Natalie: Hello and welcome to Gigajam, this is lesson two of the essential keyboard skills course part one, with myself, Natalie Barrass, and our tutor, Terry Gregory. Terry, how are you?
Terry: I'm fine thanks Natalie, how are you?
N: I'm very well thank you
T: Good
N: Okay, first up Gigajam, it means objectives, lesson objectives, what are they for today?
T: Four objectives, the first one is learning about scales…
N: Mmmhmm
T: …so the first part today is introducing scales. Last time we learnt notes and chords, today we're gonna take that further and learn scales for those notes and chords
N: Okay
T: So that's scales. We're also gonna relate those scales, as I say, to those chords. So the relationship between triads and scales is very important and we continue to look at that in the pathway on Gigajam. Make sure you understand how everything relates to everything else
N: Mmmhmm
T: So the relationship between the scales and the triads. Since the course is about performance, that means playing
N: Absolutely
T: It's all very well having all this knowledge and understanding it, need to put it into practice, so that means performing these scales, as scales, ascending, that means going up, and descending, that means going back down
N: Mmmhmm
T: And organising, it's the fourth objective now, organising your fingering. At the moment we're just playing with the right hand so organising a logical consistent right hand fingering. So although we might play different scales, like we might play a scale of G, and then later the scale of A
N: Mmmhmm
T: We don't necessarily need a different fingering, we can use the same fingering. So, we can kinda learn that fingering and transfer that to each scale we learn
N: Good stuff Terry…
T: Mmm
N: …okay, let's begin. Where shall we start?
T: Let's begin with a scale. Okay, so last time we were looking at the chords of A and G, so let's stick with G. There's G, so I'm playing G with my thumb, and we can see where G lives on the keyboard. It's in the middle of those three black notes
N: Mmmhmm
T: So we get our bearings, remember the A was, oh yeah the A was there, I remember that, and so on. So there's the G, and here was our triad, G, B, D. That was our G triad. So if you look at that picture, if you look at my hand
N: Mmmhmm
T: Get these other fingers out the way, you can see that I'm playing with thumb, and middle finger, and the little finger. And I've missed out a couple of notes because we only need three notes for the triad
N: Absolutely…
T: But for the…
N: …tri meaning three
T: …there you go, but for the scale we need seven notes, we need more notes. So we need to find more notes. So, we'll just pick up the notes we've left out in between the notes in the triad. So you can see here that there's a note between the first and the third note
N: Mmmhmm
T: G and B, so we'll pick that note up and include it. And that note is of course A, if you look at it you think oh yeah that, we've played that A before
N: Yeah
T: So that's G, A, B, we're headed for that D so we might as well include this note as well in our scale
N: Yeah
T: And we know that that's a C because that lives between, before those two black notes. So we've gone from G, B, and D, through to G, A, B, C and D. So it's in alphabet order…
N: Mmmhmm
T: …going up through the scale and there's our five, and I'm just using my hand, nice and relaxed and comfortable, and just stepping through the fingers, starting with the thumb, to make sure that they're all working…
N: (Laughs)
T: …and receiving, receiving the message and playing them in alphabet order
N: Alright, well we've got an exercise for this…
T: Cool
N: …with the notes…
T: Great
N: …which is exercise two
T: Okay
N: Which is just there. And if I load up the Xtractor, why don't you just explain…
T: Yeah
N: …what we'll be doing
T: Just playing thumb, one, two, three, four, and using quarter notes and just stepping through those first few notes of the scale. We haven't played the whole scale yet, but we're getting there
N: Mmmhmm, alright, okay, I'm just gonna take off the default instrument…
T: Okay
N: …which is the piano. So everything that we hear will be your beautiful playing
T: Thank you so much…
N: Here we go
T: …I hope I'm up to the challenge, here we go
(Xtractor starts playing)
N: You will be Terry…
T: Two…
N: …I have faith
T: …three, so this is G, A, B, C, D, G, A
T & N: B, C, D
T: G
N: Just keeping it going consistently
T: Yeah. It may not seem like the most beautiful piece of music ever, but it's just a means to an end. It's just to help me get all my fingers operating…
N: Mmmhmm
T: …in the right order at the right time, and in time. With a good balanced…
N: One…
T: …volume…
N: …two
T: …so that they're all…
N: …three
T: …playing at…
N: …four
T: …the
N: Yes, and note length is important isn't it, cos these are quarter notes
T: Yeah, so keep them sounding through until they get the next one
N: Mmmhmm
T: So that's exercise two, playing the notes of G, A, B, C, D, using quarter notes
(Xtractor stops playing)
T: Great
N: Beautiful…
T: Thank…
N: …stuff
T: …you Natalie. Good, so there we are so far. What we need to do is push on a bit further
N: Mmmhmm
T: We need a few more notes, so the next note in the sequence, I think it's pretty obvious, G, A, B, C, D..
