How to Use the Images in the Notebook as a Resource

 1.  The first Image shown on the notebook, is very hard to miss- being on the front cover. 

This shows the placement of the C's which are the keys we use to map out how the alphabet is situated on the keys/piano. 

Note: Middle C looks different but is actually the same key. The bottom Middle C is using the left hand and the top Middle C is using the right hand.

Read here: Why we use C in the beginning.

2. The next image in the Notebook is the Landmark Notes

Here is a good explanation of why we use landmark notes

The Landmark System I seek to use a variety of ways to help students to memorize the relative of the keys and written notes. The sooner we memorize these correlations, we build a map of sound which is able to be connected to the written score. 

By understanding and internalizing this 'internal map' of the keys and sounds, we are able to anticipate the patterns of notes on the page quick enough to turn them into music! There are a number of other skills that we are building, simultaneously, as well learn to read the notes and rhythms. The skills we are building are

• listening to familiar or unfamiliar music
• reading familiar or unfamiliar music
• writing familiar or unfamiliar music from dictation
• recalling and performing familiar music from memory
• recalling and writing familiar music from memory
• creating and improvising unfamiliar music while performing or in silence
• creating and improvising unfamiliar music while reading
• creating and improvising unfamiliar music while writing

....and this is not mentioning the skills that are being developed in co-ordination and other neuro-physical processes taking place whilst we learn to play and read music at the piano. 

The notes on the page are just a representation of which sounds to blend to create the music desired. These notes have the ability to evoke great emotion, character and weave a story- if they are interpreted and expressed thoughtfully and sensitively. 

These points are inspired from Gordan's Theories on Audiation, you can read more here:

Edwin Gordon, Learning Sequences in Music: A Contemporary Learning Theory (Chicago: GIA Publications, Inc, 2007) 3. ISBN 978-1-57999-688-8

3. The other important Image in the Notebook is the Circle of Fifths

Key points about the circle of fifths:

• Visual representation:

  It is typically depicted as a circle with the 12 musical keys arranged around it. Notice that the major keys are on the outside and the minors on the inside. As piano lessons progress, we are seeking to learn how to play all the scales for each key, and we are therefore growing familiar with being able to play pieces and songs in these keys/tonal center's. 
• Perfect fifths:

  Each key on the circle is a perfect fifth away from its neighbors, meaning if you move clockwise, you are constantly going up a fifth. You can also go the other direction, moving in fourths. 
• Key signatures:

  Moving around the circle shows how key signatures change, with sharps accumulating as you move clockwise and flats accumulating as you move counterclockwise. As we write key signatures, we keep the previous sharp or flat, and add a new one. 
• Understanding harmony:

  The circle of fifths helps musicians understand how different keys relate to each other harmonically, making it useful for composing and transposing music. 

Any questions relating to these images, please direct to your teacher in lesson.

Lisa Drag-Krein 27/01/2025