White keys with names can be easily called by any layman, but where did the “intermediate” come from? For this, there are signs of alteration in music. With their help, the sound options become much larger, the number of notes on which you can build a composition increases.
Sheet music and keys
If you look at the keyboard on the piano, you will notice that it is divided into the same sectors - octaves. Each of them has 12 sounds. Only 7 are known: do, re, mi, fa, salt, la, si. These are the so-called main sounds lying exactly on the white keys - it is difficult to make a mistake.
Keys are arranged in such a way as to make writing and playing music as simple as possible. They give a systematization, sound about the same, only at different heights. Only major and minor can be distinguished without difficulty — they sound “fun” and “sad,” respectively.
The main sounds are 2 keys:
This means that when playing and composing, these keys will not use black keys - they are not in the scale. They are considered parallel, because with a different character and tonic they have one set of sounds.
Halving tone
Between all the main notes, the “distance” is exactly one tone, except for mi-fa and si-do, where the interval is only half the tone. So the structure of frets is formed:
- major (moving from to): two tones, semitone, three tones, semitone;
- minor (moving from la): one tone, half tone, two tones, half tone, two tones.
Any other key will sound the same, but basic sounds are not enough for this. To do this, there are black keys that help build a scale from any tonic. They divide the octave into semitones where it is required (except for the two already available), while maintaining the ratio of sounds. These additional notes have no names; they are determined by the increase or decrease of one of the main notes. It remains to somehow designate this.
The role of alteration signs in music
Just to get the halftones necessary for the fret, alteration signs are created. In musical notation there are 5 of them:
- flat - lowering by half a tone;
- bekar - the abolition of all sharps and flats;
- sharp - increase by half a tone;
- double sharp - increase by a whole tone;
- double flat - decrease by tone.
Any character can be attributed to the main note by putting it on the stave in front of it at the same level (on the line, under the line, above the line). The composite name of the sound consists of the main notation of the note + the name of the sign in front of it. For example, raised by a half tone to - to a sharp, lowered by a half tone by E flat, etc.
Once is enough
Signs of alteration in keys establish the system, as already mentioned. To make it convenient, they thought up the idea of putting icons on the key - at the beginning of the line. This means that the mark placed on the stave is applicable to every note on this line. It can remain unchanged throughout the composition if there is no change in tonality or the inclusion of additional characters. They operate in all octaves and voices (if the piece is orchestral) the same, until the first modifications are made.
The number of characters in a key depends on the key, which can be of any name and build on any sound. The simplest C major and teeming with signs in E flat major still have the same order of tones and midtones.
Production rules
Recording and arrangement of alteration marks in notes is subject to strict rules:
- in one key, either sharps or flats are used, the presence of opposite signs is unacceptable with a key;
- always placed to the right of the key;
- sharpening order - fa, do, salt, re, la, mi, si;
- flat - si, mi, la, re, salt, do, fa.
Going deeper into musical theory, a sequence of keys moves in a quarto-fifth circle. For sharps - a quint up, starting from C major, that is, each new appears in the fifth step relative to the previous one. For flats - the same thing, only in quarts (fourth step). This is clearly shown in the form of a circle.
The main thing is to remember that the complexity of the work does not depend on the signs of alteration. These are just “icons” that are worth remembering and keeping in mind as the composition is parsed.
How did he get here?
Often in the notes you can see a sharp or flat immediately before the sound, even when the key tone is already set. Such "guests" are called random signs of alteration and are valid only until the end of the bar. In this case, the baker can cancel the key sign or, if it is not required until the end of the measure, set random.
For example, in the key of F minor there are 4 flat: B, E, A, D. For the dynamism of the work, the composer can amend the basic scale by playing some of the sounds without lowering. To indicate this when recording, a baker will stand in front of a specific note. In no case is not sharp, since an increase of half a tone (returning the note to its original form) is carried out just by canceling the flat. And it acts in only one measure.
With a 12-sound system, music is in any case more interesting than it would be at seven sounds. Variability is greater, you can make corrections and more interesting moves to the melody. Actually, for this, signs of alteration are needed.