N: E?
T: E would be next, and there's where the E lives
N: Alright, I've got those, description, the graphics there on the screen
T: Yeah, that's a nice illustration, very good
N: So that's the extra note there…
T: That's the…
N: …the E
T: …extra note so I know we've gonna add that one in
N: It's quite simple isn't it? I mean if you know your alphabet if, you're now up to G!
T: It's simple so far, you're alright with G, A, B, C, D, E. What comes next is a bit of a shock
N: Oh
T: As what comes next is F sharp
N: Ahh
T: So we need to discuss that, the fact that you might imagine that F comes next…
N: Yes
T: …but actually to make the sound of the scale work, you have to play an F sharp. So, G, A, B, C, D, E, that's an F, we don't need that note, we need this black note there which is F sharp
N: Mmmhmm
T: And it's called a sharp because it's a semi-tone up, it's one note up from where the F would live
N: Mmmhmm
T: So we need…and if I finish it, you can hear that that's actually the scale
N: Yeah, now that, obviously that's a lot of notes. That's more than five that we've got on our…
T: And that's…
N: …fingers and thumbs
T: And that's the problem isn't it?
N: Yeah, what did you do there? A…
T: Yeah
N: …little sneaky thumb manoeuvre
T: Right that's why we did it, only the first five notes at the beginning, because we've got five. Now we could use two hands, etcetera, etcetera, but I need this other hand, I know, later on for other stuff down here. So I'm gonna have to cheat
N: (Laughs)
T: So people have been cheating for such a long time it's become the established technique now. It's the thumb under, as you rightly say. So we've numbered our digits, thumb, one, two, three, four, thumb, first finger, second finger, third finger…
N: Yeah
T: …and fourth finger. So we're gonna play one, two, three, four, five, and then I'm gonna run out of fingers
N: Yeah
T: So rather than try and do something…
N: (Laughs)
T: …the trick that, as all keyboard players will know, is to get the thumb under again
N: Yeah
T: So you can reset the hand so you've got enough. So if you think about it you've got a total of one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight notes
N: Mmmhmm
T: So, and I've only got five fingers, so how do I divide that up? Five and three, so I could go one, two, three, and now if I skip that thumb under there
N: Yeah
T: That's gonna put me back on…
N: One, two, three, four, five, then you'll be alright
T: Then I'll have enough fingers, so let's just review that. Watch, G, A, B, that's thumb, one, two, there's three events
N: Mmmhmm
T: And now reset with the thumb
N: Mmmhmm
T: So my hand is in the perfect position to go all the way up. So it goes…thumb under
N: Mmmhmm. What would happen if you tried to do the first five, and then do the last three with your thumb?
T: You could do it but I think it's quite…
N: Oh it's awkward, yeah
T: …it's qui…my whole body's kinda going whooaahh…
N: (Laughs)
T: …cos I'm so used to going one, two, and then that thumb under. It's not too big a distance, in fact if I leave my hand there, I can almost go one, two, three, and then rea…stretch my thumb to there
N: Mmmhmm
T: Whereas I could never stretch my thumb…that sort of thing
N: All the way across, no, okay
T: So that's the accepted technique, that's what
N: Good stuff
T: Keyboard technique is about
N: Is there…
T: That's called…
N: …an exercise we can look at for this?
T: Yeah there is. That's called the thumb under technique and of course that's all explained in the software, very detailed explanations. So now what we've got is an exercise three, which I see you've already got in place, and we just go up that exercise using quarter notes. So it'll be play for a bar, play for another bar, that's four quarter notes…
N: Mmmhmm
T: …and another four quarter notes, there's our eight notes
N: Yeah
T: And then there's a bar rest while I think about it and get organised in order to play the exercise again
N: A bar rest, is that literally what it says, a rest?
