Today let’s talk about intervals. As with any musical topic, we could make this discussion very in depth and complicated. It seems like there is a never ending well of information we can learn with music theory. Today we are going to stay with the basic foundation of intervals; things your second or third year student will be learning.
Hey! I just used some intervallic terms when I described the students. I mentioned second or third year students and this offers a reference point for the knowledge of those students. Intervals in music do the same thing; they offer a reference point when reading music or playing from one piano key to the next.
When you read a book, you don’t read one letter at a time, you group letters together to form words. As you become a more fluent reader, you broaden your scope even more to read groups of words together. This is the goal of music readers.
Listen to the full episode here
Intervals on the Piano Keyboard
If you’re not yet familiar with the names of the white keys on the piano, you can learn all about them in Episode 003.
Using the C scale. Think in terms of letters. C-C, C-D, D is the second letter up from C so the interval is a second. C-E, E is the third letter up from C so the interval is a third.
Translate to any location on the piano F-F, F-G, etc. The key of E with E-E, E-F#, gets more complicated and you need to consider the key signature or scale you are playing in.
Listen to episodes 013, 023 or 033 for more information about scales and key signatures.
Some students get stuck in C position but if you know how the intervals relate to each other you can move your hand to any position and still play the music. This is called transposition, a topic for another day.
There are more advanced topics within intervals like major, minor, and perfect, or even augmented and diminished but those are also topics for another day.
Intervals on the Staff
THIS is the big deal. If a student seems unable to read/play smoothly from one note to another, they are probably weak in understanding intervals, the relationship between the notes.
Some students learn various crutches for identifying the note names on the staff (EGDBF, Landmarks) and they continue to use those when they play. The truth is, fluent sight readers and performers do not think about individual letter names when they read music and play. There is no time for that. We must read and notice relationships between notes.
What direction am I moving? Up, down, same?
What is the distance from this note to the next note? Step, skip, leap?
Notice Intervals as you play
Beginning students need to track their music by direction and distance. I often drill my students in this area. Most beginner music is steps and repeats. A common mistake is to have students identify letter names. To me, identifying notes is a necessary skill but once you have the starting note, you simply need to identify the direction.
For example, a primer piece might have this sequence of notes: E D C D E E E. Rather than calling letter names, we will say “start down down up up same same”
Here is a link from pianimation.com for you to download a free set of sight reading cards to practice reading direction and distance.
As students progress, they get into larger distances – 4th 5th, etc. They still need to notice the direction and distance. Today I’m focusing on seeing the direction and distance. An important auditory skill is to identify intervals by ear, yet another topic for another day.
One way to identify harmonic intervals, notes played simultaniously, is this:
One of each (space/line) = even interval 2nd, 4th, 6th, octave
Two of the same (space/space or line/line_ = odd interval 3rd, 5th, 7th)
Final Thoughts
One of the lovely things about playing the piano – and one of the challenging things about playing the piano – is that we are able to play multiple notes at the same time.
If you’re playing chords or harmonic intervals in one hand and multiple notes, either harmonic or eighth notes in the other hand, there is absolutely no way to say all the letter names and find the correct piano keys and keep a steady beat. No way.
Students must learn to track music from one note to the next. They must understand the direction and distance to get to that next note. As you’re working with your piano kid during home practice, spend some time identifying the names of the notes on the staff. This is an important skill. But don’t stop there. Be sure to spend time tracking their music and identifying the direction, the musical line.
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