Page 1 2
Go | New | Find | Notify | Tools | Reply | |
| Why are sharps easier than flats? | Login/Join |
| (self-titled) semi-posting lurker Minor Deity  |
Just, you know, for a change of pace? I am currently playing scales at the beginning of every practice. I play all the major keys from Cmaj up to 5 sharps I can go in reverse, starting at 5 sharps and work back down to Cmaj. But I get super tripped up if I start with 5 flats and work down. And with regards to music, I am fine with a piece with pretty much any number of sharps, but with flats, it's always a little harder past 3 flats. I'm currently working on a piano-violin piece that has 5 flats, and it definitely took a little longer at the beginning to get it into my fingers. When I mentioned this to violin friend, she said she thinks flats are harder than sharps too. Why is that? Do you experience it the same way?
| ||
|
| Never Offline |
Does it boil down to what you learned first? So much of mastery of a musical instrument is a physical, athletic skill. | |||
|
Has Achieved Nirvana |
I prefer sharps unless it is a saxophone. WTF? A poll and opinions
| |||
|
Minor Deity |
Hm, interesting. I don't find flats harder than sharps; I might actually find them easier. Maybe. What I do find challenging is a piece of music with flats or sharps and tons of accidentals. (Debussy, hello! Just today I inquired about signing up for the next salon at which I might play the 4th prelude from book 1. For me the biggest challenge of that piece are the rather expanded chords of the last page.) I also don't find the 6 & 7 sharps and flats all that much harder than 5. Maybe it was due to my early (heh, I was in my 30's!) training.
| |||
|
Minor Deity |
I like flats, myself.
| |||
|
| Foregoing Practicing to Post Minor Deity  |
Today I read a FB post quoting Chopin as favoring learning scales starting with the heavily flat keys. Makes sense...they're easier than starting with C major.
| |||
|
Minor Deity |
All these because some one arbitrarily decided on the 7-white vs. 5-black keyboard layout that got adopted as standard as we know it today.
| |||
|
| (self-titled) semi-posting lurker Minor Deity |
Yep, I've read that too, and I believe there are a lot more teachers who take that approach nowadays. But whenever it was that I first practiced playing scales, I started with Cmaj. So yeah, the muscle memory as per Horace's comment is probably a big element. I keep thinking I should start my warm-up with the flats more often (and start at 5, or 7, and work backwards). But I want to get warmed up first, so I start with what's easiest. Which might make for a good warm up, but it doesn't seem to be making those scales in flatted keys come to me any easier. It's interesting because I can play the scales and cadences for most of the sharped keys without looking, but I still actually read (or look at) the score for the flat keys and cadences.
| |||
|
| (self-titled) semi-posting lurker Minor Deity |
BTW this is the book I use: The Complete Book of Scales, Chords, Arpeggios & Cadences: Includes All the Major, Minor (Natural, Harmonic, Melodic) & Chromatic Scales I don't know why but I love this book! I've worked with it off and on for years, and when I recently decided to put daily scales back into my routine, it was the book I looked for first. (Amazon reminds me that I bought it in 2010. Before that I practiced scales off and on from random sources, including the back of Hanon...)
| |||
|
| Pinta & the Santa Maria Has Achieved Nirvana  |
I find flats to be somewhat easier. My hypothesis is that, when you are learning to read key signatures, the first 4 flats are BEAD, so it's a nice mnemonic. I struggle with 3 accidentals (A maj, Eb maj) for some reason. I think I can remember 2, and after 3 there are more accidentals than naturals. Those 3-accidental keys really trip me up.  And I do not like playing pieces in C major. No anchors. Shiro--a classic book! I have the same one, only it's about (gasp) 50 years old. It still has that "new book smell."  | |||
|
| (self-titled) semi-posting lurker Minor Deity |
I know there are lots of piano teachers now who say it's not good to use these kinds of hints (and the EveryGoodBoyDoesFine mnemonic for the staff). But I learned them, EGBDF, and the ones for sharps and flats: Father Charles Goes Down And Ends Battle and Battle Ends And Down Goes Charles's Father I learned these a bazillion years ago, and they still pop up in my head all the time. I do now often just recall F-C-G-D-A or BEADG instead of the whole story, but I don't see the harm in these mnemonics. Of course, I am very much a score-reader (rather than playing by ear, or even rather than memorizing a score as part of the learning process). And I can read along at a reasonable pace, so those mnemonics are not getting in my way (which I guess is the concern some teachers express)
That means you're not using it enough! Go practice!  
| |||
|
| Minor Deity |
I don't either. Not everyone learns the same way, so if this way worked for you that's great, imo. I learned multiplication tables by rote when I was in early grade school. It helped me tremendously in math thereafter.
| |||
|
| (self-titled) semi-posting lurker Minor Deity |
That's a great comparison!
| |||
|
Minor Deity |
To read, I am more comfortable with flats. Hated learning the Black Key Etude in HS and that tainted me I think! To play / learn scales, using the 5 black keys are easiest to play because they fit the hand and our short thumb! First ones I teach!
| |||
|
| Minor Deity |
I'm curious why you think it's arbitrary, and how you would lay it out differently? To me it appears that the group of 2 black keys and the group of 3 black keys logically correspond to the WWHWWWH steps of the diatonic scale.
| |||
|
| Powered by Social Strata | Page 1 2 |
 | Please Wait. Your request is being processed... |
|