T: Yeah, just that blank bar at the end with no, no notes for me to worry about
N: Mmmhmm
T: Just a chance to get a breather. I've gotta keep counting, and be aware of the tempo and of four beats passing
N: Mmm
T: But that gives me a chance to get my hand back down here, and get reorganised, think about the notes I'm playing, quarter notes G, A, B, C, D, E…
N: Mmmhmm
T: …F sharp, G. And then this thumb under technique which, as we can see, is essential
N: We've got nothing going on in the bass clef here, you know, no notes or anything
T: Yeah
N: And I'm presuming that that symbol again, that little black rectangle, means that we just need to chill out with our left hand
T: Exactly Natalie, yeah, it's a rest. We've got, in the treble clef, which is what this exercise is all about, practise for the right hand…
N: Mmmhmm
T: …allow us to get this thumb under technique happening, we've got four quarter notes and in the second bar, oh sorry the first bar is G, A, B, C
N: Mmmhmm
T: And then in the second bar, D, E, F sharp, G which completes the scale. And then that last bar as you say, there's nothing in it. But rather than just leave a blank space there, through which you might think 'umm should I be playing there?'…
N: Mmmm
T: …'or is that a mistake' or whatever. The convention is to put something in there to say, no, it's okay, this is a rest. And that is exactly what that black rectangle is, it's a rest
N: Mmmhmm, okay
T: So that means you don't have to do anything there, just relax
N: Okay, well don't relax too much because we have got you on exercise three now
T: Okay
N: Terry, here we go
(Xtractor starts playing)
T: Three, four, G, A, B, C, D, E, F sharp, G, and then that bar of rest
N: Relax
T: Three, four, G, A, B, C, D, E, F sharp, G. Fingering…
N: Relax
T: …this time?
N: Yes please
T: Thumb, one, two, thumb, one, two, three, four. The chance to practice that thumb under technique, one more
T & N: Two
N: Thumb, oh three, one, two, three, four
T: And then that bars rest
(Xtractor stops playing)
N: I quite like those rest bars
T: Yeah, chance to chill
N: Yeah, nice one
T: So if you wanted to you could loop that exercise round and round and round
N: Mmmhmm
T: In advance of, maybe, recording it or analysing or whatever. But I think I probably just need to practise it a bit more. You know, we whiz through these exercises quite a lot…
N: Yes
T: …cos we've only got a half hour show, but if I were doing this at home alone on my own, I wouldn't be whizzing through it. I'd be taking my time, going through that again and again and again so that I feel comfortable. And you know, you get a feeling don't you? You think yeah…
N: Yeah…
T: …I'm okay with this
N: …I'm there. Alright well let's go through it once…
T: Yeah
N: …more
T: So thumb, one, two, thumb, one, two, three, four. And then I'll imagine that bar of rest and the notes were G, A, B, C, D, E, F sharp, G
N: So that's…
T: Yeah, not bad
N: …ascending there?
T: Yeah
N: What about descending?
T: Well we're gonna do that in the second part, in part two we'll do descending G scale, and we'll learn some other stuff, like, for example, another scale
N: Another scale? Which other scale will…
T: I guess…
N: …we be learning?
T: …we'll do A, seems to make sense
N: Okay so, so far through the lessons we've learnt A, G, the chords of A and G, the scale of G and now we're gonna put the scale of A together
T: You can see the kind of pathway there, can't you?
N: I can see it bringing it all together
T: Yeah
N: Alright…
T: It's good
N: …stuff Terry
T: Okay
N: Join us back here for part two as Terry said, for the scale of A
N: Welcome back to part two of lesson two of the Gigajam essential keyboard skills course. I'm Natalie Barrass, this is our tutor Terry. Terry before the break we were ascending the G major scale
T: That's right
N: Why don't we descend it?
T: Good idea
N: Go back the other way
T: Yeah, I thought you might say that. So, let's just review where we were because, it's the technique, isn't it, that's important? We found that we've only got, we'll I've only got five digits…
N: (Laughs)
T: …on this hand so, but we need eight notes, so we found that thumb, one, two, and then reset with the thumb, thumb under, and that gives me enough
N: Yeah
T: So I guess we could adopt that technique in reverse for descending. So we know that our hand is all in position here, so if we go one, two, three, four, five, there's five notes of the scale, I've got three more left. So I need to get that finger in position, just as I did on the way up, so that I've got three to play the last, three fingers to play the last three…
N: Mmm
T: …notes and no more. I don't really want to waste any energy, so let's just review that. One, thumb, one, two, thumb under…and now my hand is in position
N: Yeah
T: There's the five, with the hand in position, and then just middle finger across, or middle finger over I guess would be the way…
N: Mmm
T: …to describe it. And then you're back down
N: We're hitting the same notes aren't we, with the same fingers? We're not disrupting the order or anything?
