do re me fa so la ti do

Reference notes for piano:

C-C#-D-D#-E-F-F#-G-G#-A-A#-B-C

Note: the unique sound made by instrument.

(#)Sharp note has higher pitch. simply the button right side to the C note i.e., C# (black note).

(b)Flat note has a lower pitch. simply the button to the left side of the C note i.e., Cb or B note.

Key: the name of collection of notes with a unique sound in a scale.

Key is a scale which is determined by the starting note of scale. As in C major scale: C is the starting note and C in the name is the ‘key’ of the C major scale.

Scale: unique set of notes played in a sequence.

Tone: the interval between notes on instrument or in scale.

Simply, The distance between two separate buttons on piano.

Whole tone is separated by one white or black button.

Semitone does not have any buttons in between.

Scales can be of different kinds like Blues, Indian, Jazz, Major, Minor….

Major scales follow a sequence of intervals.

Major scale: W-W-H-W-W-W-H

W: whole tone

H: Half tone

Example: C major scale

C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C

Minor scales can be traced through major scales.

Go three half tones from the base key of the major scale. Here lets consider C major Scale. Three halftones to the left of C is A.

The keys in C major scale are C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C.

In A minor scale, the keys would be: A-B-C-D-E-F-G-A. i.e., The same keys from C major but starting with A.

Or you can say that play C major scale from the 6th key i.e., A and you end up playing A minor scale.

Minor scale: W-H-W-W-H-W-W

Degree of note: In scales Each note is given a number from starting from left. This number is known as degree.

Chords: Group of notes played together. It can be di, triad, tetrad etc.

Generally chords used in music we listen everyday are triads, three notes played at the same time.

there are many kinds of chords just as scales.

An example of C chord being C-E-G. And when played starting with A The sixth degree of the C major scale, and playing A-C-E Its known as the sixth chord in the key of C.

Major triad chord: 4H-3H interval between three notes.

example: C-E-G

Minor triad chord: 3H-4H interval between three notes.

Example: C-D#-G

Diminished triad Chord: 3H-3H interval between three notes. (a bit complicated chord to understand)

Major chord is denoted with the capital roman numeral of the degree of the first note in the chord as in I for 1 major. and minor chord is noted as the lowercase roman numeral for the degree of the first note in the chord as in ii for 2 minor. diminished chord is noted as dim followed by the degree of the first note in the chord as Arabic numeral as in dim7 for 7 diminished.

Chord Progression

Chords played in an order as in chords in the key(group of notes in a scale) of C major I-iv-V

Octave means 8 notes, all the notes from C to B. Octave of a note, in music, refers to a note that vibrates with twice the frequency of the selected note, which would be the same note in the next set of octave. the octave note of A is the also an A note you will find in the next octave. The pitch of A note after the middle C is considered as the International standard Pitch with frequency of 440 Hz.

Inversions: playing a chord by moving the base note(first note) up an octave. the inversion of chord C-E-G is E-G-C this C belongs to next octave. As noted here C-C#-D-D#-E-F-F#-G-G#-A-A#-B-C-C#-D-D#-E-F-F#-G-G#-A-A#-B

Melody: the music that stands out of all other music.

passing notes are notes other than the notes in chord but in the key.

To create one, play notes in a key while playing chords in the same key.

Rhythm

Counting System

|———| : Bar/Measure

|—I—I—| : Bar is divided into beats

1 2 3 4

basic kind of rhythm is of 4 to 4 beats

whole note counts for 4 beats long

half note counts for 2 beats long

so are quarter, eight, and sixteenth note and count for 1, 1/2, and 1/4 of beat.

1/8th note is generally represented as & on bar.

|-I-I-I-|-I-I-I-|-I-I-I-|

1 e&a 2 e&a 3 e&a 4

e-&-a represent 1/16th beats.

4 (beats per measure/bar )

4 (how long each beat is)