So you’ve decided to use music theory to understand your pieces better – great decision! But where to begin? C Major can be a good place to start, because you don’t need to worry about sharps or flats in the early phases.
Let’s start with the basics. Everything in a key is based on the scale, so let’s address the C Major Scale first.
The C Major Scale
Every major scale consists of 7 unique tones, with the first tone repeated at the top of the scale for a total of 8 notes. C Major contains the following notes: C D E F G A B C.
C Major scale in notation – C Major scale on keys
Why these notes?
Every major scale consists of the same pattern of whole steps and half steps, and you can use this pattern to help construct a scale if you’re uncertain if the scale has sharps or flats.
Any major scale always starts with its principle tone, followed by a whole step…
1 – W – W – H – W – W – W – H (8)
Sometimes it can be easy to miss a step with this method, so I prefer to learn the keys and the sharps/flats in each using the circle of fifths.
Because the scale is so essential to understanding the key, I recommend practicing it daily while working to understand C Major better. Start hands separately and slowly, concentrating on proper fingering. Once you have mastered that, you can start playing hands together, building up speed, and extending the scale over multiple octaves.
Scale Degrees
As I mentioned before, every major scale has 7 unique notes, and it is common practice to number these and refer to them as scale degrees. It is important to keep these degrees in mind, because chords built on specific notes in the scale usually have a specific harmonic function.
The first note of a scale is called tonic.
(C in C Major.) Tonic is the “home” within the key, and the chord built on the tonic is always a major chord in a major key. If you want to assign a hierarchy to the chords within a key, tonic is always going to be the most important note.
The second note of a scale is called supertonic.
(D in C Major.) The chord built on the supertonic is always a minor chord in a major key.
The third note of a scale is called mediant.
(E in C Major.) The chord built on the mediant is always a minor chord in a major key.
The fourth note of a scale is called subdominant, because it is one note below the dominant.
(F in C Major.) The chord built on the subdominant is always a major chord in a major key, and is one of the most common chords in any key.
The fifth note of a scale is called dominant.
(G in C Major.) The chord built on the dominant is always a major chord in a major key. Again, if you want to think of the order of importance of chords within a key, the dominant chord is the second most important. Tonic is the home base, and dominant is the chord that shows up to tell the music it’s time to go back home, especially in classical music.
The sixth note of a scale is called submediant.
(A in C Major.) The chord built on the submediant is always a minor chord in a major key – and it’s called submediant because it’s a sort of mirror for the mediant. The mediant is the third note going up from the tonic, and the submediant is the third note going down from the tonic. This is another common chord, especially in pop music.
The seventh note of a scale is called the leading tone.
(B in C Major.) The chord built on the mediant is always a diminished chord in a major key. This chord isn’t very common in beginner music nor in pop music, however it does appear quite often in more advanced classical music.
Diatonic Chords in C Major
But what does all of that chord information mean? How do you know which notes each chord needs? The easiest way to learn all of the notes is to first look at the diatonic chords in root position – and the easiest way to find these is to move all the way through the scale playing each chord in order in root position.
What are diatonic chords? Diatonic chords are the chords that appear within a key without adding any extra sharps or flats that aren’t already in the key signature. These chords are labeled with Roman numerals for their scale degrees – uppercase for major chords, and lowercase for minor chords.
The most basic form of any diatonic chord consists of three notes (triads), and we find these by playing one note, and then skipping up twice through the scale. So to find a tonic chord, you need the first, third, and fifth notes of the scale, which in C Major are C, E, and G. To find a supertonic chord, you need the second, fourth, and sixth notes of the scale, in this case D, F, and A. And so on.
The diatonic chords in C Major are:
Tonic – I – C Major – C E G
Supertonic – ii – d minor – d f a
Mediant – iii – e minor – e g b
Subdominant – IV – F Major – FAC
Dominant – V – G Major – G B D
Submediant – vi – a minor – a c e
Leading tone – vii° – b diminished – b d f
CHART OF CHORDS ON STAFF
SHORT OF CHORDS ON PIANO
Does it seem like a lot to keep track of? You can ease your way in!
Where to start
Don’t try to keep track of all 7 chords and their inversions and extensions from day 1! In the beginning, you can get by with mastering the tonic, subdominant, and dominant chords. From there, you can start to add in inversions and more of the chords – the submediant and supertonic are a good place to continue.
Now, all of that is great as a theory…but music theory isn’t just another thing to learn and memorize. Music theory should always bring you closer to what you want to master at your instrument! And on the flip side, it’s a lot easier to understand the theory when you can test things out in a hands-on way.
One thing that really helped me in this process was using chord charts to play songs. I created a list of 14 songs and ordered them by difficulty to help you get started. If you work your way through the whole list, you’ll have mastered C Major – and beyond!
Practicing in C Major
Want a daily practice routine to help you master all of these skills within C Major? I would recommend the following structure:
- Start each practice session by playing the C Major scale (hands separately and together)
- Then play all of the diatonic chords – with one hand or both
- Play at least one standard chord progression
- Tonic, Subdominant, Dominant, Tonic (I, IV, V, I)
- Tonic, Dominant, Submediant, Subdominant (I, V, vi, IV)
- Practice one (or many!) pieces and songs in C Major
0 Comments