All major keys - Worksheet

[halfstone]

I've made some worksheets covering all major keys. https://www.pianoplukk.net/completo.pdf

The idea is that the student, when practising any music, can use these worksheets to familiarise himself with that particular major keys.  These are not finger or technique exercises, the goal is to make the student used to the look and feel.

The text is in Norwegian. I haven't bothered to translate, I'll consider that if anyone asks me to. I'm not sure how good the exercises are, really. Any comments?

If anyone else has ideas about  what could/should be covered in a 'one page per key' worksheet, let me know. And what about the minor keys?


Regards
Hallstein

[johnkeller]

Did you make these yourself or find the website?

I like the order of keys: the way chord progressions go (C7 to F, to Bb etc through the increasing flats then decreasing sharps). Mostly these sort of lists do the sharps first in increasing order, which is not as useful.
 
It certainly points out how difficult our key signature system has become though: 15 different key signatures! The prospect of having to learn them all must be rather daunting to students.

I like to depict the key circle as a clock but with 0 at the top instead of 12. I write it with the flat keys on the right, sharps on the left. Then the way chord progressions naturally go is clockwise, the way time flows. And I try to make it look simple, by not putting all the enharmonic alternatives, only F#/Gb at 6.

Also, I leave out the relative minors. They are simply 'a quarter of an hour before' the relative majors, just as they are a quarter of an octave 'before' the majors on the keyboard.

John, Australia.

[ryno200sx]

I like it but you should definitely translate it into english..........

[halfstone]

 www.pianoplukk.net/completo-english.pdf

Comments on errors or any other matter are welcome.

Regards
Hallstein

[bernhard]

www.pianoplukk.net/completo-english.pdf

Comments on errors or any other matter are welcome.

Regards
Hallstein

Second line reads: “Triad root, play with 1, 3, og 5”
It should be: “Triad root, play with 1, 3, or 5”

Last line reads: “Practise hands seperately”
It should be: “Practise hands separately”

That was all I could spot.

Other than that, great work! Thanks for sharing.

Best wishes,
Bernhard.

[halfstone]

Second line reads: “Triad root, play with 1, 3, og 5”
It should be: “Triad root, play with 1, 3, or 5”

Last line reads: “Practise hands seperately”
It should be: “Practise hands separately”

That was all I could spot.

Other than that, great work! Thanks for sharing.

Thx. Thx.
The file is updated.
www.pianoplukk.net/completo-english.pdf

Regards
Hallstein

[johnkeller]

I understand now. Well done HalfStone. These exercises would be very useful as a warmup to playing in a particular key signature. One question though: Why have you included a dominant minor 7th chord near the end? It is the only chord in your exercise requiring an accidental, yet harmonically it is not a very commonly used chord. A suggestion: Instead of this chord, you could replace the III minor chord in your half key circle progression with a dominant 7th of the relative minor. This way you include the relative minor key and its primary chords in your exercise, so there is no need for a separate set for minor keys. You are teaching the key signatures, each of which implies a major as well as a relative minor key within its 'realm'.

[halfstone]

I understand now. Well done HalfStone. These exercises would be very useful as a warmup to playing in a particular key signature. One question though: Why have you included a dominant minor 7th chord near the end? It is the only chord in your exercise requiring an accidental, yet harmonically it is not a very commonly used chord.

Well, I'm a bit fond of that turnover.  Maybe a little bit cheesy.  Of course, from a teaching perspective, it's becomes clear how a IIm IV I progression can be used to lead nicely into the subdominant to the key we are currently working on.

A suggestion: Instead of this chord, you could replace the III minor chord in your half key circle progression with a dominant 7th of the relative minor. This way you include the relative minor key and its primary chords in your exercise, so there is no need for a separate set for minor keys. You are teaching the key signatures, each of which implies a major as well as a relative minor key within its 'realm'.

I have been giving this some thought. But I think that I stick to having separate sheets for the minor keys. The harmonic circle progression is very clean and uses only chords derived from the major scale with that one exception you pointed out. When it comes to minor things become different, because the relationship between chords and scale is much more complicated. I think that I'm going to build thirds and triads upon the natural minor but drop the inversions. Then I explore commonly used chords relating to the minor scales.

Any advice or ideas are welcome

Hallstein