Teaching chords to young ones

[rlefebvr]

I am in the process of teaching my nieces the piano. Age 7 and 8.
It is my first time teaching students at such a young age and I am not sure when or how to teach them about Chords.

QUESTION: How to teach them Chords?
They are not strong enough to play them so early, so how do you teach it to them?
Do you have them play them one note at a time like a scale?
They are easily 4 months away before I have to worry about this, but I feel this should be tought as early as possible. At least the basics.

[Jenny Lynn]

Hi,
I have had a lot of luck teaching chords after my students most of the major and minor scales and arpeggios under their belt (usually a few months). Then, I teach chords by telling them to think about how arpeggios are built, and building from there....  I also have them analyze simple chord progressions in pieces that they're playing, encouraging them to really listen to the changes.

[bernhard]

Yes, they are strong enough, believe me.

The problem lies elsewhere. Imagine playing a C major chord (CEG) with fingers 1-3-5 (RH). You must “brace” fingers 1-3-5 in order to press the keys, and you must relax fingers 2 – 4 so that they do  not press any unwanted key. It is this selective bracing/relaxing of different fingers (they all want to move sympathetically) that is the real problem for children trying to play chords.

How do they learn to do it? By doing it over and over again until they can do it! But it is important that the above is pointed about to them so that they know where the problem lies and direct their efforts in the correct direction. Saying that it is a matter of strength will direct their efforts not only in the wrong direction (since it is not strength that is needed), as it will be inefficient (since adding more strength without sorting out the finger co-ordination/independence will not result in any improvement). Result: frustration, discouragement and loss of motivation (summed up in the often heard sentence: “I will never be able to do that!”)

As for teaching chords apart from a theoretical point of view. Although Jenny is right that a working knowledge of scales will help. It may take many months and it is not strictly necessary. Here is how to do it in a couple of weeks (or days if the child is up to it):

1.      Make a clear aim: to memorise the names and notes/keyboard placements of the 12 major chords in root position. (Think about it: it is only 12 chords! It should be child’s play!)

2.      Start with F major. Spend a lot of time showing the chord pattern: start on F, skip a note to A, skip a note to C. Make them say aloud the name of the chord as they play it. Do not rush this step: if this is well learned, the other chords will be a piece of cake. Play the chord all over the keyboard. Refer to the black keys to locate the white keys. They must work on it until they “know” that the F major chord is centred around the group of three black keys. Only when the F major chord is thoroughly memorised, move on to the next step (this may take several sessions).

3.      Now tell them that there are only three major chords that have only white keys: F major, C major and G major. Show how they are formed exactly the same way (start on the note that gives the chord name and skip a note). Then blow their minds by pointing out that if you start in the chord of F, the last note of the chord is C, so by starting the process of chord formation on the last note of the F chord, you get the C chord. Likewise by starting on the last note of the C chord you get the G chord. And the three of them have white keys only! You spent enough time on step 2, this step should come very quickly (in my experience it comes almost immediately).

4.      Now, spend sometime with these three major chords. Pick up nursery rhymes and play the tune in the key of C, and uses these three chords to harmonise the melody (any melody in C can always be harmonised by C – G – F chords). This will not only reinforce their chord recognition skills as it will ear train them – in the beginning the harmonisation will be by trial and error (more errors then trials!) but soon they will start harmonising by “ear” (which is one of the most valuable skills a musician can have). Moreover, now they will know what they are doing all this chord stuff! How can it be boring when you are showing a direct application? Even a s you move to the next step, keep doing this one.

5.      Once the F-C-G chords are thoroughly memorised, keep the process of going to the last note of the previous chord and building the new chord from it. So, the last note of the G chord was D: There, you have the D major chord. But now, you must have a black key in the middle. Do not worry explaining any of this at the moment. The explanation can wait for the day once they know their scales and intervals. The only important thing at this stage is chord recognition. By the same process you get the two next chords: A major and E major. These three new chords (D – A – E) all have a black key in the middle. Stick with these three chords for as long as it takes for them to thoroughly know them (believe me, it will not take long). If you feel they can take it, give them nursery rhymes (or any simple tune they are familiar with) in other keys for them to harmonise. Here is the secret rule. Consider the sequence so far:

F – C – G – D – A – E

With this chords you can harmonise any tune in the keys of C – G – D – A. Just pick the chord to the right and the chord to the left and you have it. So, if your tune is in G major, the chords C-G-D should harmonise it. If it is in the key of D major, G-D-A should harmonise it. This will introduce them to modulations.

So reinforce this for your students: three chords on white keys only; three chords with one black key in the middle. And they all are linked by their last note. Once this step is completely ingrained, add the next three chords.

6.      Now instead of following the process we followed so far of creating a chord form the last note of the previous chord, we will make a little detour. Up to now we had three all white chords, and three all black chords. Now, simply teach them three new chords: they all have one white key in the middle:  Db - Ab –Eb.

These three chords are linked to each other (the last note of Db  major - Ab  - is the first note of the Ab major chord, and the last note of Ab major  - Eb – in the first note of the Eb major chord), but seem not to be related to the previous ones (F-C-G-D-A-E). That’s Ok, it will all come together in the next step.

In the meantime, these three new chords will harmonise any tune in the key of Ab major.

So where did we get do far? We have three white key chords: F-C-G
We have three black key in the middle chords: D- A-E.
These six chords are linked: F-C-G-D-A-E
And we have three chords that have a white key in the middle and seem unrelated to six above: Db – Ab – Eb.

Now we must tackle the last three chords: They are three of a kind.

