Don Pearce

Grand Canyon University

TEC 542

Module Seven Assignment

March 16, 2011

Learning Major and Minor Scales

PowerPoint Tutorial

Learning Major and Minor Scales:

• How to construct a Major Scale• How to draw a Major Scale on a given note• How to construct a minor scale• How to draw a minor scale on a given note• How to tell the difference between a

Major and minor scale by ear

If you have trouble at any time doing this tutorial – ask Mr. Pearce for a helper, to assist you in completing

Today’s work!

What we have learned so far:• Treble and Bass clef note names

• Whole steps and half steps

Half steps are the notes that are closest to each other

Whole steps skip the next note and go to the next available note

To help us understand whole and half steps we also used pictures:

And we made blocks:

Now you are ready to learn how to construct major and minor scales!

= whole= half

= whole = half

For the Major scale: The formula is “two-and-a-half, three-and-a-half,.”

Look at the chart below to see how this works, starting on the note “C.”

FROM: http://www.musictheory.net/lessons/21

See how the Major Scale is built on the note “E-flat.:”

See how the Major Scale is built on the note “D:”

Now, fill in the work sheet you have,

to show you have mastered major scales,

and hand it to Mr. Pearce before moving on.

For the minor scale: The formula is “one-and-a-half, two-and-a-half, two.”

Look at the chart below to see how this works, starting on the note “A.”

FROM: http://www.musictheory.net/lessons/22

See how the minor Scale is built on the note “G-sharp:”

See how the minor Scale is built on the note “C:”

To show that you can construct minor scales, use

one of the following:

Take two pictures of different objects with your

camera phone, and place the pictures in the

correct order of the minor scale formula (to

represent the whole and half steps), in a WORD

document, showing me your results, or: (next

slide, please)

Take the blocks of we made in class to

represent whole steps and half steps and

place them in the correct order to represent

the construction of a minor scale, then show

me your efforts or: (next slide please)

Listen to the MP3 file of five scales I recorded for you

and placed on

http://www.donpearce.net/classrooindex/advancedchoir/

linkand write down which of the five MP3 files are minor

scales,

handing your results in to me.

http://omakadvancedchoir.blogspot.com/

When you get there, please post the following entries under your name:

1. Major scale built on C-sharp written by note letter name

2. Minor scale built on E, written by note later name

Now that you have completed this tutorial – really prove to me you know what you are doing by going to our class blog at:

References:

Ricci Adam’s Music Theory.nethttp://www.musictheory.net/lessons/21

Ricci Adam’s Music Theory.nethttp://www.musictheory.net/lessons/22

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