root of the chord. C is also note 1 of the scale, so C-E-G is the chord built with notes 1-3-5. D is 2, so if we build a triad on D following the same pattern, we will use notes 2-4-6, D-F-A. E is 3, so build the triad 3-5-7 or E-G-B. F is 4 and the triad built on the root note F is F-A-C or 4-6-1. Notice that when we reach note 7, B, the next note is C again. We will always number C as 1 in the scale of C major. So, we are just using the same numbers to build all our chord. G is note 5 in the scale and we build a triad chord on G-B-D or notes 5-7-2 since D is 2. A is 6 so A-C-E is 6-1-3. And note 7 is B so we build a triad on B by using notes 7-2-4 or B-D-F. You don't have to remember all the numbers, just look at the keyboard and play all the triads in the C major scale. When you play, just keep going up the piano and using the notes on top instead of turning back and using the notes you've already played. (1) C-E-G, (2) D-F-A, (3) E-G-B, (4) F-A-C, (5) G-B-D, (6) A-C-E, (7) B-D-F.

A triad is built on a root and there are two thirds above it. An easy way to think of a third is to play a note and hold it, skip a note then play the next one and hold it. Then play the 1st and 3rd notes together at the same time. Or, play the first note, skip the second note and play the third one. It's more important that you play the notes and hear what they sound like. All these words are meant to get you to start playing and listening then you don't need all the words to explain it anymore.

You probably heard that some of the triad chords sounded alike and some sounded different. This is because the scale tone chords have either the same or different qualities. In the major scale, there are 3 different qualities of chords - major, minor and diminished. The triad chords built on C, F and G are major. They are major because they are built on a root note with the note a major third above it and then the note a minor third above the middle note. Another way of describing a major triad is a chord built on any root note with a major third above the root and a perfect fifth above the root. Now, we need a review along with some new terms. From C to E is the interval of a major 3rd. Why? Because there are four half-steps or two whole step between the two notes of a major 3rd. Between C and E there are 2 whole steps. Anywhere on the keyboard when you play two notes with 4 half-steps or 2 whole steps between them, you are playing a major third. The top two notes of our major triad built on C are E and G. From C to E is a major third and from E to G is a minor third. Why? A minor third is the interval of 3 half-steps. From E to G is 3 half-steps. Remember, that another way of playing a major triad is to built a major third and a perfect fifth on top of a root note. If C is the root, E is the major third and G is the perfect fifth above C. Why? The interval of a perfect fifth is 7 half-steps. There are seven half-steps between C and G.
The chords built on F and G are also major chords. Check the intervallic structure - that is a complicated way of saying look at the distance between the notes. F to A is a major third and A to C is a minor third. Also, F to C is a perfect fifth. G to B is a major third and G to D is a perfect fifth. The distance between B and D is a minor third.

The triads built on D, E and A in the C major scale are minor triads. A minor triad is a chord built on a root with a minor third above it and a major third above the minor third. You can also say that a minor triad is a 3-note chord built on a root with a minor third and a perfect fifth above the root. Notice that a major triad has a root with a major 3rd above it then a minor 3rd above that. A minor triad has a minor third above the root and then comes the major third. So, the order is reversed. Major triad = root + M3 + m3. Minor triad - root + m3 + M3. What are the letter symbols you just read? The capital M stands for major and the lower case m stands for minor. M3=major third and m3=minor third. You can abbreviate perfect fifth by writing P5. So how do you spell or play a major triad? Root + M3 + m3 or root, M3, P5. Let's see if the chords match the pattern. [D-F-A] D to F is a minor 3rd (3 half-steps) and F to A is a major 3rd (4 half-steps or 2 whole steps.) Also, D to A is a perfect fifth (7 half-steps.) E-G-B, from E to G is a minor third, from G to B is a major third and from E to B is a perfect fifth. And in A-C-E, A to C is 3 half-steps (m3) and from C to E is 2 whole steps (M3.)
There is only one diminished chord in a major scale and it is always built on the 7th scale tone. In the key of C, B is the seventh scale tone. The triad built on B is B-D-F. From B-D is a m3 (3 half-steps.) From D to F is another minor third. So, a diminished triad is a 3 note chord built on a root with 2 minor thirds above it. You can build a major, minor or diminished triad on any note as long as you follow the patterns correctly. All major triads will be spelled with a M3 and a P5 above the root. All minor triads will be built with a m3 and a perfect fifth above the root. All diminished triads will be built with two minor thirds above the root note. The diminished triad also has a fifth between the root and the top note - but not a perfect fifth. The diminished triad has a root with a minor third and a diminished fifth above it. What is the difference between a perfect fifth and a diminished fifth? Besides the way it sounds, a perfect fifth has 7 half-steps between the notes. A diminished fifth has 6 half-steps or 3 whole steps between the notes. So, between B and F there are 3 whole steps - from B to F is a diminished fifth. It's also called a tritone. A diminished fifth has a somewhat sinister and tense sound that is often heard in action and horror movie music. In olden days, the interval of the diminished fifth and the augmented fourth, which is the inversion of the diminished fifth, was called the devil in music.

