Download Benward Chapter 3

Chapter Three
Pitch and the Keyboard
Stepwise Motion
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movement from one note to the next
adjacent note
The letter name on the note changes.
C to C# is not stepwise motion. C to Db is
stepwise motion.
Half Step
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Smallest division in use in most of the music of Western
civilization
Distance between two adjacent keys on the piano
Notes in the interval of a half step can have the same
name or different names
Half Steps will be used to identify other intervals.
Songs to help identify a half step
Ascending: ti-do, Jaws Theme
Descending: Joy to the World, Fur Elise, O Little
Town of Bethlehem
The Interval of an Octave
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Twelve Half Steps
Both notes of the interval will have the same name.
Songs to help identify an octave
Ascending: A Christmas Song (Chestnuts…),
Let it Snow, Somewhere Over the
Rainbow, When You Wish Upon a Star,
Bali High, do-do
Descending: do-do
Whole Step
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2 half steps
Songs to help identify a whole step
Ascending: Frere Jaques, Doe-a-deer, Happy
Birthday, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,
Silent Night, do-re
Descending: Three Blind Mice, Mary Had a Little
Lamb, Deck the Halls, Away in a Manger, The
First Noel, Whistle While You Work
Accidentals
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Accidentals raise and lower pitches.
Always placed in front of the note in printed music
Always placed after the name of the note – example, F#
Sharp
– raises a pitch by a half step
Flat
– lowers a pitch by a half step
Double Flat
– lowers a pitch by two half steps
Double Sharp
– raises a pitch by two half steps
Natural
– cancels the preceding accidental for the
same pitch.
Enharmonic Spellings
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The same key on the keyboard can have
different names.
Notes that sound alike but have different
spellings are enharmonic equivalents.
Scale
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An orderly sequence of the notes within
an octave.
It summarizes the notes available for use
in a particular context.
Chromatic Scale
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All twelve pitches in an octave are
arranged in order
Sharps are used for ascending scales.
Flats are used for descending scales