The diminished scale, or octatonic scale, is an enigmatic and distinct scale that offers a great deal of melodic and harmonic depth and possibility. There are examples of the diminished scale in European classical music dating back to the time of Bach and also in various folk music traditions from the Middle East. However, the …
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Musicians are often practicing groups of notes played one at a time in order, on their instruments. This is a very common way to develop speed and skill, hand independence and practice playing at slow or fast tempos. These notes musicians are often practicing are called Scales, which are actually called diatonic and chromatic scales. …
Understanding all seven diatonic scales Read More »
Timbre, texture, and tone are three interconnected ideas in music. To the beginning pianist, these ideas may seem nearly identical. It is true that even the most advanced professional musicians will occasionally use these three words interchangeably. However, that is not because they do not know the meaning of them. In this article, we will …
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Learning the blues is an integral part of modern music making. The power and influence of the style can be felt in most forms of contemporary popular music and the music carries historical lessons and legacies that are vitally important. Particular scales have emerged out of the music called the blues scales. You might be …
A guide to the piano blues scale for beginners Read More »
Learning to play an instrument is a series of small victories. First you learn how to create sounds, then press keys accurately. Soon you’ll know the names of all the notes, and how octaves are just the same notes but played higher or lower. Eventually you start playing chords and playing with two hands at …
Learn to play the A major scale for piano Read More »
The more time you spend around musicians, the more words you will hear that have only to do with music. A very common term said by musicians is “major scale”. Major scales are incredibly common, and are one of the first steps to learning about music in a sophisticated way. Scales related to music of …
The beginner’s guide to the F major scale on piano Read More »
Everytime a musician sits down to play a piano they are limited to what they can play. The notes that come out of the instrument are either chords, arpeggios, or scales. Understanding and mastering scales is the key to playing an instrument well, but first we have to understand what they are. Scales are a …
How to play the C major scale for beginners Read More »
The great thing about the piano is its incredible range of notes. Standard keyboards have 88 keys. That gives us a lot of room to work with! Unfortunately, there are only 5 lines on the treble and bass staff. How can we use sheet music to represent really high or really low notes? The answer …
Ledger lines: how to read piano notes above and below the staff Read More »
Sheet music is a language, and sometimes learning to read a new language can be challenging. This is a very special type of language called music notation, and we use lots of different types of images and pictures to help musicians tell the difference between different notes. Some of these musical symbols we use are …
Piano accidentals and how to use them! Read More »
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