Key Signature Essentials: The Hdpiano Handbook
Key Signature Essentials: The Hdpiano Handbook
Key Signature Essentials: The Hdpiano Handbook
= Number of Flats
= Number of Sharps
2 2
3 3
4 1 1 4
5 5
(LH) (RH)
Left Right
Hand Hand
ARPEGGIO: Adjacent chord tones played in quick succession, up or down the keyboard.
CHORD: A collection of notes played together, usually derived from a particular scale or tonality.
CIRCLE OF FIFTHS: The distribution of all twelve keys in a circle so that every consecutive pitch is a perfect
fifth (seven half steps) above the last (when moving clockwise). In this order, only one note changes at a
time from one tonality to the next.
DIATONIC: Harmony or melody derived from the seven notes of the predominant tonality, most often the
major scale.
HARMONY: The functional relationship of chords, melodies, and tonal centers in a piece of music.
INVERSION: A re-ordering of the notes in a chord so that each note of the chord moves up or down to the
next available chord tone. For chords less than one octave, this is easily achieved by moving an exterior
note by one octave to the other side of the chord, up or down.
KEY SIGNATURE: A collection of sharps or flats used to indicate the tonal center of a piece of music.
MAJOR SCALE: A pillar of Western harmony, the major scale is a seven-note scale comprised of the
following intervals: W, W, H, W, W, W, H. (W: Whole Step, H: Half Step).
PARALLEL (SCALE): Generally used to refer to a scale starting from the same root. The parallel major of
A Minor is A Major, as opposed to the relative major which is C Major.
PENTATONIC SCALE: A five-note scale derived from the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, and 6th degrees of the major scale.
RELATIVE MINOR: A darker, ‘sister’ tonality with a root three half steps (a minor third) below the root of a
major tonality. Playing a scale from the relative minor (using the same notes as the major scale but starting
on the major scale’s 6th degree), yields the Natural Minor Scale.
STEP: An ascending or descending shift in pitch to a neighboring note. A half step is the smallest possible
interval on the keyboard, while a whole step is two half steps.
VOICE LEADING: The intentional use of inversions and register to connect successive chords
via shared chord tones.