9Developing Minor Triads

Essential Keyboard SkillsLesson 009 IKS DMT

107

• Developplayingminor

triadswiththelefthand.

• Developtwohand

co‑ordinationusingleft

handtriadsandrighthand

scale.

• Introduceminortriad

inversions.

• Developchangingchords.

• Developtransferability.

Developing Minor Triads Lesson nIne

Lesson ObjectivesDeveloping Minor Triads

Wehavediscussedthatthekeyboardplayeroftenplaysusingbothhands

atthesametime.Sometimestheleftandrighthandneedtoplaydifferent

things.Forexample,thelefthandmightplayatriadtoestablishthesound

ofthechord,whilsttherighthandplaysthescaletocreateamelodyorto

improviseatune.

Let’sstartthislessonwithourfirstexerciseinwhichwearegoingtoplay

lefthandtriadsstartingwithourAminortriad.Wehavelearnedhowto

formthistriadinourprevioustwolessonsandwewillsimplyplaythetriad

downtheOctaveinthebassclef.

EA C

Figure 1: A minor triad in the bass clef with the left hand

A minor triad

exercise 1 lesson009.iksdmt.01

108 Developing Minor TriadsLesson nIne

Two way coordination

Asdescribedinourintroductionlet’snowplaytheAminorscalewithour

righthandwhilstplayingtheAminortriadinourlefthand.Thiswillhelp

developcoordinationbetweenourhandsandincreaseourfamiliaritywith

Aminor.

Figure 2: A minor triad in the bass and A minor scale in the treble clef.

notes in the triad

notes in the scale

exercise 2 lesson009.iksdmt.02

Take Note!

Youareusingalotofskillslearnedthroughthecoursenow.Youare

applyingfingeringtechnique,reading,rhythmrecognitionaswellastiming

andcountingskills.Ontopofwhichyouarelearningyourminortriadsand

scales,togetherwiththemajortriadsandscaleswelearnedearlieronin

Part One.

109Developing Minor Triads Lesson nIne

Applying transferability — and additional difficulty

Aswehavedoneallthewaythroughthecoursesofar,andasweintendto

continuetodo,wearegoingtotransfertheconceptwehavedevelopedto

otherscalesandtriads.Wearenowgoingtorepeattheaboveprocess,this

timewithDminor.

Thistimethoughweareaddinganotherchallengeaswearegoingtouse

eighthnotesinthescalerhythmandyouaregoingtoplaydoublesinthe

righthandtohelpdevelopthatskill.

Lookatthefigurebelowalongwiththeexerciseandrememberthatyoucan

usethemultimediafilesasalways.

Figure 3: D minor triad in the bass and D minor scale in the treble clef.

notes in the triad

notes in the scale

exercise 3 lesson009.iksdmt.03

1 2

3 4

Notethatinthisexercisethe

flatsymbol(b)isonlyused

onthefirstnoteofthepairof

notes.

Instandardmusicnotation

theflatsymbolcontinuesto

allnotesofthesamepitchin

the barunlesscancelledby

anothersign.

110 Developing Minor TriadsLesson nIne

Practising minor triads and minor scales

Youneedtobeabletoapplythisskilltoallthenaturalminorscalesand

triadsyouknow,sowehavewrittenout5exercisesforyoutopractisethe

remainingnotes.

Wehavemerelywrittenthemusicout,sothatyouneedto:

• Identifytheminorscaleandtriad.

• Formthetriadcorrectlywiththelefthand.

• Playthecorrectscalewiththecorrectfingeringovertheminortriad

chord.

• Keepintime,playwithincreasingfluencyandrepeatuntilcomfortable.

• Learnthenotesineachtriadandscale.

exercise 4: G minor scale and Triadlesson009.iksdmt.04

1 2 3 4

exercise 5: C minor scale and Triadlesson009.iksdmt.05

1 2 3 4

111Developing Minor Triads Lesson nIne

exercise 6: e minor scale and Triadlesson009.iksdmt.06

1 2 3 4

exercise 7: B minor scale and Triadlesson009.iksdmt.07

1 2 3 4

exercise 8: F minor scale and Triadlesson009.iksdmt.08

1 2 3 4

112 Developing Minor TriadsLesson nIne

Minor Inversions

Sofaryouhavelearnedtoplayminortriadsinrootposition.Thismeans

thattherootnoteofthechordisinpositionatthebase,orbottomofthe

chord.Thiscanresultinalotofworkforthelefthandwhenplayingdifferent

chordsinachordprogression.

Youwillrecallthatwelookedatminimisingmovementbyusinginversions

inthefirsthalfofthispartofthecoursewhenwelookedatmajortriads.We

aregoingtodothesameagainforournewlylearnedminortriads.

