MUSICAL ALPHABET
INTRODUCTION
01. Art and Music Connection: Artists use colors as their
medium of expression musicians use sound.
..... a. Colors you visually see start with primary colors which are then mixed into
secondary colors and further mixed into many other varieties or shades.
......b. Music also has primary pitches or TONE COLORS which also can be blended to form
different sounds (or "chords")
..............1) Colors can evoke a variety feelings in both art and music. Certain colors or blendings (shadings) of colors can make you
feel happy or sad; cause excitement or calm.
..............2) Colors can be used in contrast or be of similar shades; bright or dull.
02. Using the keyboard as an example the primary
musical tone can be demonstrated.
.......a. On the keyboard pressing down individual keys produces different sounds (TONE
COLORS)
.......b. The keys are arranged in patterns which can be clearly identified by viewing how the
black and white keys are situated. You can see and hear the patterns.
.......c. Identify the patterns of the black keys. Identify the pattern of the white keys. How
many keys are in each pattern? How many black and white keys (together) are in
one pattern?
.......d. Playing the patterns it is easy to hear them. The patterns are repeated over and over
again going higher as the keys are played going up to the right and lower when
moving down to the left.
........e. There are actually 88 keys on a full sized piano but only 7 white keys, 5 black keys
and combined together there are 12 keys in a pattern on the keyboard (called
chromatics).
........f. The musical keys are identified as colors are in art. The names given to each key in
the pattern of 7 white keys (or sounds they represent) are most often the first 7
letters from the alphabet: "A B C D E F G" called the "musical alphabet." (The "DO-RE-
MI FA SO LA TI" or "Solfege" system is the second most common way of
identification.)
........g. Since the 5 black keys [called "sharps" (#) and "flats" (b) ] derive their names from
the white keys, the names of the white keys are learned first.
03. Memorizing the notes of the musical alphabet
forwards and backwards [because music sounds will
go higher (up or forward) and lower (down or
backwards) is one of the basic foundations of
understanding music.
.........a. Thinking versus Memory: You can memorize something but not understand it and
you can understand something but not have it totally memorized. Though the two
processes work together they are different.
.................1) For performance musicians need to have their music learned as an "automatic reflex"
in order to place all their attention on the emotional and tonal aspects of the whole
piece.
.................2) Thinking while performing has the musician looking at the individual parts separately
from the whole and that takes away the musicality.
.................3) The ability to play fast musical passages are also impeded by thinking.
.................4) In music nothing is totally learned until it has become an automatic reflex.
..........b. Memorize the 7 letters of the musical alphabet forward by chanting it to a steady
patsch (a patting of the thighs with the palms of the hand) pulse over and over
accenting (or stressing) the "A" a little louder to feel the pattern of the 7 letters.
(Keep repeating this exercise at faster paces.)
...................1) Since the regular alphabet going forward is an automatic reflex for most everyone, this
is easy to do.
..........c. Memorize the 7 letters of the musical alphabet backwards by chanting it to a steady
patsch (a patting of the thighs with the palms of the hand) pulse over and over
starting with letter "G" and accenting (or stressing) the "G" a little louder to feel the
pattern of the 7 letters.
..................1) This may be more difficult because many of us were never asked to learn our regular
alphabet backwards and in order to do that requires us to think it through.
..................2) To be able to perform this from memory at a fast pace it must be learned as an
automatic reflex by dividing the backwards musical alphabet into smaller, easier
memorized sections or patterns and chanting them quickly accenting certain letter
sounds to create a rhythm as if reciting a poem. [EXAMPLE: letters enlarged should
be louder than the others "GFE" (repeat quickly 4x); "GFED" (repeat quickly 4x);
"CBA"(repeat quickly 4x); "GFED" pause "CBA" (repeat quickly 4x); "GFEDCBA"
(repeat quickly 4x)