Hello and welcome back. I'm Joseph Hoffman.
Well, it's official.
If you've gone through all of my lessons so far,
we've actually been through every possible
major and minor pentascale that exists in music.
Can you guess how many pentascales that is?
Well, let's figure it out.
In music lessons at Hoffman Academy,
we use moveable DO,
which means DO can be on any key black or white, and
DO is always the first or lowest note
of the major or minor pentascale.
For example, if I'm in the D major pentascale, D is DO.
Or if I'm in the F major pentascale, F is DO.
It can be any note. In E-flat major, E flat becomes DO,
but the relationships always stay the same. DO RE MI FA SO
Well, so let's count how many possible notes we could put DO on.
Can you count them with me?
We could have C,
or this black key here is C-sharp one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve,
and then we're back to C.
So there were twelve possible places we could put DO on.
Another way to think
about it is that there are seven white keys from C to B,
plus five black keys. Seven plus five is twelve.
So this means that you know twelve major and twelve minor pentascales
for a total of 24 different possible major and minor pentascales.
Today I'm going to show you an interesting way to practice all of these pentascales
using
a musical phenomenon called the circle of fifths.
What is the circle of fifths you ask?
Well let's come and find out together at the piano.
To discover the circle of fifths let's kind of go on a journey together of fifths.
Go ahead and try this with me. Place your right hand in the C major pentascale.
Now if C is our starting note, and we wanted to go up a fifth from C,
well that's the distance of five notes,
and in music we always count the first
note when we're measuring
distance as one. So we have one, two three, four, five.
So up a fifth from C would be G.
Now we're going to keep going on this journey. Now G will become our DO, and let's try going up another fifth
from G.
Can you try that with me? What
note would that give us?
one, two three, four, five
Now we're on D.
Well, let's keep going. Now
we're in the D major pentascale,
and let's go up another fifth.
Can you tell me
what note we'd land on? One, two three, four, five
Now we're on A.
Let's keep going from there.
We're going to cover up A major and go up five notes.
A fifth above A: one, two three, four, five
Now what are we on?
A fifth above a is E.
Now let's keep track of this so far
up on the top of the screen. We went from C to G, then G to D, then D to A,
then A to E, now we're going to keep going from there but I'm so high let's do this:
let's come and find an E down low.
So we're going to keep going and going.
So now down here let's
find a fifth above E. Using my E major pentascale
one, two three, four, five. What do I land on?
That's right, the next note is a B.
Now do you remember the B major pentascale? It's
a little tricky. We have,
White, black, black, white, black.
Now a fifth above B is actually F-sharp.
So let's add that to our list of fifths.
So we go B to F-sharp.
Now starting on F-sharp what's a fifth above that?
Our F-sharp major pentascale goes
So a fifth above F-sharp is C-sharp.
Now let's hear shift to flat names.
Don't worry about why for now. So we'll call
this D-flat,
and let's go up a fifth from D-flat.
One, two three, four, five
What note do we land on?
That's right, now we have an A-flat.
Let's find the A-flat major
pentascale and go up the fifth from there.
one, two three, four, five
We land on what?
That's right, E-flat.
Now the E-flat major pentascale, which is black, white,
white, black, black.
Let's see where we land, one, two three, four, five
We landed on a B-flat.
Let's try that pentascale.
Here we go, oh this one is black, white,
white, black, white.
one, two three, four, five
What did we land on?
That's right, an F, and once again let's bring it down to somewhere comfortable,
and we'll play the
F major pentascale, one, two three, four, five
And we land again on C.
Now this is why it's called the circle of fifths.
You can
see that if we start with C and go up a fifth,
and a fifth and a fifth,
We go a
circle through every possible key, all twelve keys
and eventually we arrive back at C.
Pretty cool huh?
That's the circle of fifths.
Now that you
know about the circle of fifths,
you're ready to try the circle of fifths
pentascale challenge.
The challenge is this:
You're going to start in the C major pentascale.
You're going to play 'Stepping and Skipping' in C major
with the I, V7, I chord progression at the end.
Then you're going to shift to C minor and play 'Stepping and Skipping' again in C minor.
Then go up a fifth and
do all of that over again in G major and G minor
'Stepping and Skipping' with the I, V7, I.