IwouldliketoillustrateagainhowinversionsworkusingAminorandD

minor.

WeknowthatthenotesinanAminortriadare:

A,CandE.

ThenotesinaDminortriadare:

D,FandA.

Theconceptwithinversionsisrecognisingwhicharethecommonnotesin

differenttriadsandthenusethosenotessoastochangeasfewnotesas

possiblewhenchangingchords.Therefore,ifwetakeAminorandDminor,

wecanseethatthecommonnoteisA.

InFigure 4wecanseewhereyourfingerswouldhavetobetoplayboththe

chordsinRootposition.

InFigure 5thisshowsthatbyretainingthecommonnoteofAwithour

thumb,wesimplyhavetomovefinger2upfromCtoDandfinger4up

fromEtoF.

ThiscreatesaninversionofDminorwithAatthebaseofthechord.

113Developing Minor Triads Lesson nIne

Figure 4: Changing from A minor to D minor in root positions.

Figure 5: Changing from A minor to D minor creating an inversion of D minor.

Economy of movement

WemadethispointearlierinthecoursebuttryplayingtheAminortoD

minorasshownaboveandyouwillnoticehowmucheasieritistoplay.

Theeconomyofmovementhasaverypositiveeffectontheoverallsound

ofthechordchangewhichisnowmuchsmoother.Byusingthisinversion

thehandstaysinthesameplace,asopposedtomakingquitealeapdown

thekeyboard.

Discoverforyourself.Playthefollowingexercisewhichgetsyoutoplay

thechordsintheirrootpositionsforthefirsttwobarsbutthenusesthe

inversionforthenextchange.

Feelfreetousethemultimediafilesasalwaystohelpyouunderstandthe

notepositionsandmovementissues.

The notes in Blue form the A minor triad

The notes in Red form the D minor triad

114 Developing Minor TriadsLesson nIne

exercise 9lesson009.iksdmt.09

1 2 3 4

Learn the notes in your Chords!

ItisoftenpossibletouseInversionsthroughoutachordprogressionto

createasmooth,economicalsound.Agoodkeyboardplayerisalways

awareofthispossibilityandlookstoachieveitwhenchangingchords.This

isonereasonwhyitisimportanttoknowallthenamesofallthenotesin

eachchord—itmakesiteasiertochangefromonechordtoanotherusing

inversions.Inanensemble(Band)thebassguitarwilloftenbeplayingthe

rootnoteofthechord,underneatheveryoneelseatthebottom.Thiswill

enableyoutouseinversionswithoutbeingundulyconcernedaboutplaying

therootnote.

A Chord Progression

SongsoftencontainseveralchordslinkedtogethertoformaChord

Progression.Thisbecomesthebasisofthesong.Let’saddanotherchord

toourprogression—thechordofG.Younowhavethreechords—A

minor,DminorandGminor.YouhavealreadychangedfromAminorto

Dminorusinganinversion.NowuseaninversionoftheGminorchordto

movesmoothly,economicallyandefficientlyfromtheDminorchord.

115

Againwearelookingforcommonnotessoweneedtoknowthenotesin

bothGminorandDminor.

Gminor:G,BbandD

Dminor:D,FandA

SoourcommonnoteisD.HavealookatFigure 6andthentrythenext

exercise.

notes in the D minor triad

notes in the G minor triad

Figure 6: Changing from D minor to G minor in our chord progression.

Youcanseethatfinger2staysonthecommonnoteD,whilstthethumb

movesuptoBbandfinger4movesuptoF.

exercise 10lesson009.iksdmt.10

1 2 3 4

Lesson nIneDeveloping Minor Triads

116

Two way co-ordination with root notes in the left hand

Aswehavealreadydevelopedgooduseofthelefthandwearegoingto

playthelastexerciseagainthistimeplayingtherootnoteofeachchordin

thelefthand.Youwillhearthechordsclearlyeventhoughyouareplaying

inversionsastheearhearsthetriadandcaneasilymakesenseofit.

exercise 11lesson009.iksdmt.11

1 2 3 4

Further development

Asakeyboardplayeryouwillbeexpectedtobeabletoinvertchordsinto

chordprogressions,whethertheyaremajororminorchords.Asstressed

throughthecoursesofar,itisimportantthatyouknowthenotesinyour

majorandminorscalesandalsowhichnotesformyourtriads,sothat

youcaninverttriadssoastoplaywithasmoothnessandeconomyof

movementthatmakesyourplayingseemandsoundfluentandeffortless.

Developing Minor TriadsLesson nIne