B Major & Minor Improvisation

Hello and welcome back I'm Joseph Hoffman.
Today we're going to be improvising
using two new pentascales.
One major and one minor,
but here's the surprise:
our pentascale today doesn't start on a black key.
There actually is still one
white key pentascale that we've never tried together.
In past lessons we've
learned C D E F G and A major and minor,
but we've never tried B major or minor.
So let's begin by coming to the piano so you can become an expert at playing it.
today I'd actually like to see if you can figure out the B major pentascale on your own.
But don't worry, I'm going to give you some hints.
Hint number one: it's going to start on a B.
So B will be our DO.
Hint number two: remember that in a major pentascale DO to RE and RE to MI are whole steps.
And remember a whole
step equals two half steps.
Like here to here would be a half step, so that's not
far enough. You have to go one more
half step. Oh, I'm about to give away the answer.
So remember it's all whole steps except MI to FA is a half step, and then FA to SO is another whole step.
Hint number three: even though DO is a
white key, there are going to be a few
black keys in this pentascale.
Now press pause and see if you can figure out the five notes of the B major pentascale.
Press play again when you're ready to check your answer.
Alright let me show you how I would
figure out the B major pentascale.
I know that DO to RE is a whole step, so I have
to go not just one half step, but one more half step
up to the C-sharp.
Then I need to go another whole step
This wouldn't be far enough to D. I have
to go to D-sharp.
That would be a whole step above RE. DO RE MI
MI to FA is a half
step. So now I go to the nearest possible note.
Now I finish with one more whole
step up to F-sharp,
isn't this a funny looking position?
Alright, let's try
to name each key using sharp names for the black keys.
Starting on B, ready
name them with me, go: B C-sharp D-sharp E
F-sharp, great.
Now point to the note we
would need to change to turn this into B minor.
If you're pointing here you're correct.
It's always the third note. We have to
lower a half step for minor.
So the D-sharp would become D natural.
Now let's try to play 'Stepping and Skipping' in the B major pentascale.
Can you cover up B major with both hands?
Get in position
and we're going to play 'Stepping and
Skipping' 1 2 ready go:
♫Stepping up, and stepping down, and skipping up and down♫
Oh, I forgot to figure out the V7 chord with you.
So let's pause right there.
The I chord you know will have a DO MI and SO like this. This would be our I chord.
Now can you point to where TI would be? If this is DO, where's a half step below?
If you
pointed right here to A-sharp you're correct.
And then MI has to go up to FA
for the V7 chord.
So in B major the V7 chord has an A-sharp, an E, and
an F-sharp.
That will sound like this: I chord
V7 chord, I chord
Now let's practice that together.
Cover up and let's play the I chord,
V7 chord, I chord. Ready, go:
I chord
V7 chord
I chord
Good job!
Now let's try 'Stepping and Skipping' in the B minor pentascale.
Remember that
the V7 chord is the same for major or minor,
so we'll still have those
same notes, but the I chord in minor
will now have a white key in the middle:
D natural.
So cover up the B minor pentascale, and let's try 'Stepping and Skipping' together both hands.
1 2 ready, go:
♫Stepping up, and stepping down,
and skipping up and down♫
I chord
V7 chord
I chord
Good.
Now let's try
to play "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" in B major.
So let's take our right hand and cover
up the B major pentascale.
Remember when our left hand crosses over it's going to
come up to a B.
Since we're in the key of B, B is DO. So it'll be ♫Merrily♫, and then down from there.
Lets try "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" together starting
on B.
Ready, go:
♫Row, row, row your boat gently down the stream♫
Left hand crosses over.
♫merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream♫
Good now on your own for a super
challenge you could try adding chords in the left hand
using the I and the V7 chords. ♫Row, row,♫
I'm going to let you try that on your own because now it's
time to do an improvisation together.
I'd like to do two improvisations today.
One in B major, and then another one in B minor.
But let's do major first.
So take
your right or left hand and cover up a B major position,
and I think not near middle C, but maybe one ...