User Manual

All notes and keys correspond to a pitch—or tone frequency. On a keyboard, each key typically
represents a semitone, meaning that it is a “half step” higher or lower in pitch than the next
key (though other tunings exist as well). To play melodies or chords that sound good together,
notes are usually grouped together in scales. In the Western music tradition, a scale typically
covers seven white keys and five black keys on a keyboard or piano: an octave. It is called so
because the eighth key that follows the seventh contiguous white key plays the same note as
the first of the seven. That key is called the root note. A scale then, is a certain combination of
white and black keys (each representing a semitone) within an octave. By playing only the keys
belonging to some scale, you are certain to stay “in key” within that scale. Important to note
though, is that scales are not made up by absolute note values, but rather consist of relative
changes in pitch—or steps along the scale. For example, the major scale consists of
“whole step–whole step–half step–whole step–whole step–whole step–half step,” which means
that you can transpose the scale up and down a keyboard; choose any root note you want and
play the scale from there.
7.3.2 Chords
Polyphonic instruments let you play multiple notes simultaneously—in other words chords. As
an example, let’s see how to build up a chord by selecting individual notes from a scale and
playing them simultaneously. In this case, we’ll use the C major scale. As we saw above in sec-
tion ↑7.3.1, Scales, the major scale starts with two whole steps, followed by a half step, and
then three more whole steps until it ends with another half step. We can use this knowledge to
play a C major chord by pressing the root note C, then pressing another key two whole steps
above C (the E note) and then yet another key a half step and a whole step further up the key-
board (the G note) all simultaneously. This C major chord corresponds to a root note (C), a
third (E) and a fifth (G), which is the note interval of a major triad. By playing a triad chord you
have just learned the concept of musical harmony, where notes are stacked together into
chords and played simultaneously.
7.3.3 Arpeggios
In section ↑7.3.2, Chords above you read about the combination of notes and playing them to-
gether as chords. You can also play them like diachronic note sequences, quite like playing the
harp—or arpeggio. If chords have to do with adding harmony to a note, then arpeggios add
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A Note about Music Theory
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