Hello and welcome back! I'm Joseph Hoffman.
Today we're going to learn another black key pentascale, F-sharp major.
Or, should I say G-flat?
It's all the same because they're enharmonic.
Let's come check it out at the piano.
All right, here on the piano we have an F-sharp
to start us off with DO.
Now let's try to build the F-sharp major pentascale together.
Here's DO so where do you think RE would be?
Remember, RE is a whole step above DO.
Well, we know this would be a half step then if we go one more half step that equals a whole step.
So we have RE right here.
So we have DO RE, then MI is another whole step up.
Can you find where that would be? Point to it.
If you're pointing right here you're correct.
So now we have DO RE MI.
Hey that's the original three notes that we used for, ♫Hot, cross, buns♫
You didn't know it at the time, but
back in Lesson One you were actually using the F-sharp major pentascale.
Now, in that lesson we only used DO RE MI, but now we're gonna keep going up to FA and SO.
You'll recall that MI and FA are best friends, so now we only need to go up a half step.
Point to the note that's a half step above this black key.
If you're pointing here you're correct.
A-sharp goes up to B for MI.
Sorry, I mean FA and now
FA needs to go up to SO which is one more whole step so we're going to pass by this note
and go all the way up to C-sharp.
Now we have the F -sharp major pentascale.
It's kind of like a deformed Oreo cookie I guess.
We've got this really fat cookie down here, the cream in the middle,
and a skinny cookie on top.
Let's point and name each note.
Ready? Try it with me.
F-sharp,
G-sharp
A-sharp
B
C-sharp
Now let's see what that would look like on the staff.
Here's the F-sharp major pentascale on the staff.
F-sharp, G-sharp, A-sharp, B, C-sharp.
Now, how would we name these notes and enharmonically using flat names?
Let's give it a try. What would we call this key using a flat name?
If you said G-flat you're correct. Now let's try naming all of them. Here we go:
G-flat, A-flat, B-flat. Now pause a second.
Some of you may want to say B right here,
but we already used up the letter B on this B-flat, so it would be better to go on to the letter C.
Is there an enharmonic name for this key that uses a C?
That's right, we could call this note C-flat.
That's the enharmonic name for this key. It's normally called B,
but since we already used up B on the B-flat, we'll call it C-flat,
and then we'll finish with D-flat.
Now let's try it one more time. Say all of the names using flats, go.
G-flat, A-flat, B-flat, C-flat, D-flat.
Great job, now let's take a look at that on the staff.
And you can tell by looking at the staff that now every single note has a flat
in this position.
Now let's try our stepping and skipping exercise.
Let's start with the right hand.
Cover up the F-sharp or G-flat major pentascale,
and we'll do 'Stepping and Skipping' with the right hand. Ready go,
♫Stepping up and stepping down and skipping up and down♫
Now we need to figure out the I and V7 chord, so let's pause for a moment.
Our I chord will have a DO, MI,
and SO from our pentascale.
Which, you'll notice this time is all black keys. So there's our I chord.
For the V7 chord, remember DO steps down a half step to TI,
MI steps up a half step to FA.
So we'll have two white keys down here,
and for finger 4 to reach this comfortably, you're actually going to be playing
up inside the white keys near where the black keys.
There's your V7 chord,
I chord
So as we get to the end of the 'Stepping and Skipping' exercise, we'll finish with:
I chord, V7 chord, I chord.
All right, now let's try it with the left hand.
Cover up the F-sharp/G-flat major pentascale,
and here we go.
♫Stepping up and stepping down and skipping up and down♫
Now play a I chord.
now try the V7 chord,
and then back to the I chord.
Good, now let's try both hands together.
Cover up F-sharp major hands together, ready go,
♫Stepping up and stepping down and skipping up and down♫
I chord,
find the V7 chord,
and the I chord
Good, now for fun let's try that with a staccato articulation.
Ready go, ♫Stepping up and stepping down and skipping up and down♫
You can do the chord staccato too, like that.
Alright, now let's try turning this into minor.
To turn any major pentascale into a minor pentascale,
we take the third note down a half step.
Now this would called F-sharp minor.
So now we have F-sharp, G-sharp, A, B, C-sharp.
Let's try playing our 'Stepping and Skipping' exercise in F-sharp minor now.
This time with a legato touch.
Ready go,
♫Stepping up and stepping down and skipping up and down♫
I chord, V7 chord, I chord.
