Half Steps, Whole Steps, and Pentascales (Unit 4)

Hello and welcome back. I'm Joseph
Hoffman.
Today we are reviewing half steps and whole steps,
and practicing all the pentascales we've learned so far.
So let's come over to the piano to get started.
Let's review what is a half step.
A half step is two notes that have no note in between them.
They're completely adjacent.
For example,
we have this E here.
What is a half step above E?
The answer is F.
What about if we started on F?
what is a half step above F?
The correct answer is F-sharp.
So it could be going from a white note to a
white note as in the case from E to F, but sometimes
it's going from a white note to a black note,
or it could be going from a black note to a white note.
The important thing is that for a half step there can be no note in between.
For example, C to D
is not a half step
because we have this C sharp
in between.
So let's practice finding some half steps.
I'll place one note down, and you find a half step above it.
Point to the half step above this note.
If you're pointing here you're correct.
Now, point to a half step above this note.
If you're pointing here, you're correct.
Now let's do some half steps below.
Find the half step below this note.
If you're pointing here, you're correct.
Now find a half step below this note.
If you're pointing here, you're correct.
Last one.
Can you point to the half step below this E?
If you're pointing here to E-flat,
you are correct.
Now let's review what is a whole step.
A whole step basically is the distance of
two half steps.
For example,
C to D is a whole step.
Another way to think about a whole step is you have to pass over exactly one note.
remember from here to here would be a half step,
and then from here to here
is a half step so you add those up,
and from C to D makes a whole step.
Once again, the trick is to always pass over one note to make a whole step.
It could be a black or it could be a white.
For example, let's find a whole step above E.
We have to pass over F and go to F-sharp.
So from E to F-sharp is a whole step.
It can also be from a black to a black key.
For example, if we start on F-sharp,
what is a whole step above F-sharp?
Well, we have to pass over G
to go to G-sharp.
So F-sharp to G-sharp
is a whole step.
Now let's have you find some whole steps.
I'll place a note and you point to the whole step above.
Point to the whole
step above A.
If you're pointing to B here, you're correct.
Now, point to a whole step above B.
If you're pointing here to C-sharp you're
correct.
Now, can you point to a whole step above C-sharp?
If you're pointing here to D-sharp you are correct.
Now, can you point to a whole step above this
note?
If you're pointing right here to F you are correct.
Now let's find some whole steps below.
Where's the whole step below A-flat?
If you're pointing here to G-flat you're correct.
What is a whole step below E?
If you're
pointing here to D, you are correct.
Now let's talk about the formula for
building a major pentascale.
A major pentascale you'll recall is made up of five notes.
DO is the lowest note of pentascale.
and then DO steps up to RE, steps up to MI.
And DO to RE, and RE to MI are both whole steps.
Then MI to FA is a half step
followed by FA to SO, which is another whole step.
So basically DO RE MI FA SO are all whole steps except
from MI to FA
Now let's try to apply that to finding pentascales on the piano.
If we want to
build a major pentascale on C,
that means C is DO,
then we need to go up a whole step,
then another whole step,
then we need a half step,
and then finally another whole step.
So see that naturally
all of the notes fall on white keys
because
since there's no black key here we naturally have a half step
already between MI and FA.
But now if we want to put
the pentascale starting on D with D as DO,
now you'll see we need a whole step from DO to RE,
but then MI
to FA we need to move
this note up to F-sharp in order to create a whole step here,
and then we have the half step where it belongs:
between F-sharp and G, on MI to FA.
Now let's try some trickier ones.
I'll place DO and see if you can
place your fingers on your piano
touching the correct keys of the pentascale.
For example, if I place this note here on A,
can you touch all of the notes that make the A major pentascale?
In a few moments the correct answer will appear.
These are the five notes of the A major pentascale.
I've made the half-step green to remind yo ...