Then go up another fifth to D,
and do it again 'Stepping and
Skipping' in D major and minor, and continue like that
again and again going up fifths and repeating until you make it all the way back to C.
Oh, and I forgot one last thing.
The challenge is to do all twelve major and minor pentascales with not one single missed note.
Why am I being so picky you ask?
Well, to be a great pianist you need to know the pentascales as well as you know your name.
When you tell someone what your name is,
do you usually make a mistake?
Do you?
Do you ever say, or do I ever say hello and
welcome back I'm Joseph uh..
Hoffmeister, Hoffm--ah, Hoffman.
No, you have mastered
your name. So you never get it wrong,
and I want you to master these pentascales
so you nail them every time.
Let me give you a few hints and tips to help you
succeed at this challenge.
Tip number one: before you start to play any pentascale
make sure your fingers are already touching
the correct keys.
It's very hard to play a wrong note if you're already touching
the right note.
For example, let's say you want to play the D flat major pentascale.
Before you even try to play it, make sure every finger is touching the correct key.
If your fingers are all over the place or floating up in the air, then anything is possible.
You can play any kind of random note.
But if you're touching the
right keys, you'll play the right keys.
And then remember, part of having good
piano posture
is staying curved and relaxed on the key you're about to play.
Tip number two: As you are finding each position for your fingers,
double check by thinking of the pattern of whole steps and half steps for a major pentascale.
Do you remember what pattern is?
It's whole step, whole step,
half step, whole step.
See how I've left a gap here between DO and RE?
Remember, a whole step skips one half step in between.
There's going to be a note in
between here for this whole step,
but there's no note in between MI and FA,
and then there'll be a half step in between here.
Whole step, whole step, half step, whole step,
and that works for any major pentascale.
For example, let's say
you wanted to figure out the E-flat major pentascale.
Well you know E-flat is DO,
then RE couldn't be here because that's only a half step. We have to skip over one note black or white.
A whole step here, a whole step here, notice we
skip over this black key,
and then a half step from MI to FA, and then a whole step.
Tip number three: go nice and slow and steady.
To help with this, I recommend that you use a metronome.
Find a speed that you can play with no missed notes.
I would suggest at first setting your metronome to about 80 beats per minute.
As you get better at the challenge you can gradually increase that speed up to around a hundred or even 120.
Tip number four: I want to review quickly how to find
any V7 chord.
Remember, your I chord is always DO MI and SO.
So here would be our one chord if we're in the E-flat major pentascale.
To go to the V7 chord, all you have to do is move DO down a half step.
That's the nearest possible note to the left. So if you're on a black key,
you'll be going to
a white key, and sometimes if you're on a white key,
you'll be going to a black key, unless you're on like C, and then it would go down a half step to B,
but if
DO is E-flat you'd move DO down a half step to here,
and then MI goes up a half step to FA.
This would be your V7 chord.
Now
in minor the thing that's tricky to remember is that
now DO goes down a
half step, but since MI went down a half step to ME,
to get to the V7
chord you've got to go up a whole step.
But hey look, the V7 chord for
major or for minor is the same chord.
So just remember whatever chord you used for the V7 chord for major will be the same V7 chord for minor.
Let's try finding a couple more V7 chords.
If we're an F major, here's the I chord.
Where do we move DO to for the V7 chord?
Point to it.
That's right, DO would move down a half step to TI,
and MI would move up a half step to where?
Right here.
Here's your V7 chord for F major or F minor.
Let's try one more.
Here's the I chord for B major.
Where would be the V7 chord?
Point two the two notes that we
have to move to.
We're going to move DO to here, and MI up half step to here.
So
here's the V7 chord for B major or for B minor.
Well, that's it for tips.
Now it's time to try the challenge.
Now remember, this is tricky.
Most students take several days or even weeks to master this challenge, so be patient but persistent.
Right now we're going to play through
the entire challenge together.
If you miss a note, that's no problem, but when
that happens, missing a note that is,
then I want you to pause the video and
practice that pentascale by yourself
until you can get it three times no missed notes.
Then press play to continue.
Let's try the challenge.
Place both of
your hands in the C major pentascale.
This will be our first pentascale.