7.      Show them the Bb major chord. This chord has a unique pattern that no other major chord has: A black key followed by two white keys. By this stage, your students should be thoroughly used to the “sound” of a major chord, so even if they play the wrong notes, they will know it straightaway by ear. This is a most important chord, because it will link all the chords learn so far:

Db – Ab – Eb – Bb – F – C – G – D – A – E.

It will also allow them  - at this stage – to harmonise any tune in the keys of Db – Ab – Eb – Bb – F – C – G – D – A – E by using the chords to the right and to the left.

8.      Finally, introduce them to the last two major chords: B major, which is the mirror image of Bb major – it has one white note followed by two black notes, and Gb major, which is the only chord with only black keys. Now you can complete the sequence:

Gb – Db – Ab – Eb – Bb – F – C – G – D – A – E – B

By the way, you have just showed them the cycle of fifths (but this can be explained later, much later). For the moment you have taught them the twelve major chords in a way that they can easily remember:

3 white key chords: F – C – G
3 black key in the middle chords: D – A – E
3 white key in the middle chords: Db – Ab – Eb
3 “one of a kid chords”: Black- White – white: Bb
WBB – B
BBB – Gb.

And if they start at the BBB chord (Gb) and always start the new chord from the last note of the previous one, they should get all the twelve chords in the sequence of the cycle of fifths.

9.      Once they can do that in their sleep, see if they can do it chromatically, that is following the sequence: C – Db – D – Eb – E – F – Gb – G – Ab – A – Bb – B.

The most important advice I can give now is not to rush each step. Take as much time as needed at any step: it will be time well invested, since it will save time on the following steps.

Once they know their 12 major chords (by ear, by key pattern, by note name), move on to the minor chords.

10.      Minor chords can be taught in ten seconds if the major chords have been thoroughly mastered: go down one semitone on the middle key of the major chord. For instance: C major C-E-G becomes C minor: C-Eb-G. If they truly know their major chords that is all you need to tell them. The same goes for the next chords.

11.      Diminished chords: the last note of the minor chord goes down one semitone: for instance: C minor = C Eb G becomes C dim = C Eb Gb .

Or the top two notes of a major chord go down a semitone.

12.      Augmented chords: The top note of a major chord goes up a semitone: C = C E G becomes C aug = C – E – G#.

13.      Seventh chords: Count three keys (black or white) up from the last note of the major chord and add that note to the chord: C major: C – E – G. Add three keys from the last note: Ab – A – Bb. Add the Bb to the major chord: C7 = C – E – G – Bb

14.      Minor seventh chords: As above, but starting from a minor chord: Cm7 = C – Eb – G – Bb

15.      Diminished sevenths: As above but starting form the diminished chord: Cdim7 = C – Eb – Gb – A

16.      This gives you 7 basic chords in 12 keys to play about (a total of 84 chords). Once these are thoroughly mastered, add inversions.

Best wishes,
Bernhard.

[rlefebvr]

Finally found the thread.

I have asked this elsewhere, but I think it better followed here.

Things going great by the way.

I am confused as to when I should start teaching the inversions.

Right after the first 12 or after the minors and sevenths and so on.

I believe I should start now that they have mastered the 12 first in the primary position before going to the minors and others, but would like your input first.

[bernhard]

I tend to teach major minor and diminished chords first. Once these are thoroughly ingrained, then I do the inversions.

The reasons for doing it this way:

1.      I try to tie up basic information with actual problems as soon as I can. If you know major, minor and diminished chords you can start harmonising straightaway simple tunes (nursery rhymes, folk songs and some pop music). This always keeps interest and motivation high. In fact I start with harmonisations of tunes as soon as I get I, IV, V.

2.      Once you know major, minor and diminished, this ties up with scales beautifully, since from the seven notes of any scale you can build 3 major chord (I, IV, V), 3 minor chords (II, III, VI) and one diminished chord (VII). Then you can tie this up with the notion of key and harmony.

3.      Inversions, for some weird reason are always very difficult (I cannot really understand why: to me it is totally obvious – but most students seem completely lost with the idea that the order of the notes does not matter, it is still the same chord).

Of course this will depend to a certain extent on the student. If the student can tae inversions straightaway, teach it as soon as s/he knows all the 12 major chords. If s/he is thrown in total confusion, delay it and teach the minor chords. Then try again. If it is still a mystery, delay it again and teach the diminished chords. Then try once more. At this point I will not delay it, I will insist on them getting their act together, because a triad has only two inversions, but once you start with 4 note chords (sevenths etc.), then there are three inversions to every chord and chord naming becomes increasingly complex, since a 4 note chord will accept several different names.

There are two major teaching methods. Think of a panting. You can do a painting by making a charcoal sketch, then a first wash of paint, then a second wash on top of the first, and keep adding layers until you get to the final painting. At every stage you are working on the whole canvas, and at each added layer you define your painting further. This is what I am suggesting above.

The second method is to start on a corner of the canvas and paint a little square as perfect as possible. Then move on to the next bit of canvas, and so on. So at any given time you have part of the canvas, which is completely empty, and part, which is finished to the minimum details. If you were teaching by this method, you would be teaching the chord of C major, and then its inversions, and the scale of C major, and you would move to the next chord/key only after you had explored C major completely.

Both methods work, but some subjects are more appropriately dealt with one or the other. Also some students respond better to one or the other. The same can be said of learning pieces. In general I tend to teach counterpoint music by the layered method, and other music by the detailed section method.

For scales and chords I also prefer to use the layered method (this means that instead of concentrating in one scale until it is perfect, form the very beginning I teach all twelve major scales, adding complexity as we progress).

However there are no rules. You must do what works. If what you re not doing is not working, try something else.

Best wishes,
Bernhard.