Basic Music Theory: How to Read, Write, and Understand Written Music

20: The Piano Keyboard

you’d come back down doing the same thing. Here’s where the

enharmonic notes come in:

As you go up the scale, sharps are used. As you come down, flats are

used. An example is worth a hundred words. For this example, follow

along with your keyboard.

Notice the example is two lines of music. When a song is long, the staves

below the first do not need the time signature, only the clef.

Example 20.5 Chromatic scale from C to shining C in 12/4 time. Ascending and descending. Notice the

natural half steps between E-F and B-C.

Moving On

The piano keyboard will be a valuable tool in the chapters which follow,

so be sure you’ve understood it before going on. Not only will it help you

in the next chapters, it will also be valuable in your life as a musician.

Coming up next is the major scale, the basis for nearly everything in

Western music. A small and simple scale, but very important.

Chapter 20 Review

1. What is the definition of a half step?


2. What is an enharmonic note? Give a couple
   examples.
   
   
   1. The difference in
      pitch between two
      adjacent keys on
      a piano keyboard
   
   
   2. A pitch with two
      different names,
      like C# and Db, or
      F# and Gb