Music Theory – Grade 2, pt 2.

by ren

Welcome back to music theory grade 2, hopefully you're getting as much from reading these articles as I am from writing them! In part 1 of grade 2, we looked at the bass clef, more note values and some more time signatures. We now move to the second part of grade two, where we will look at some new major key signatures, and introduce the minors.

You can check out the parts of grade 1 here, if you missed them, and part one of grade 2 here


The Major Keys of A, Bb, and Eb

Grade 2 builds on the key signatures introduced in Grade 1 by covering signatures up to 3 sharps or 3 flats. Review grade 1 part 2 to refresh your memory on the C, G, D and F key signatures covered there. Remembering the mnemonic Father Charles Goes Down And Ends Battle to give us the order that sharps appear in key signatures, you should already be able to tell me what the key with 3 sharps is right? A major as below:



In addition to A minor, grade 2 also requires that we know E minor which is the relative minor of G major, and D minor which is the relative minor of F major. Just the same as A minor above, Em and Dm share the notes of their parent major scale (G major and F major) and so have 1 sharp or 1 flat respectively in their 'natural' forms. In grade 2 you do not need to know both forms of the minor scale, only one but it's probably best to try to take in both while we're here. Remember that the harmonic minor sharpens the seventh degree ascending and descending, where the melodic sharpens the sixth and seventh ascending, and reverts to the intervals of the natural minor when descending.

And that brings grade 2 part two to a close. Next time, you'll be pleased to hear that we have an easier time of it with triplets and we'll also look at grouping notes and rests... a welcome break after part 2! Until then, take time to go over the material above, go over the material in grade 1 and part 1 of grade 2 so you can tie it all together and please PM me if you have any questions.