An inversion happens when you turn an interval upside down. For example, the diminished fifth from B to F can be inverted by playing from the F below up to the B above it. From F-B is a fourth (F-G-A-B or 1-2-3-4.) From F to B natural is an augmented fourth. When a note is called a natural, that means it's not sharp or flat. A perfect fourth is the distance between F and Bb (5 half-steps) and sounds less harsh than the tritone between F and B natural (6 half-steps or 3 whole steps.)

Now would be a good time to fully learn all about intervals so that we can go beyond that to the building of all different types of chords. The only thing complicated about this is that there are multiple names for the same interval. You don't have to memorize all the names - just learn enough about them to understand how to play them and to build chords from them. Intervals are the building blocks of chords and an interval is simply the distance between two notes. The distance is determined by the number of half or whole steps between the notes. There are four qualities of intervals - major, minor, augmented and diminished. If it starts to get confusing, skip over the lessons that talk about augmented and diminished intervals and come back to it later. For now, the major and minor intervals are the most important. Let's make it easy and start on middle C again using the C major scale. A unison is two notes of the same pitch being played at the same time. Unison comes from the latin word unisonus meaning one sound. Theoretically, you can play a unison on the piano by writing two different middle C's on the sheet music but a unison is better described by saying that when two instruments play a middle C or the exact same note or pitch at the same time, the interval is called a unison. Remember, a unison is the same note, so there is no major or minor unison - there is only one note being played and there is actually no interval between the same note.

This may be the most difficult paragraph on the entire page to understand. Music theory sometimes makes simple things complicated with words that say the same thing in different ways. That is the case with augmented and diminished intervals. If a unison is a single note, how can you augment it or make it larger? Play middle C and play the C# next to it at the same time and you have an augmented unison. There is the interval of a half-step between the C and the C#, so the two notes in an augmented unison are a half-step apart. The trick is that you are calling two different notes by the same letter name and one of them is sharp. From C-C# is an augmented unison. You can abbreviate it as A1. You cannot diminish a unison because a there is no smaller interval than a single note. But you can diminish the interval of a second and we will talk about that in the next paragraph.

