Welcome to the music language. It is exciting to be able to be able to play the piano while reading the musical notes. This is called sight reading.
We can divide music theory into three main sections: Melody, Harmony and Rhythm.
This topic is the starting point of Melody. So what's a melody? If I ask you what the song is on top of your head, what would you remember from the track besides the lyrics? Yes, the tune you try to sing correctly with the lyrics is the melody of the song.
In music theory, the melody can be defined as a sequence of notes played after each other. Typically a melody can be recognised as the heart of the song and it's often memorable.
We will gradually cover topics e.g. Notes, Intervals, Scales and Modes which are under the umbrella of melody.
Musical Measures: The measurement system in Western contemporary music is based on Tones and Semi-tones. The shortest movement between two notes is counted as a semi-tone (often called a half-step). Two semi-tones in a row would make a Tone (Step). Let's have a look at some of the movements in the example below:
Semi-tone movement (Half Step)
Tone Movement (Step)
The musical alphabets are simply A B C D E F G. The Natural notes are addressed as ♮ and they can be sharpened a semi-tone higher and are shown with # (Sharp), or flattened a semitone and shown by ♭ (Flat).
Now let's have a look at the structure of the keys on the piano. It's always a good strategy to be able to draw an octave of the piano. (Watch this video to learn how to draw an octave on a blank paper).
The seven white keys are layered as below also known as Natural keys. It's easier to start memorising the keys from C following the letters up to B.
In this pattern, there are two black keys on the left (the shorter passage) and another three black keys on the right ( the longer passage). You can find this sequence on any full-length piano repeated seven times in a row. Bear in mind the full-length piano starts with the key A at the very bottom left. If you have access to any type of piano try to locate this sequence.
Number of Octaves
On the other hand, each black key on the piano has a neighbouring of two white keys and they are called Accidentals. Accidentals have the luxury of being addressed by two notes/ keys depending on their location. Look at the image below:
As an example, the key F# is surrounded by two white keys ( F on the left and G on the right). Therefore F# is semi-tone higher than The natural F and also semi-tone lower than the natural G. So F# and Gb are the same keys on any instrument including
the piano.
Exception: You may have noticed that between natural E and F, there are no black keys. This means there is only a semi-tone distance between these two natural keys. The exception also happens between another two natural keys B and C ( this is easier to observe on a larger scale of keys on the piano).
To evolve our understating of the foundation of melody in music theory we will learn different types of scales using the measurement system.
As a practice try to find different Tone (full step) movements on your instrument or the drawn piano on the paper between different keys. How many can you find in one octave from C to B?
If you have any questions write them in the comment section.
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