Hello and welcome back. I'm Joseph Hoffman.
Today we're going to be reviewing flats and sharps, and learning a new pentascale
C-sharp minor. Let's come to the piano to get started.
Do you remember what a sharp does to a note?
A sharp raises any note up by one half s tep, which means the
nearest possible note to the right or one note up.
Did I already tell you my
trick for remembering what a sharp does?
If you get poked with something sharp, ow!
It makes you jump up.
let's practice finding some sharps in a few different places.
Here's G. Point to G-sharp.
If you're pointing right here, you're correct.
Here is D. Point to D-sharp.
If you're pointing right here, you're correct.
So here's a tricky one. Here's E.
Point to E-sharp
Aha, there's no black key to the right of E, so E-sharp is actually a white key.
This is E-sharp, or you could also say F.
Now let's play a game.
I'll show you a note on the staff here and your job is to find it and point to it
on your screen here with the piano keys. So this one's for practice. If you see a
D-sharp, can you point to that on the piano keys?
In three seconds the correct answer will appear.
The correct answer is right here, D-sharp.
Now let's try another one.
Okay here's your next one to solve.
Can you find this note on the piano keys and point to it?
The correct answer will appear in three seconds.
If you pointed here to G-sharp, you're correct.
Remember, here's G, so G-sharp would be one half step to the right.
Let's try another one.
Can you find this note on the piano? point to it.
if you're pointing right here to F-sharp you're correct let's try one more.
Where would this note be on the piano?
If you're pointing right here to A-sharp you're correct.
Now let's talk about flats. A flat does the opposite of a sharp.
A flat lowers any note by one half-step. So this was B, here's B flat.
My trick for remembering what a flat does is to think about getting a flat tire.
It makes your car sink down.
Let's practice finding some other flats on the piano.
Here's A. Can you point to A-flat?
That's correct it's right here
Here is G. Point to G-flat.
If you're pointing right here you're correct.
Here is C. Can you find C-flat?
If you're pointing right here you're correct.
it's another white-key flat.
Here's D. Can you point to D-flat?
If you're pointing right here you're correct.
Let's try our game again this time with flats.
Can you find this note and point to it on your piano keys on your screen?
If you're pointing right here to E-flat, you're correct.
Let's try another one.
Where would this note be on your keys?
If you're pointing right here you're correct. it's G-flat.
Let's try another one.
Where would this note be on the keys?
If you're pointing here to D-flat you're correct.
Now let's try a sharp again. Can you find a C-sharp on your piano keys?
If you're pointing right here you're correct.
Hey, wait a minute. This was the same key you
pointed for for D-flat.
Interesting, this helps us see that every black key
actually has two different names.
We could call this key C-sharp or D-flat.
That's the same with people too I suppose. I'm sometimes called Mr. Hoffman
and I'm sometimes called Joseph. It all depends on the situation.
The same goes for keys on the piano. Depending on the situation we could call this key D-flat,
but in another situation it may actually be better to call it C-sharp.
Maybe it's kind of like a superheroe's secret identity.
Mild-mannered D-flat by day becomes crime-fighting C-sharp by night.
Different names, but it's really the same note.
In music, the two different names for the same note are called enharmonic.
So we could say that C-sharp and D-flat are enharmonic.
Let's look at some other examples.
Let's see if we can figure out the two different names for this black key.
Can you tell me its sharp name?
That's right it could be D-sharp.
Or, what could its flat name be?
That's right we could call it E-flat.
So, D-sharp's secret identity is E-flat.
Let's try one more.
What are the two names for this black key?
If you said F-sharp and G-flat you're correct.
F-sharp and G-flat are also enharmonic. They look different, but they're the same key.
And what would be enharmonic to G-sharp?
The answer is A-flat.
Two different names for the same note.
Did you know white keys can have enharmonics too?
Let's find this note on the piano.
That's right it's an E.
What if we wanted to make E-sharp?
since there's no black key a half step above,
E-sharp is the same as F,
or another way to say that, E-sharp is enharmonic with F.
Now, it also works the other way.
What if we had or wanted F-flat?
Here's F. F-flat is a half step down. So F-flat is enharmonic with E.
We could say F-flat equals E. It's really the same key, just two different ways of saying it.
Now let's apply this to the D-flat major pentascale.