Here's the C major scale again - [C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C.] Let's number that scale and leave off the last C because the scale started with C - [C=1,D=2,E=3,F=4,G=5,A=6,B=7.] If you play up that scale, each note is the interval of a second apart. A major second is a whole step or two-half steps. A M2 or major 2nd sounds close together but the sound is consonant or pleasing to the ear. Major seconds are common is oriental or far eastern music. The pentatonic scale is filled with major seconds. An easy way to remember the pentatonic scale is to start on any black note and play a total of five notes. For example, a pentatonic scale on Gb looks and sounds like this - [Gb-Ab-Bb-Db-Eb.] From Gb-Ab, from Ab-Bb and from Db-Eb are all intervals of the major 2nd. The only other interval in a pentatonic scale is a minor third - from Bb-Db.
A minor second is a half-step. A m2 or minor 2nd is so close together that the tones and their overtones clash when you play the two notes together - the sound is dissonant or harsh to the ears. Minor seconds would be used to create tension in music or a feeling of uneasiness. Overtones are also called harmonics or partials. If you play any note, you can call it the fundamental tone. That tone will have natural overtones, partials or harmonics that sound at a lower volume level above the fundamental note at intervals that are determined by the physical laws of sound. Each note has a similar overtone series and the partials above it resonate according to the pitch of the fundamental and the loudness at which it is played.
In the C major scale when you play from C-D, from D-E, from F-G, and from G-A, the interval between those notes is a whole step or a major second. A second is the interval between two note names that are next to each other in the scale. If you play from middle C to the black note just above it or just to the right of it, the distance between the notes is a half-step. A half-step is also called a semitone. If you call that black note Db, then the interval between C and Db is a minor second. Why? Because a minor second is only a half-step apart and a major second is a whole step apart. Remember that natural means that a note is not sharp or flat. Anytime you play two notes a whole step apart you are playing the interval of a major second and anytime you play two notes a half step apart you are either playing a minor second or an augmented unison. What about an augmented second or an A2? From C-D# is an aug. 2nd and the interval is 3 half-steps apart, just like the minor third from C-Eb. Actually those two intervals sound the same because D# and Eb are the same note - just spelled differently. A diminished second is from C-Dbb which is another spelling trick. Dbb (D double-flat) and C are the same note because two half-steps down from D is C. This is called a diminished second or d2 or dim. 2nd. Actually, it is another unison, in this case, the note C.

We've already learned about major and minor thirds. Remember that from C-E is a major third and that from C-Eb is is minor third. A major 3rd or M3 is a very consonant interval - very pleasing to the ear. It's one of the intervals found most often in music with a bright and happy sound. A minor third is slightly darker and narrower than a major 3rd. It would be found more often in music of a minor key or in a brief dark passage to a brighter sound. You can also play from C-Ebb which means from C to E double-flat. If you go two half-steps down from E where do you land? D - Ebb is actually D natural but in some difficult music played in difficult keys, Ebb is written instead of D natural. Unless you are interested in reading difficult music, you don't have to think about this particular interval. From C to Ebb is called the interval of a diminished third - although it sounds exactly like a major second. So, a major third (M3) is two notes, two whole steps apart. A minor third (m3) is two notes that are 3 half-steps apart and a diminished third is two notes written as a third that are a whole step apart. An augmented 3rd or A3 is another spelling trick. From C-E# is an augmented third. The interval between the two notes is 2 1/2 steps or 5 half-steps. E# and F is the same note because if you sharp a note, you move it up a half-step. When you sharp E there is no black note above it or to the right of it, so you have to play F. An A3 or aug. 3rd sounds like playing from C-F because that is what you are doing.

From C-F is the interval of a fourth. There are three qualities of fourths. From C natural to F natural [C-F] is a perfect fourth or P4. A P4 is the interval between two notes that are 5 semitones or 5 half-steps apart. A perfect 4th has a somewhat open sound to it and it was found frequently in choral music known as plainsong or Gregorian chant. We've already talked about the tense and sinister-sounding augmented fourth (A4) which is from C-F# - also known as a tritone. There are 3 whole steps between the two notes of an A4. A diminished fourth (d4) is actually a major third that is written as a fourth - [C-Fb.] Fb and E natural are the same note. There are 2 whole steps between the notes of a diminished fourth. The dim. 4th is the same type of interval as the dim. 3rd - one that is found in written music but not often on lead sheets with chord symbols and not often talked about by people who just play music the way they hear it.

Again, there are three qualities of fifths or of the interval of a fifth. A perfect fifth (P5) is another open sounding interval similar to the P4 but the P5 is more consonant and resonant. The bright full sound of the perfect 5th is heard in horn fanfares and even played by the Jewish priests who blew and blow the shofars as a call to worship. There are seven half-steps or 3 1/2 steps between the notes of a perfect fifth. An augmented fifth is the same interval as a minor sixth - just spelled differently. An augmented fifth has 4 whole steps or 8 half-steps between the notes C-G#. A diminished sixth also has 4 whole steps between the notes C-Ab. An augmented fifth (A5) and a diminished sixth (d6) are the same note - G# and Ab are the same note with different spellings. Are you beginning to understand that much of music theory is just a way of describing and writing what is actually very simple? Often times, the words make it more complicated than it really is.