Remember, the V7 chord is the same chord whether it's major or minor.
now that you know these pentascales, I have a little challenge for you.
That is to try transposing "Row, Row, Row Your Boat"
which we learned originally in the D-flat major pentascale,
now let's see if you can transpose "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" to F-sharp major.
Okay, and when you get to the part where you cross over your hand,
your left hand finger 3 will come up to F-sharp now,
because that is high DO.
Okay, you're going to start off ♫Row, row, row your boat♫
Now, I'm gonna ask you to press pause and see if you can figure out the rest of it on your own.
Transpose "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" to F-sharp major,
and then press play when you're ready to try it with me.
Okay, let's try and play "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" in F-sharp major together.
I'll be playing chords in the left hand, and the melody in the right hand,
but if you prefer to just play the melody in the right hand, that's fine too.
We'll take it nice and slow. I'll count 1 2 3, and then we'll start playing.
Here we go, 1 2 3
♫Row, row, row your boat,♫
♫gently down the stream,♫
Now the crossover,
♫merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,♫
♫life is like a dream.♫
Last thing I'd like to do today is work on some hand over hand
using the F-sharp major and minor pentascales. Let's start with major.
So find a spot on the lower side of your piano for your left hand and right hand to cover up
the F-sharp major pentascale, and we're just going to practice touching the position.
Left hand touch all the keys, right hand touch,
now left hand cross over, touch the pentascale,
then right hand touch the pentascale.
Now we'll come back down right, left, cross over, and left.
Now I'd like you to press pause
and use your metronome and try the pentascale stepping up,
and then stepping down, playing one note per click,
and then press play when you're ready to try it with me.
All right, I'm going to set my metronome to 76 beats per minute.
and together we're going to try hand over hand pentascales in F-sharp major.
So get in position, ready go,
Cross over
Now coming down
Good!
Now, I'd like you to press pause again and this time practice the arpeggios.
DO MI SO, going up and down.
Try it with your metronome set to 76
and when you're ready to try it with me, press play again.
All right, my metronome is coming back on.
Now it's time for the arpeggios. Get in position, ready go,
Nice!
Alright, last of all I'd like you to try the hand over hand chords.
We're going to play the I chord for each hand going up and then back down.
Use your metronome set to 76 and let each chord last for 3 beats.
So you'll hold it 1 2 3, 1 2 3
Press pause to try that on your own, then press play when you're ready to try it with me.
Okay, the metronome is coming back on.
Get in position for hand over hand chords.
Ready, go,
1 2 3
Repeat that chord
1 2 3
left hand 2 3
1 2 3
Good!
Now, at home if you can play that with no missed notes,
then you're ready to speed up the metronome a little bit the next day.
Every day you can speed it up a little bit at a time until you're going in about 100 notes per click.
Or for a super challenge, you can even push it up to 120.
Also remember, as you play the hand over hand pentascales to use your very best piano posture.
Later on on your own, I'd like you to try doing the hand over hand
scales, arpeggios, and chords using F-sharp minor.
Great job today learning the F-sharp, uh, G-flat major and minor pentascales.
For your finger power practice this week, please try the F-sharp major and minor
hand-over-hand scales, arpeggios, and chords,
and also tried the 'Stepping and Skipping' exercise in F-sharp major and minor,
using both similar and contrary motion.
For a super challenge, you can also try transposing any of your old songs
to F-sharp kind of like we did today for "Row, Row, Row Your Boat"
For example, you could try transposing "Lady, Lady" to F-sharp major
or you could transpose a minor song like "I Hear the Mill Wheel" to F-sharp minor.
Another great super challenge would be to try improvising or composing your
own original music using F-sharp major or minor.
Happy practicing and see you next time.
Did you know that F-sharp major was actually the very first key that Mr. Hoffman taught us?
No way, don't be silly. We're learning F-sharp major here in like lesson 100 and something.
The first lesson Mr. Hoffman taught us was "Hot Cross Buns"!
Exactly.
Huh? I mean, don't you remember in Lesson number One we just learned:
MI RE DO
Today we learned F-sharp major which is: DO RE MI
O-ohh
I get it! "Hot Cross Buns" is in the key of F-sharp major.
We've known it all along!
"Hot Cross Buns" is in the key of F-sharp major everyone!
Frog, "Hot Cross Buns" is in the key of F-sharp major!
It's so simple yet so amazing!
Everybody! "Hot Cross Buns" is in the key of F-sharp major!
Huh, you gotta love Scuba.
Croooak