I mentioned that we choose whether to call a note by it's flat name or its
sharp name based on the situation.
Well, one of those situations is when you have
a scale like this.
We could name the five notes of the D-flat major pentascale
like this: D-flat, D-sharp, F, F-sharp, A-flat
and that would be correct technically speaking.
However, it kind of looks messy and it doesn't really follow
the flow of the musical alphabet.
In general when you have a scale,
it's best to use each letter of the musical alphabet just once and in order.
That usually works out best if you stick with all sharps or all flats.
So let's change that D-sharp to an E-flat,
and then let's change this F-sharp to a G-flat.
Enharmonically the same,
but now we can spell everything each with its own letter.
D E F G A,
and with all flats
D-flat, E-flat, F, G-flat, A-flat
But, what if we instead wanted to call all five of these notes
by their sharp names?
Is that possible?
Absolutely.
We would change D-flat to C-sharp,
E-flat to D-sharp,
F to E-sharp,
G-flat to F-sharp,
and A-flat to G-sharp.
Now we've spelled the exact same five notes this time using sharp names.
Can you point to each note with me of the pentascale and say their names with sharps?
Ready go, C-sharp, D-sharp, E-sharp, F-sharp, G-sharp.
Good job! Now let's try pointing and naming each one with flat names.
Ready go, D-flat, E-flat, F, G-flat, A-flat.
Okay, now let's take the D-flat major pentascale and turn it into D-flat minor.
Do you remember how to do that?
To turn a major pentascale minor, you just take the
third note and lower it a half step.
So, this F will become F-flat.
So now what would we have? Let's name them.
D-flat, E-flat, F-flat, G-flat, A-flat
Okay, now we have it spelled as C-sharp minor.
Let's point to each note and name them with their sharp names.
Go: C-sharp, D-sharp, E, F-sharp, G-sharp.
Okay, let's try our stepping and skipping exercise in the C-sharp minor pentascale.
Remember, that will go like this:
♫ stepping up and stepping down and skipping up and down♫
Then we play the I chord, the V7 chord, then the I chord.
Remember, the V7 chord our finger 1 is going to move down a half step,
and then MI, or I should say ME since we're in minor, goes up to FA which is
here on the G or the F-sharp or G-flat. Either one, and then back to the I chord.
Let's try that together now.
Ready go, ♫stepping up and stepping down and skipping up and down♫
Now I play the I chord. Now find the V7 chord,
then back to the I chord.
Good, now let's try the left-hand.
Cover up the C-sharp minor pentascale with your left hand.
Same thing, stepping and skipping. Ready go,
♫stepping up and stepping down and skipping up and down♫
The I chord, find the V7 chord, and back to the I chord.
Good
Now let's try both hands at the same time.
Similar motion. Ready go,
♫Stepping up and stepping down and skipping up and down♫
The I chord, V7 chord, back to the I chord.
Good
Now, if you couldn't keep up with that, press pause and practice it
on your own, then you can go back and try it with me again.
For an extra challenge, let's try contrary motion.
Remember, now we're gonna start on our finger 1's and
our fingers are gonna go in opposite directions: contrary motion ready go,
♫stepping out and stepping in and skipping out and in♫
Chord
Let's try that one more time. This time with a staccato articulation.
Remember, for staccato your wrist is going to lift up with each note.
Ready go, ♫stepping out and stepping in and skipping out and in♫
Chord
Good, if any of these are too hard that's fine just practice it and then try it
with me again when you're ready. You can accomplish anything
with enough practice.
Great job today learning about enharmonics and the C-sharp minor pentascale.
Or I could say D-flat but be sure not to
reveal his secret identity to the enemy.
For practice this week I'd like you to
play 'stepping and skipping' in C-sharp major and minor try it hands together in
similar and contrary motion, using staccato and legato articulation.
Also, why don't you try hand over hand pentascales arpeggios and chords in
C-sharp major and minor using the metronome set to about 100 beats per minute
playing one note per click.
Except for the chords. Those you play one chord
for every three clicks. Got it? Good.
As always, thanks for watching and see you next time.
Hey chef! I've got one for you!
Okay..
Why did the D-flat start wearing glasses?
Uhh, I don't know.
Because he wanted to see sharp!
Huh, good one.