Building Blocks: The Musical Alphabet

 

    The "Building Blocks" lessons will focus on the fundamentals of music, and is intended for those who are just starting out or know very little.  It's music theory 101.  School is in!

    What you'll learn in this lesson:

• The letters that make up the musical alphabet
• How to count the distance between two notes

    The musical alphabet consists of 7 letter names, which coincide with the white keys on a piano:

 

 

    Each of these letters represents a note.  You can see that B is one note higher than A, C is two notes higher than A, D is one note lower than E, etc.  When we get to G the letters repeat:

 

 

    This tells us that A is one note higher than G, and G is one note lower than A, as long as we're talking about the G and A that are next to each other on the keyboard.  The notes just keep repeating in both directions forever until you run out of space on your instrument.  

    We typically use numbers to represent the distance between any two notes.  This is done by calling the starting note "1" then counting up to the desired note, for example:

    E to G is a 3rd because starting with E, it takes 3 letters to get to G:  E=1, F=2, G=3. 

    C to F is a 4th because starting with C, it takes 4 letters to get to F:  C=1, D=2, E=3, F=4.

     A to B is a 2nd because starting with A, it takes 2 letters to get to B:  A=1, B=2.

    Remember that the notes start over after G, therefore:

    F to C is a 5th because starting with F, it takes 5 letters to get to C:  F=1, G=2, A=3, B=4, C=5.

     Typically we use more specific names for these distances rather than simply using generic numerals, and that is something I will cover in another lesson.

Whole-Steps and Half-Steps  >

    Feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions or want me to clarify anything for you.  I'll respond as soon as I can.