The Pachelbel Canon in D majorTHE MUSICARTA CANON PROJECT – MODULE ONEThe Pachelbel Canon in D major is the perfect starting point for learning to play along with a chord sequence. The popular, well-known chords repeat predictably while melodic figures in the treble provide ideal material for learning about harmony, composition and improvisation. Each lesson in the Musicarta Canon Project adds a ‘bite-size’ piece to your own unique performance, showing you what to play and how to practice it, with full audio and MIDI support. Looking forward, you will be able to apply the knowledge and keyboard skills learnt in this series of lessons to any chord sequence.
http://www.youtube.com/ and search for Pachelbel's Canon in D. You will probably find the following recordings available: |
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In the left hand table cell is an online mp3 player which will play an audio clip of the musical example for you to listen to and copy. (You do not need to download or install anything for this to work.)
The right hand cell contains the reference number of a MIDI file which is available for free download (see below).
MIDI files are computer-code music files. Musicarta recommends a free application called MidiPiano for playing these MIDI files. MidiPiano is simple to download and use, and shows the music in the MIDI file being performed on a virtual piano keyboard and scrolling in a ‘piano roll’ view as it plays.
Then, download the MIDI files for this module. Clicking the link will open a small window showing a zipped folder. Download it to your desktop, un-zip it and put the MIDI files in a folder. If you need instructions, you will find them in the ‘Downloading Musicarta MIDI files’ section of the same Musicarta MidiPiano page.
MIDI files can also be played as low-quality audio files in many computer-music applications, including Windows Media Player and other computer audio applications.
The rest of this module explains the key of D major and shows how to practice the D major scale. If you already know these things (and have downloaded and installed MidiPiano), please just skim through the rest of the module to revise, then click forward to the Canon Project Module Two to get started on your own Canon performance. Note that you can only watch the MidiPiano performance files if you have installed MidiPiano and downloaded the Canon Project zipped MIDI folder (CANON_MIDI_FILES) to get the MIDI files for the Musicarta Canon Project. |
Learn the key of D major
Pachelbel’s Canon is in the key of D major. The key signature for D major is F sharp and C sharp.
This diagram shows one octave of D major scale-tones. It could be anywhere on the keyboard.
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The replaced white keys F and C have been greyed out, along with the black keys you do not use. This is how the well-schooled keyboard player sees the keyboard as soon as he or she sees the two-sharp key signature.
(Note that, if a key signature shows two sharps, they are always F sharp and C sharp. You don’t have to count up the lines and spaces to find that out!)
D major scale fingering
It is usual, in keyboard playing, to learn keys by learning the scales. If you know your D major scale, you know all the basic notes used in the key of D major – and all the notes in the Canon. You know what the key of D major ‘looks like’, and you will be much less likely to play wrong notes. You will learn the Canon much more quickly and enjoy playing more if you do the ground work of learning and playing the D major scale. Here is our sample octave of D major showing which fingers play which notes. (Use keys in the middle of your keyboard if you want to experiment.)
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The right hand – treble clef
Use the ‘right hand – treble clef’ notes shown on the keyboard diagram above. In the music, the black keys are circled to remind you about the key signature, and the thumb-under and third-finger-over places are boxed. (They happen in the same place on the way up and the way down.)
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Look at the ‘Right hand – going up – thumb under’ line in the diagram above to see how it shows the thumb curling under to continue playing the rising scale. See how the curly ‘coming down – third finger over’ line shows the third finger coming over the thumb to finish playing the descending scale.
Play an eight-note D major scale with the right hand. Copy the audio and watch MidiPiano play the demonstration file
The left hand – bass clef
The left hand octave looks just the same on the keyboard, but starts an octave lower (eight white keys to the left – see keyboard diagram above).
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Play a one-octave D major scale with the left hand. Copy the audio and watch MidiPiano play the demonstration file. The important thing is that you start and end on finger five or finger one.
