Free piano lessons - online piano lessons....learn how to play the piano!

Lesson Eleven: More Musical Terms and Symbols

We'll spend the next few lessons acquainting you with more of the terms, signs, and symbols used in music.

Major/Minor Keys

The term "key" indicates a group of related notes built on any of the notes of the scale. The note on which the first key is built is the first note of that scale; it is called the "keynote."

Songs played in a Minor Key definitely sound different than songs played in a Major Key. One way I've seen these keys described is as "Cheerful" ( the major keys) and "Mysterious" (the minor keys).

Major and Minor scales are related by key signatures...for instance, C Major and A Minor have the same key signature: no flats or sharps. G Major and E Minor have the same key signature: F Sharp.

Find the major scale's keynote, then count up 5 notes to find the minor scale's keynote. For example, if you are in the key of D Major, and you wanted to know where the minor scale for this key started, count up 5 notes (E, F, G, A, B). The minor scale related to D Major is B Minor.

Following is a chart showing different key signatures and which major and minor keys are the "keynotes" for each signature.

Eighth Notes

Two eighth notes equal one count. One eighth note is half as long as a quarter note.

C Chords

C Chord is formed by the notes C, E, and G. Read the chords from the bottom note to the top one; the chord is named for the bottom note.

When all of the notes of a chord are played at once, that is a block chord.

A broken chord is formed when you play the notes of a chord one at a time, each of the three notes separately.

Pedals

Your piano has three pedals (if you have a musical keyboard, you probably just have one). The main pedal in piano playing is the Damper Pedal - the pedal at the farthest right on your piano. It is sometimes (wrongly) referred to as the loud pedal. (By the way, the pedal in the middle is the sustaining pedal, and the pedal at the left is the soft pedal).

The illustration above demonstrates how to use the pedal in music. When the pedal sign forms a straight line, you hold the pedal down. When there's a break in the line, you lift the pedal.

In the example below, hold the pedal down during the last four measures, but lift it briefly between measures.

Lesson Twelve: More Musical Terms and Symbols

Emily Sigers
emily@thepianopages.com