From C-A, or from C natural to A natural, is a major sixth (M6, maj. 6th.) The major sixth is another bright and happy sounding intervals. A succession of major and minor 6ths is often found in romantic music. The distance between the notes of a major sixth is 9 half-steps or 4 1/2 steps. A minor sixth (m6, min. 6th) is between C-Ab and there are 8 semitones or 4 whole steps between the notes. A diminished sixth (d6, dim. 6th) is another spelling variation. A diminished sixth is from C-Abb or actually from C-G which sounds the same as a perfect fifth because that's what it is. An augmented sixth is from C-A# and the interval is made up of 10 semitones or 10 half-steps which is the same as 5 whole steps. Since A# and Bb are the same notes, the augmented sixth sounds the same as the interval of C-Bb which is a minor seventh.

Guess what? We have come to our final interval of the C major scale! The interval of a seventh (7th.) We just learned about the minor seventh. The major seventh is made up of the scale tones C-B or C natural and B natural. The interval is 11 half-steps or 11 semitones or 5 1/2 whole steps. The M7th sounds like a bright dissonance because the overtones rub against each other and are a bit harsh on the ear. The minor seventh or m7 is made by flatting the top note - C-Bb. The interval is 10 half-steps or 5 whole steps and sound like a slightly dark or minor consonance and you can hear the wide distance between the two notes. The intervals of a major and minor seventh are the widest in the scale and they sound like it. A diminished 7th (d7, dim. 7th) sounds just like a major sixth because that's what it is. C-Bbb is actually C-A, a major sixth. An augmented seventh is an octave. From C to B# is the same as from C-C, so you are playing and hearing an octave. Once again, there is no black note between B and C so when a when you sharp B, your only choice is C.

The C minor or Cm chord is also a triad - a minor triad. What makes a major chord minor? The second note in the chord is flat. C-Eb-G is a C minor chord- also written Cm. Play a C minor chord. A minor chord always has a flatted third - the note the interval of a third above the root, also called the 3rd tone of the scale. In a natural minor scale, the 3rd, 6th and 7th notes are flat. Here is the natural minor scale built on C - [C-D-Eb-F-G-Ab-Bb-C.] Notice that the 3rd (Eb,) 6th (Ab,) and 7th (Bb) tones are flat or flatted.

You may have heard of seventh or 7th chords. You may have already guessed that a 7th chord is built by playing either a major or minor triad and adding the 7th scale tone to it. Here's a C major 7th chord - C-E-G-B. This chord can also be written as a CM7 or Cmaj7 or even C?7. A C minor 7th chord is played like this C-Eb-G-Bb. Why are the E and the flat? Remember the natural minor scale pattern: C-D-Eb-F-G-Ab-Bb-C. Notice that the Eb and Bb in the scale and in the C minor 7th chord are flat or flatted. You can also write or spell the C minor 7th chord as a Cm7 or Cmin7.

The words major, minor, seventh and the abbreviations or symbols for maj, min and 7th are chord suffixes that identify the type of chord they follow. You will often find C7 chords in music. The 7th chord or (any note name)7 chord is simply a major chord with a flatted or flat 7 above the major triad. A C7 is spelled C-E-G-Bb. You can find these types of chords in any music whether the scale of the key is major or minor. These chords are commonly called dominant seventh chords. This name is used because the chord is often found built on the 5th note of the scale. In the key of C, G is the fifth above C or the 5th note of the scale (C-D-E-F-G.) In music theory, the 5th is called the dominant tone of the scale or the key. So, a dominant 7th chord built on G is G-B-D-F. Why is the F not flat? Because the chord is always built on the same pattern - a major triad with the interval of a minor seventh above the root of the chord. A minor seventh above C is Bb and and minor 7th above G is F. You can count the notes in half steps and whole steps. A half-step is the distance between two adjacent notes. From C to C# or Db is a half-step. From C-D is two half-steps or a whole step. So, from C to Bb is 10 half-steps or 5 whole steps. A minor seventh will always be 10 half-steps or 5 whole steps above the root note. So, the distance from G to F in the G7 chord is 10 half-steps or 5 whole steps.

