by Tania Gleaves on January 6, 2012
You have been hearing about the music theory key signature during your first piano lesson but do you know what they are made of? Key signatures are actually one of the basic foundations of playing the piano. These music fundamentals guide you in “tuning” the music pieces you are playing.
Music theory key signature can be found at the beginning of every music sheet, other times they can be found in other parts of the music sheet, which all depends on the composer of the music piece. Key signatures are composed of either sharps or flats. At first you might think that they are similar to accidentals but they are totally different.
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Accidentals only require you to play a key in its sharp or flat tune if you see the symbol right before the key. But key signatures require you to play the sharp or flat tune of every key they are embedded on, all throughout the music sheet except when you see the natural symbol before the key. You can see the difference of accidentals and key signatures at the figure below.
Another thing you should know about the music theory key signature is the enharmonic equivalents of all the orders of sharps and flats. The orders of sharps and the orders of flats may be written in a different manner and corresponds to different keys but they are all played the same way in the piano.
The easiest way to learn the music theory key signature is to memorize the C sharp and the C flat key signatures. C sharp has seven sharps all in all, when you remove the last sharp, you’ll get the next key signature which is F sharp that has only six sharps as its key signature. Keep on doing this until you reach C major, which doesn’t have any sharp in its key signature.
You can also apply this basic knowledge to the order of flats key signature. When you remove the seventh flat symbol of the C flat key signature, you will get the G flat key signature. The process goes on until you reach the C major which doesn’t have any flats.
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by Tania Gleaves on December 21, 2011
There are some basic steps on how to develop sight reading music. Sight read music simply means easily reading a music piece and putting it into action right away without exerting much thinking effort because the music flows naturally from your sight to your fingers. This skill can be acquired and enhanced by every pianist through constant practice.
The first step to master sight reading music is to find several music pieces that meet your piano skill level or you could also use some music pieces which are a bit easier. Always be sure to use a music piece which is totally new to you because this allows the skill on how to learn to sight read music flow more naturally.
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Sit on the piano and look at the overall music piece and try to understand how the music goes without actually playing it. Look at the notes, chords, time signature, and key signature and play the music’s hymn inside your head. After that, breathe deep and start playing from the beginning. Don’t worry if you make a mistake every now and then because it is only natural. The key here is to keep on going while correcting your mistakes, don’t be frustrated if you hit the wrong notes.
After playing the piece for the first time, repeat the process until you get the hang of it, fewer or no mistakes this time around. When you feel like you are ready to add chords to the notes you are playing, go ahead, this is a perfect time for you to practice chord progression as well. When everything sounds great, start following the time signature and adding some beat to the music you’re playing.
Before you know it, you are playing the music piece without putting much thinking effort as if it flows naturally straight from your sight. This is how sight reading music works. When you have mastered the first music piece, start with a new music piece and put the basic steps into action. When you have honed the sight reading music skill, you can play any music piece thrown at you even in an impromptu performance.
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