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 and MI, but now we're going to keeping 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 Fah 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 enharmonically using flat names?
Let's give it a try. What do 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 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.
What 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 are. Here'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.
Alright, 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 chords 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 be 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 going to 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 but a dream♫
Great job today learning the F-sharp, uh, G-flat major and minor pentascales.
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, oh-
OH! 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!
You gotta love Scuba.
Croak