T: That's that thing about consistent fingering. The thumb always plays the G, the first finger always plays the A, and the second finger always plays the B. Then the thumb gets onto the C…
N: Mmmhmm
T: …and that thumb will play that C going up, and that thumb will play that C coming down. So yeah, it's a very good observation Natalie, that consistency. So here it comes on the way down, so if you could compare a picture of my hand going up, and which finger was playing which note, and coming back down you'd see exactly that, very good
N: Mmm
T: And the exercise here is, exercise four is, just the descending one. So I'm gonna practise this technique first on its own
N: Alright
T: I practised the other one before the break so I'd better do this one now. So, it'll be quarter notes, I'm just doing a bit of prior practise first. So the exercise is the same four quarter notes …
N: Yeah
T: …two bars and then a rest, relax bar
N: And….
(Xtractor starts playing)
N: …that middle finger over this time
T: That's the trick
N: So starting at G
T & N: F sharp
T: E, D, C, B, A, G. Bar to think about it, get back in position…
N: Mmm
T: …and G, F sharp, E, D, C, middle finger over on B, A. This time I'll do fingering I guess
N: Yeah
T: So right hand, four, three, two, one, thumb, two over. One more time?
N: Yeah, one more
T: Fingering, four, three, two, one, thumb, two over, one
N: Rest
(Xtractor stops playing)
T: There you go
N: Lovely
T: So again, you know, I could record that, I could analyse that, I think first, if I were home alone, doing this for real, I'd practise that plenty
N: Mmmhmm and maybe watch the video as well
T: Yeah, watch the video, good idea, and check somebody else out, see how their fingering looks. See how the hand moves, or doesn't move, and then just try and emulate that, just try and copy what they're doing
N: Mmmhmm
T: So there's our G major scale, descending, and as you rightly said earlier we did the G major scale ascending before the break. So we know what comes next, this kind of…
N: Putting it all together
T: …yeah, putting it all together, this kind of synchronised pathway, this clear pathway, is accumulative, you know, adding up everything we do. So we've done ascending, we've done descending, here they come, this is…
N: Putting it all together
T: …exercise five
(Xtractor starts playing)
N: Take it away Terry
T: G, A, B, C, D, E, F sharp, G. G, F sharp, E, D, C, B, A, G. So you get the G at the start…
N: Mmmhmm
T: …and a G at the top, and then we start with G again
N: Yeah, remember not to forget that note
T: Fingering this time?
N: Yes please
T: Thumb, one, two, thumb under, one, two, three, four, four, three, two, one, thumb, second finger, one more time. Thumb, one, two, thumb under, and you can see me tryna get my thumb into position…
N: Mmm
T: …early there
(Xtractor stops playing)
N: That was brilliant
T: Good, well it wasn't bad. So that's the G major scale ascending and descending…
N: Mmmhmm
T: …using quarter notes, with this clever right hand technique. Thumb under and second finger over
N: I'm guessing the trickiest bit of that would be the, keeping the fluency of sound…
T: Yeah
N: …and of movement I suppose as well when, not necessarily when you're counting up through the fingers like that, but when you're doing this thumb under, or middle finger over
T: Yes, so I can try and get the thumb in position so when I'm playing that third note I don't wait for this note really, I'm kind of going, and that's already on the way, so that by the time I'm supposed to be playing that note…
N: Yeah
T: …my thumb is already there
N: Swing it under so you're not delayed by that
T: Yeah, yeah I mean you won't get that the first couple of times you do it because you'll be struggling to put all, to put it all together. But once you've done it a few times and you know what's coming
N: Mmm
T: You can think, okay I need to be there in place in time. So I'll just kind of start that thumb off on its journey…
N: And…
T: …so it's there
N: …talking of knowing what's coming, and I know that we've got another exercise here, and we've indeed got another major scale
T: Yeah, well so far we've done in, in the two lessons, we've done the A note and the G note
N: Mmmhmm
T: And we've done the A triad and the G triad. So far we've done the G scale, what's next?
N: A major
T: Yeah, the A major scale so that we put it all together, all the stuff that we've learned so far, so we can do a scale and a triad for each of the notes we've learned. So A major scale, now, can you remember where that is? It's there, isn't it? So I'm using my thumb again to play the root note of A
N: Mmmhmm
T: And we know where A is, between those three black notes together, there's two and then there's the A and then there's one more. So we're gonna go back to this triad and scale relationship. And we know that in the G scale, the G triad was inside it, and in fact, the G triad helped us find the G scale
N: Mmmhmm
T: So if we find the A triad again, the notes were A, C sharp and E, that's gonna help us, that's gonna give us three of the notes of the scale
N: Mmmhmm
T: And then we know that the major scale is gonna follow on from that, and that relationship between the two is very good. And, you know those painted wooden Russian dolls…
N: Yes I do
T: …you've seen those before?