Remember we're going to play 'Stepping and Skipping'
followed by the I chord,
the V7 chord, the I chord,
then we're going to do C minor, and then proceed
up the circle of fifths.
So,
here we go. We're going to start in the C major
pentascale, 'Stepping and Skipping'.
1 2 ready, go:
I chord, V7 chord, I chord.
Now shift to C minor.
Finger 3 goes down a half step to E-flat.
1 2 ready, go:
Now we go up a fifth,
which puts us at G.
G major, all white keys. 1 2 ready, go:
V7 chord
Now G minor.
Move finger 3 down a half step, 1 2 ready, go:
Now up to D major.
Don't forget the F-sharp on finger 3.
1 2 ready, go:
Now D-minor all white keys. 1 2 ready, go:
Up a fifth to A. 1 2 ready, go:
Now A minor.
C-sharp becomes C natural. All white keys, 1 2 3, go.
Now up a fifth would be E. We're getting
kind of high so let's bring it down.
Find E major. White, black, black, white, white.
E major, 1 2 3 go:
Now E minor, the G-sharp becomes G
natural. Now it's white, black, white, white, white.
1 2 3, go:
Up a fifth to B major.
White, black, black, white, black.
1 2 3, go.
Now B-minor. D-sharp becomes D natural.
White, black, white, white, black.
1 2 3, go:
Up to F-sharp major. Black, black, black,
white, black.
1 2 3, go:
A-sharp moves down to A natural. Now it's
black, black, white, white, black. 1 2 3, go:
Up a fifth brings us to C-sharp
major. An Oreo cookie position, black cookie, cream in the middle on finger 3. Two black cookies on top.
1 2 3, go:
Now let's do C-sharp minor.
Move the white key down a half step, ready go:
How are you doing?
Hang in there. You're doing great! Let's keep it going.
A-flat major now.
Black cookie, two of them, white cream, two black cookies, 1 2 3, go:
Alright, now A-flat major becomes A-flat
minor. Move the middle white key down a half step.
1 2 3 4
Once again we're getting up high, so
let's take the E-flat, our next position, down low.
Starting with E-flat major. Black, white, white, black, black.
1 2 3, go:
Now E-flat becomes E-flat minor. Major becomes minor I should say. So,
our G becomes a G-flat. Now it's black, white,
black, black, black.
1 2 3, go:
I chord, V7, I chord.
Now up a fifth to B-flat.
Black, white, white, black, white is B-flat major.
1 2 3, go:
I chord, V7, I chord.
Now B-flat minor, the D on finger 3 becomes D-flat. Now it's black, white, black, black, white.
1 2 3, go:
Up a fifth to F. We're getting close. F major
is white, white, white, black, white.
1 2 3, go:
Now F minor A becomes A-flat. 1 2 3, go:
And you made it! We're back to C.
Try it with me, ready go:
Alright, we already did C minor so we don't need
to do it again.
Now it's your turn to practice the challenge on your own using the metronome anywhere between
80 beats per minute or a hundred beats per minute.
Or you can rewind and continue practicing with me.
Remember, your goal is to play 'Stepping and Skipping' in all twelve major and all twelve minor pentascales
in a row with no missed notes.
Not even a single crack.
This is hard. It's going to
take really dedicated hard work and practice.
This means that if you're on
your last pentascale and you miss one note,
it doesn't count as completing the challenge.
When you do miss a note, don't fret about it,
just pause on that
particular pentascale and ask yourself some questions.
Why did I miss a note?
Were my fingers touching the correct notes?
Did I check the whole, whole, half, whole, pattern?
Was I playing too fast?
Once you found the problem, see if you
can play that pentascale three times no missed notes.
It's always best to focus
on the pentascale you're struggling with.
Master it, then go back and try the challenge again.
Once you can play all twelve major and minor pentascales in a row, without a single missed note,
then you are an official pentascale master.
If you do accomplish this challenge, then please proudly sign your name in a comment below
to let me know what day you accomplish the challenge.
Happy practicing, and see you next time!
Fwew, at last I finished the circle of
fifths challenge with no missed notes!
Huh? Oh, sorry I'm afraid we missed that
Oui, c'est vrai.
Uh, would you mind doing it again?
Again?!
Scuba?