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\n…from a physical level of perception. In addition to the white and black notes, there are blue notes on the piano and the goal of this lesson is to show you how they can be determined.<\/p>\n
In today’s lesson, we’ll be focusing on the white, black, and blue notes on the piano.<\/p>\n
The keyboard has black and white notes:
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\n…from a physical level of perception. In addition to the white and black notes, there are blue notes on the piano and the goal of this lesson is to show you how they can be determined.<\/p>\n
Let’s get started.<\/p>\n
There are 7 unique white notes on the piano and they are named using the first seven Roman alphabets – A, B, C, D, E, F, and G.<\/p>\n
However, due to a variety of reasons that we may not delve into in this lesson, C is considered as the first white note on the piano.<\/p>\n
Check out all the white notes from C to B:
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\nThe entire keyboard layout consists of duplicates of these unique 7 white notes.<\/p>\n
A collection of all the white notes on the piano from C to C:
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\n…produces a major scale – the C major scale.<\/p>\n
There are 5 unique black notes on the piano and they are named using the first seven Roman alphabets – A, B, C, D, E, F, and G and pitch modifiers like the sharp (#) and flat (b)<\/p>\n
Check out all the black notes from F# to D#:
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\n…or from Gb to Eb:
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\nThe entire keyboard layout consists of duplicates of these unique 5 black notes.<\/p>\n
A collection of all the white notes on the piano from F# to F#:
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\n…produces a major pentatonic scale – the F# major pentatonic scale.<\/p>\n
Music is physical and mental. According to Kenny Werner, “music is 95% mental and 5% physical” <\/em>and I can’t agree more.<\/p>\n The same way we have physical colors on the piano — which are black and white, there are mental colors as well. If you don’t believe me, ask any medical personnel about the medical condition called chromesthesia, where sounds are changed to mental colors when heard.<\/p>\n One of the mental colors we have on the piano is blue and we’ll be exploring blue notes in the next segment.<\/p>\n Like I established in the previous segment, blue notes are not physically blue in color. Just like red is used to depict love or danger most of the time, the color blue <\/em>is used to depict melancholy, express sadness, etc.<\/p>\n Simply put, blue notes when played, convey a distinct emotional content that’s synonymous with worry, pain, sadness, etc.<\/p>\n Blue notes are derived from the natural major scale when its third, fifth, and seventh tones are lowered by a half-step. For example, the blue notes in the key of C: Blue notes are foreign to the key and that’s why they are said to be chromatic notes. In the key of C major: However, there’s a relationship between the blue notes and the key. Two out of the three blue notes in the key of C major (Eb and Bb): Now you know there are blue notes on the piano. In a subsequent lesson, we’ll focus on how these blue notes can be applied.<\/p>\n See you then!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There are blue notes on the piano. Although physically, one can see only white and black notes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":22584,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-piano","post-wrapper","thrv_wrapper"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Blue Notes<\/h2>\n
“What Are Blue Notes?”<\/em><\/h3>\n
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\n…can be derived from the third, fifth, and seventh tones (which are E, G, and B):
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\n…by lowering them by a half-step to Eb, Gb, and Bb:
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\nSo, Eb (the lowered third):
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\n…Gb (the lowered fifth):
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\n…and Bb (the lowered seventh):
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\n…are the blue notes in the key of C major:
\n<\/p>\n
Tonal Characteristics Of Blue Notes<\/h3>\n
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\n…the blue notes (which are Eb, Gb, and Bb):
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\n…are foreign to the key (aka – “chromatic”).<\/p>\n
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\n…are the third and seventh tones in the key of C minor:
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\nSo the use of blue notes in the major key introduces elements of the minor key into the major key.<\/p>\nFinal Words<\/h2>\n