Piano for Beginners 6th ED - 2016 UK

Put it into practice A developed right-hand melody with harmony

04 Mixing it up

Now you know what your tune sounds like with a harmony at a constant

interval, mix it up a bit. Keep your original melody, but harmonise it with

different intervals. As long as you stick to the white notes, it should sound good.

03 A sixth below
We’re keeping our melody from Step 1 , but changing up the harmony. This time
we’re keeping a harmony with a constant interval but now it’s a sixth below. You
may find this easier as you can keep your hands in the same position.

The beginning

Straight away, you can see that the

intervals between notes can vary.

Here are thirds, fourths and sixes

Run down

This passage is a mix of major and minor thirds.

Minor thirds have a distance of three semitones

between them, while major thirds have four

Ending

Our piece is in C major (no sharps or flats),

so it makes sense to end on an interval that

includes two members of the C major triad

Octaves

An under-used interval – especially in the right

hand – is the octave. It may be the same note,

but you can still get a really good sound