How to use this module
The rest of this module presents a collection of useful and effective scale practice patterns. You are not expected to play all of them before going on to the next module to start your actual performance. The best use you can make of this module is to visit it every time you work on the Canon and ‘rehearse the key of D major’ before going on to the more creative work.
Playing scales in order to learn keys does involve learning the scale fingering. The effort is worth it. If you find yourself making mistakes time after time, go back to basics and study the keyboard diagrams until you know for sure which left and right hand fingers play which D major scale tones (notes).
Playing scales hands together – first practise pattern
The main challenge when playing scales with both hands together is that there’s a third-finger-over or thumb-under movement in one hand while the other hand is playing simple 1–2–3–4–5 or 5–4–3–2–1.Look at the first five notes of the hands-together scale
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You run up and down the first five notes of the D major scale, hands together, using the actual scale fingering. The right hand practices the thumb-under and third-finger-over movement (complicated) while the left hand just plays from one side of the hand to the other (simple).
The thumb-under/third-finger-over movements are still boxed, but the black key F sharp is not circled. Don’t forget that both third fingers play an F sharp.
Practice until the fingering is ‘in your hand’.
Note: You can practise the right hand on its own first if you need to.
Playing scales hands together – second pattern
Next, we use a similar study for the top five notes of the scale, where the left hand does the ‘complicated’ movement and the right hand is ‘simple’.
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The black key in this part of the scale is C sharp – right hand finger 4 (RH4) and left hand finger 2 (LH2).
(As before, you can practise your left hand on its own first if you need to.)
Playing one octave hands together
Play one-octave scales, hands together, from the bottom to the top.
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Stop at the top briefly before playing again.
Play one-octave scales from the top down.
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Play one octave up-and-then-down.
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Play one octave down-and-then-up.
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Revise the thumb-under movement
Revise the right hand thumb-under movement
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Revise the left hand thumb-under movement:
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Play the two patterns above with hands together:
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Revise your motivation for learning scales
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Playing the scale practice patterns by shape
Try to play the scale practice patterns from the shape alone, not by reading each note. Reading the notes will only slow you down. Remember, you’re ‘practicing the key of D major’ – rehearsing what notes you will use to play the Canon, not practicing reading the music. The patterns we have practised up to now either repeat the first five notes, from top or bottom, or run through the whole octave.Look at the scale practice pattern before last:
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The next practice pattern does the same but from the top:
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Shown as line diagrams, the scale practice patterns in this module so far are:
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Scroll back and check that you can see how the line diagram represents the music of the scale practice patterns. You yourself have to remember two things:
- The black keys, F sharp and C sharp, shown in the key signature.The scale fingering – where the thumb passes under/third finger over, in each hand.
- Try to play the scale practice patterns from the line diagrams alone. Check, using the audio and MIDI performance files, that you have got it right.
Continuing with the scale practice patterns in this module:
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You want to be ‘seeing the key of D in the keyboard’ – no white key F’s or C’s, but black-key F sharps and C sharps instead. Here’s the ‘virtual D’ keyboard again:
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Here are two practice patterns you haven’t seen or heard yet. Study them carefully, then try playing them, hands separately and together, from just the line diagram: Remember the black keys (F sharp and C sharp) and the thumb under/third finger over scale finger movements.
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Check your scale fingering
If you’re working on your own, only you can say if you’re using the right fingers or not. If you:- Run out of fingers with notes of the scale still left to play, or
- End up with fingers to spare (that is, not on fingr 5 or 1), or
- Find you’re having to the put the thumb on a black key
In that case:
- Back track until you identify the mistake.
- Make sure you know what it is, so you can stop doing it.
- Practice the right way at least twice as many times as you played it wrong to ‘erase the memory’.
The two line-diagram-only scale practice patterns
Here is the written-out music for the two line-diagram-only scale practice patterns presented above.
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This is the end of the first module in the Musicarta Canon Project. When you’re ready, click through to the Canon Project, Module Two to get started on your own Canon performance. Or take a break and browse through the free online piano lessons on the Musicarta.com home page for more great ways to make thinking about chord progressions second nature to you.