Before we begin to build more chords and chord progressions or chord changes, we need to know a little bit more about intervals. When an interval is inverted you play the same two notes of the interval but you take the top note and play it an octave lower. Using the C major scale again, [C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C.] Let's number that scale and leave off the last C because the scale started with C - [C=1,D=2,E=3,F=4,G=5,A=6,B=7.] It may make it easier to read the dashes as the words "up to." For example, the interval between C-E (1-3 or 1 up to 3) is a major third. Take the E and play it an octave lower and you have a minor sixth E-C (3-1 or from 3 up to 1.) If you add 3+6 you get 9. When you invert an interval and add the numbers of the two types of interval, they always equal 9. For example, C-D (1-2) is a major second. Play the D an octave lower along with the same C and you are playing a minor seventh. 2+7=9. Notice that a major interval will always invert to a minor interval. For example, from C-A (1-6) is a major sixth. Play the A in the octave below the C and you are playing a minor 3rd from A-C (6-1 or from 6 up to 1.) If you invert a perfect interval, you get another perfect interval and they still add up to 9. For example, from C-F (1-4) is a perfect fourth. From F-C (4-1) is a perfect fifth. 4+5=9. From C-G (1-5) is a perfect fifth. From G-C (5-1) is a perfect fourth. 5+4=9. From C-B (1-7) is a major seventh and from B-C (7-1) is a minor second. 7+2=9.

Chords can be inverted too. Let's look at a simple triad major chord C-E-G. The C major triad chord spelled C-E-G is in root position because the chord is built on the root note that the chord is named after - C. If you play the same notes but change the order of them, you are inverting the chord. For example, play E-G-C. You have moved the C up an octave while leaving the E and G where they were. This is called a 1st inversion chord. It is built on the third of the chord which is E. Move the E an octave higher and you have G-C-E. This is a 2nd inversion chord because the chord is built on the fifth or G. To review, a root position chord is built on the root note. A first inversion chord is built on the third and a second inversion chord is built on the fifth. In the C major triad, C is the root, E is the third and G is the fifth. C-E-G (1-3-5.) You may build a chord on any note and following the pattern of intervals and inversions, you can build any type of chord on any note.

When you start thinking of the distance between notes in half and whole steps, you are introduced to more kinds or types of scales. There can be many different types of scales depending on the distance between the notes and whether the notes are sharped or flatted. The chromatic scale is simply a scale that starts on any note and moves in half-steps. Every note in the scale is a half-step above the previous note or a half-step below the last note. For example, a chromatic scale starting from middle C and going up the scale would be played like this - [C-C#-D-D#-E-F-F#-G-G#-A-A#-B-C.] A chromatic scale has 12 notes in it (from C-B) or twelve tones to the octave. Theoretically, a chromatic scale can begin on any note. Music based on a chromatic scale can either be tonal or atonal depending on what notes are chosen for the melody and the harmony or chords. A modern use of the chromatic scale was to arrange all 12 tones in a particular order and create a new tonality from that order of tones called a tone row. All major scales have 8 notes to the octave and 7 different tones [C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C.] All minor scales have 8 notes to the octave and 7 different tones - [C-D-Eb-F-G-Ab-Bb-C.] There are two types of minor scales - natural and harmonic. The natural minor scale you already know [C-D-Eb-F-G-Ab-Bb-C.] The harmonic minor scale is the same as the natural minor except that the seventh note is raised a half-step [C-D-Eb-F-G-Ab-B-C.] The harmonic minor scale has the sound you might hear when you are listening to music from the middle East. Sometimes pianists play the harmonic minor scale going up and the melodic minor going down the keyboard. Remember the chromatic scale made up of half-steps? A whole-tone scale is made up of all whole steps - between each note there are two half-steps. [C-D-E-F#-G#-A#-C.] A whole tone scale has 7 tones to the octave and 6 different notes.

