Hello, and welcome back. I'm Joseph Hoffman. Today we are learning a new skill. It's called
transposing. Let me show you on the piano what it means to transpose. Let's say you
want to play Chocolate. Place your fingers on C, D, E, F, G, which we can also call the
C Major pentascale. But let's pretend that you just woke up, so your eyes are still feeling
a little blurry, and by accident you place your right hand finger one on D instead of C. So
it sounds like this. Sounds a little different, doesn't it? We just transposed to the key
of D minor. Transposing means taking music into a new position, either higher or lower.
We could play chocolate starting on any key we wanted. It doesn't have to start on C.
We could start in the key of G. We could even start on a black key. But let's come back
to the key of D. When I play Chocolate in the key of D, is there a note that sounds
a little funny to you? Listen carefully. Aha, right here. This F sounds a little sad to
me. To understand why, we need to come back to the C Major pentascale. These notes have
letter names, C, D, E, F, G. But they also have names in Solfege. Can you sing them with
me? DO, RE, MI, FA, SO. Good, now this is important. Letter names are fixed. They can't
move around. A C is always a C, right here, and this key will always be a D. But Solfege
patterns can move around. They're not locked to just one key. It may help to pretend for
right now that DO, RE, MI, FA, and SO, are five people in a family. With Daddy DO, or
Mr. DO to you at the bottom, and RE, MI, FA, and SO, are all the kids. Now in this family,
most people like to have their own personal space. Notice how DO and RE have a black key
in between them. When two notes, white or black, have exactly one key in between them,
we call it a whole step. It's like they each have their own bedroom with a wall in between.
So DO to RE is a whole step. RE to MI is also a whole step because they have a black key
in between them. But here's where things change. Is there a black key between MI and FA? That's
because MI and FA are like best friends. Maybe they're twin sisters or twin brothers, and
they like to be really close to each other. So let's actually give them a special color
to help us remember that. Maybe it's like they're sharing the same bedroom. When two
keys on the piano have no note in between, we call that a half step. So MI and FA form
a half step. Then finally we have FA and SO. Do FA and SO make a half step or a whole step?
If you said whole step, you are correct. There is a black key in between again, so you know
it is a whole step. Now let's review from Mr. DO again. We start on DO, then say it
with me, we go up a whole step, then another whole step, then a half step, then a whole
step. When you follow that pattern of half steps and whole steps, you get a major pentascale.
Now lets pretend that Mr. DO doesn't want his family to live in the key of C anymore.
Can families move to a new house sometime? Yes, sure they can. Remember, letters can
not move, but Solfege can. Mr. DO decides that he wants to move to the key of D. So
here we go, he's going to move his whole family together, families stick together, so now
here's the whole family with Mr. DO now in the key of D. Uh oh, can you see a problem?
Remember how MI and FA are best friends? Well now they have a black key in between them.
Listen to how sad MI feels about this. Oh man, can you hear how sad MI is? DO, RE, MI,
well, fortunately Mr. DO has a solution. He builds a bunk bed for MI on this black key.
So now MI and FA are a half step apart again. See there's no key in between. You'll notice
that now RE to MI is a whole step because there is exactly one key in between. Now everyone
has their personal space who wants it, except for MI and FA who are a half step apart again.
Let's listen to see how Chocolate sounds in the key of D Major. Does everyone sound happy
again? Yes, everyone has their personal space who wants it, and MI and FA are a half step
apart again. By the way, when we shift one half step up, like this, from here to here,
we call that a sharp. So we call this note F. If we move to the black key we call this
F sharp. Well, I've done a lot of talking. It's time to play. Let's try the D Major pentascale
together. Place your right hand, finger one, on D. Finger two on E, finger three on F sharp,
finger four on G, and finger five, can you tell me the letter name of this note here?
If you said A, you are correct. Remember we have Grandma's house, this is her bedroom,
and Aunt Annie's bedroom right here for finger five. Okay, as we play, can you sing the solfege
with me, with your fingers on these keys? Let's sing and play. Ready, go. DO, RE, MI,
FA, SO, good, now let's try singing the letter names. One at a time, starting with D, E,
now remember this one is called F sharp, G, and A. Say the letter names and play with
me, ready, go. D, E, F sharp, G, A. Good job. Now let's try it with our left hand. With
your left hand finger five, cover up D, E, F sharp, G, A. Let's try the left hand, singing
solfege once and then singing the letter names. Ready, go, DO, RE, MI, FA, SO. Good, now let's
say the letter names. Ready, go, D, E, F sharp, G, A. Good, now for an extra challenge let's
try saying the letter names stepping down. A, G, F sharp, E, D. Say it and play with
me, go, A, G, F sharp, E, D. Good, now while your left hand is there, let's try and play
Chocolate in the key of D Major. So basically we've transposed Chocolate from the key of
C to the key of D. Sing the words to Chocolate with me while we play in the key of D. Go.
Yum, yum, yum, yum, yum, chocolate I have some. Good, let's try Chocolate with the right
hand in the key of D. Cover up the same notes again of the D Major pentascale. Ready, go.
Yum, yum, yum, yum, yum, chocolate I have some. Now, any song you used to play in the
C Major pentascale, it is possible to transpose that song to the D Major pentascale. For example,
now let's try Five Woodpeckers in D Major. Place finger one on D again, with finger three
on F sharp, and let's try to play Five Woodpeckers. Ready, go, woodpecker tap tap, woodpecker
tap tap, woodpecker tap tap, woodpecker tap tap, woodpecker tap tap, looking for a bug.
Yum. Now let's try Frog in the Middle transposed to the key of D, using the left hand. So with
you're left hand place finger five on D. For Frog in the Middle we only use DO, MI, and
SO. So let's try those three notes. We have DO on D. MI is on F sharp. And SO is on A,
so to play Frog in the Middle, those are the three notes we are going to need. DO, MI,
and SO. We begin on SO. Let's try playing Frog in the Middle using those three notes
now in the key of D. Ready, go, frog in the middle, frog in the sea, frog in the middle,
can't catch me. Pretty cool, huh? Great job learning about transposing and how to play
the D Major pentascale. For your practice this week I'd like you to try transposing
all of the songs you know to the D Major pentascale. In fact, if you have one hand that feels weaker
than the other, you should practice that hand even more. A pianist needs both hands to be
strong and coordinated. As always, from our website you can download the complete materials
for Unit 1 to get extra practice and review on the D Major pentascale. Thanks for watching,
and I'll see you next time.
Dad, SO is coming into my room again!
SO, please go back to your own room.
Sorry, Dad.