N: (Laughs)
T: It seems to me that, you know, it's a good analogy for music theory that the more I learn about music theory and how it relates to one another, it's more like everything's kind of inside everything else…
N: Mmmhmm
T: It's just taking them off and finding out what's there, and relating them, comparing them to one another
N: Yeah
T: So, there's the A major triad, A, C sharp and E, and we know that what we did for the G major triad, and the G major scale was we filled in the blanks. So we've got a note between the A and the C sharp
N: B
T: B, we've got an alphabet letter missing, A, C sharp, so we put that alphabet letter back in. C sharp, E is the last note in the triad, we put the D in
N: Mmmhmm
T: So again we did that before, we've got the first five notes of the A major scale. So I could practise those a bit, just to make sure I know the names of them, A, B, C sharp, D and E, okay? Then we have a look at where they live, make sure I remember that. And I'm just using my fingers in sequential order, in chronological order, but we know that what's coming next
N: Mmmhmm
T: Whatever the notes are, is gonna require this thumb under. So wherever I've gotta get to I know that's my next move..
N: Yeah
T: …thumb under after A, B, C sharp, D, E. The next note after E is gonna be, well I know what letter comes next, it's F. In this case it's F something rather than just a straight F. In this case, to make the correct scale of A major…
N: Mmmhmm
T: …it's a F sharp which is there. Followed by G sharp and then that would lead us back to A. So let's just look at those notes
N: Yeah
T: There's A again
N: So you're starting on it, and finishing on that same note but an octave higher
T: Good, so the bottom and the top of the octave. And the notes in the scale so far were gonna be A, B, C sharp, D, E, and then F sharp
N: Mmmhmm
T: G sharp
N: Mmmhmm
T: And A. So your pointing goes out on the keyboard diagram there and also on the notation on the stave there in the treble clef
N: Mmmhmm
T: You can see A, B, C sharp, D, E, F sharp with the sharp sign in front of it, G sharp with the sharp sign in front of it, and then A, and then the same thing in reverse
N: Mmmhmm
T: So the technique in the right hand fingering is the same. That same consistent fingering and I'm gonna play A, B, C sharp, D, E, then I've gotta get my thumb under…
N: Yeah
T: …for that F sharp, that's what…
N: But you're gonna do that again on the one, two, three, and then
T: That's right, so I've gotta get my thumb under early, I've gotta go one, two, three, thumb under, going up like that
N: Mmmhmm, so it goes thumb, one, two
T & N: Thumb
T: Yeah, let's just remind myself of that. There's the move, there's the tricky move. And when I get to the top
N: Mmmhmm
T: My hand is in a nice position, so I'll just repeat that in reverse, and then it's finger. So on the way up, I change for that D
N: Mmmhmm
T: And on the way down, I change for that C sharp, so it all happens here, between the D and the C sharp, and you…
N: Mmm that was the same technique of fingering that we used in the G scale
T: Exactly the same, it just looks at bit different because we've started in a different place so we've got different notes involved in this scale, but the technique is the same. Let me just try it a bit first. A, B, C sharp…
N: Mmmhmm
T: That's thumb, one, two, now I've got to get my thumb under for D, E, F sharp, G sharp. Let's try it again, A, B, C sharp, thumb, I might just try…
N: It's remembering to do that thumb isn't it? And not to want to hit the third finger?
T: Yeah cos you could, there's more fingers there left to use so you think let me, but that would be a false economy. The best thing to do is to use this fingering. So let me just practise that a few times, making exactly that move
N: Mmmhmm
T: And then I'm ready for the scale
N: And that's it descending. Alright Terry I think we need to hear this, and indeed see you playing this
(Xtractor starts playing)
T: Okay
N: So there's the Gigajam Xtractor
T: A, B, C sharp, D, E, F sharp, G sharp, A and then A again, G sharp, F sharp, E, D, C sharp, B. A, B, C sharp, D, E, F sharp, G, A, and it starts with A again, bit late but never mind
N: Terry, keep going
T: Okay
N: It's the end of the episode, but…
T: Ahh
N: …join us next time, for lesson three where we'll be developing our scales, and indeed, our triads. See you next time