The melody of music is usually associated with a pattern of chords. Chord progressions or chord changes in music often follow basic patterns that will deviate from the pattern from time to time. A very common chord progression is known as a cadence. It is found at the end of a musical phrase or at the end of a song or hymn. A very familiar cadence is also know as the "amen" cadence or the plagal cadence. In the key of C, a plagal cadence is built on the 4th and 1st scale tones. You can also call it a IV-I cadence because it moves or progressses from the a chord built on the 4th scale tone to a chord built on the 1st scale tone. In the key of C, the plagal cadence is F|C or the F chord moving to a C chord. Both chords are major in the key of C. Another cadence is the authentic cadence or a V-I cadence. In the key of C, the authentic cadence moves from a G chord to a C chord - both major.

Chord progressions or chord changes can be very simple or more complex or complicated. A basic chord progression might start out on the C chord for four beats in one measure or four beats to a bar. Four beats to the bar or 4 to the bar, one measure of 4/4 time or one bar of common time all mean the same thing - the quarter note gets the beat and there are 4 beats in the measure or bar of music. Looking at music on a page, the measures are divided by upright bars or slashes | - so, often measures are called bars. In most cases, melody tones or the notes of a chord will be separated by a dash - and named chords [C] will be separated by an upright slash | . Where there are two slashes, the chord letter before the slash gets two beats or two measures - we will talk about beats, measures and time signatures more later. Right now we are not concerned as much with how long you play or hold the chord but that you get the right notes and understand how to play the chord.

You can also write and read chord progressions using numbers. Chord progressions using numbers will be in Roman numerals and each Roman numeral stands for a tone of the scale 1=I, 2=ii, 3=iii, 4=IV, 5=V, 6=vi, 7=vii ø. The major chords are written with capital letters, the minor chords with small letters and a dimished chord with a small o with a slash through it. Normally the symbol for diminished will be written to the right and slightly above the number - as a superscript.

Now, let's play some basic chord progressions.

C|F|C or I-IV-I
C|G|C or I-V-I
C|F|G|C or I-IV-V-I.
C|F|C||C|F|C||C|E|D|C||F|G|C or I-IV-I, I-IV-I, I-iii-ii-I, IV-V-I.

Sometimes there will be a pattern of chords that repeats over and over again and the chords can be altered or changed and chord substitutions can be made - playing another chord in place of the one written.
There are unlimited possibilities for chord changes or progressions as any chord may be altered.

Before we learn about more complicated chords or chord progressions, you need to know about chord inversions that make it easier to play. Don't get discouraged with all the new words or terms - often, the words are more complicated than the actual playing! A chord inversion is simply a different way of playing the same chord. We have been playing each chord built on its root note or tone - a C chord built on C, and F chord built on F, and so on. Play this chord [C-E-G]. Now play an F chord built on C [C-F-A]. All you have done is keep the same C in each chord and you haven't moved your hand position, just your fingers to play the F chord. The F chord spelled C-F-A is called an inversion because you have changed the order or the notes from the root position F chord [F-A-C]. Here are the types of inversions for a basic, 3-note triad. Let's use C as the root note.
Root position C major triad [C-E-G]
1st inversion C major triad [E-G-C]
2nd inversion C major triad [G-C-E]

All you are doing when you play inversions is shifting the bottom note of the chord up to the next higher chord tone. Root position chords are built on the root; 1st inversion chords are built on the 3rd, 2nd inversion chords are built on the 5th. 3rd inversion chords are built on the 7th. If you are playing a seventh chord - like a C7 [C-E-G-Bb] there is a 3rd inversion because seventh chords have four notes instead of three.

Root position C7 chord [C-E-G-Bb]
1st inversion C7 chord [E-G-Bb-C]
2nd inversion C7 chord [G-Bb-C-E]
3rd inversion C7 chord [Bb-C-E-G]

Now that you know about inversions you will understand the meaning of figured bass or numbers under the bass note of a chord in written music.

6 over 3 under a chord means 1st inversion because there is a sixth and a third built over the root. In the case of a 1st inversion C major triad [E-G-C] the distance from E to C is a sixth and the interval between E and G is a third.

This study is just beginning. Please return later and see if there is more to learn!

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