Lesson Ten: Books

Yesterday my friend and fellow music teacher Marc phoned to ask me about a piano method book he had been reading. The book recommended playing all 24 scales with one finger until each was correctly learned. Only then would the poor student begin playing scales with standard fingering.

This is a great example of misinformation and wasted effort. It might result in learning the various key signatures, but it would involve more un-learning than learning in the long run, and I would guarantee that most people would give up scales before they mastered the 24.

The best books I have ever found about playing the piano are comic books, Peter Coraggio's series published by Neil A. Kjos called "The Art of Piano Performance", illustrated by Jon J. Murakami. The books are entertaining, of course, but also technically sound, comprehensive and useful. Until you are ready for the Oxford Musical Dictionary, Peter Coraggio's "Imagery in Music" is the only music dictionary you need.

I grew up with the old John Thompson red books which began with "Teaching Little Fingers To Play" and ended with Grade Five, but in my own teaching I use multi-key methods such as those published by Alfred and Hal Leonard (as well as a lot of individually-written sheet music). The old method books are based on playing in the key of C or mostly on the white keys, which trains the hand very early on to use a curved position because of the short thumb and pinky and the longer fingers in between.

Students who have grown up with multi-key methods are not afraid of the black keys, and their hands are accustomed to the various configurations and shapes involved in playing patterns and chords. The muscles remember. Although I find many beginners play by the numbers (now don't deny it; I know you do), at least they are getting an idea of intervals and the up-and-down patterns which they do not get when playing by "letters" or staying for a couple of years in a white-note position.

I think there is value in being able to play all the five-finger patterns, whether by tablature (with the keys shown on the page), ear or note. This leads right away to a muscular knowledge of all 24 major and minor chords, and this is the basis of keyboard harmony.

Lesson Nine: Half Steps and Scales

From any key on the piano to the nearest key is a half step.

Because all the white keys of the piano are the same width, we get the impression that they are the same distance apart in sound, but this is not the case.

From C to D is a whole step because it skips the black key between.

From D to E is a whole step because it skips a black key.

From E to F is only a half step.

From F to G is a whole step.

From G to A is a whole step.

From A to B is a whole step.

From B to the next C is only a half step.

If you play the eight notes one after the other, CDEFGABC, you will have played the most boring of the twelve major scales. You can create a major scale beginning on any note, as long as you keep the whole steps and the half steps in the order above (half step between the third and fourth note, half step between the seventh and eighth note.)

Only the C major scale will use just white keys. Every other major scale will need at least one black key, and what we call that key will depend upon musical spelling.

The rule for spelling a scale is that the notes must be named in alphabetical order without skipping or repeating a letter.

Now we come to the matter of flats and sharps. Flats are played a half-step below the letter name of the note involved (the flat sign looks like a lower case b with a pointed bottom). Sharps are played a half step above the letter name (the sharp sign looks like the pound sign on your telephone). A natural sign (looks like a sharp with a missing right arm and left leg) cancels a sharp or flat.

My father once made me a brooch which said "Always B Natural" (see drawing).

If we are discussing a G major scale, then, we will spell it GABCDE F-sharp (NOT G-flat) and end on G. This follows the spelling rule.

I once had a pilot student who said “I can fly over the pond (the Atlantic ocean to us laymen) without giving it a second thought, but a G major scale scares me to death.”

Try playing the G major scale to see if it scares you to death. Play it with an F natural instead of an F sharp and see if it doesn’t sound wrong to you.

One last note about sharps and flats: In music notation, the sharp or flat sign comes before the note it effects and must be either in the space or on the line of the note. However, when we are talking about a flat or sharp, we always say the note first and the flat or sharp afterward.

There are lots of different scales besides the major scale. If you are feeling adventurous, try this altered klezmer scale: D, E-flat, F-sharp, G, A, B-flat, C-sharp, D. It already sounds like music doesn’t it? But it is just a scale.