Playing the piano

Your piano hands Knowing which fingers play which notes is vital

The circle of fifths

A visual and easy way of

remembering the key of a

scale is to use the circle of

fifths. This circle shows the

relationship between the 12

tones of the musical scale. To

work out how many sharps

( # ) or flats ( Ь ) a key

signature should have, follow

the circle clockwise; major

on the outside, minor on the

inside. For example, if we look

at A major, the key signature

would have three sharps

(these being F, C and G). The

inside part of the circle shows

us the relative minor (orange

letters), and in this case it

would be F# minor.

When you’re looking at the scales

played in this book, you will

notice tiny numbers next to the

notes. These are the fingers with

which you should play the notes.

Playing scales using these finger

patterns minimises effort and

enables you to concentrate on

building up speed.

“Playing scales

using these

finger patterns

minimises effort”

Major

Minor

A

E B F C G D

E

G

D

A

E

B

B

F

C

G

D

C

F G

D

A

E

B

F

(^11) #
3 3

(^66) #
(^55) #
4 4 #
2 2

Ь
Ь
Ь
Ь
Ь
Ь
Ь
Ь
Ь
Ь
Ь
Ь
Ь

Ь
Ь
Ь
Ь
Ь
Ь
Ь
Ь
Ь
Ь
Ь
Ь
Ь
Ь
Ь
Ь
Ь
Ь
Ь
Ь
Ь
S
cales in music are series of notes that are
arranged into a specific sequence which
can be either ascending or descending.
They usually start and end on the same
musically named note (ie C) separated by an
octave (the distance between eight musical
notes). The scales will normally follow a set
pattern of either semitones (half steps) or tones
(whole steps).
The three most common forms of scales are
major, a happy-sounding scale; minor, a sad-
sounding scale; and chromatic, a scale whose
sound is ambiguous and is made up of semitones.
There are, however, different types of minor scale
with subtle differences in their make-up.
Learning scales on piano is important for a
number of reasons. It will enable you to learn
your keyboard quickly, which will become very
important when performing music in various
keys. They will also help to strengthen your fingers
and increase their agility, which will improve your
ability to be able to play tricky passages.
Introducing
musical scales
Understand how scales are formed and how important they are
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