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Hey, I am just starting to learn how to read sheet music, theres a few things I don't understand... There is three flats (''bbb'' not exactly like that, but you've probably seen it, so you know what I mean...)I searched for it, and I think it means i'm supposed to play in the key of Eb ? But what does that mean?? Also what does three lines on a note mean?
Thank you...


Could you also recommend me pieces that aren't too hard for a beginner, but something that is beautiful at the same time? Or am i asking for too much? Old Macdonald had a farm isn't exactly something I would like to play :P...

Can you possible scan it? If you can, include a chunk of the music so we have musical context, and including the key signature.

Theoretically, each flat should lower a note by one semitone, so three flats should be lowering it three semitones.

If you are starting to learn to read sheet music, then you have just picked very complicated music to start with. By any chance, is this popular music? Often people who don't quite understand music theory will patch together what they hear by ear any which way.

The music didn't sound very complicated, plus it is quite slow too, but I guess it might be too hard then...


Here it is: http://www.scribd.com/doc/129052814/Kingdom-Hearts-Dearly-Beloved

I dunno, I learned a pretty Brian Crain song in Eb, A Simple Life, which is an intermediate pience that makes clever use of the black keys. I think it's easier in Eb than it would be in C.

Also, blues is fun in Eb.

Like Keystring, at first I thought you meant there were 3 flats for a single note, not the key signature itself. Triple flats are extremely rare and I have never seen one in my sheet music.

Anyways, I believe that piece is in C minor (relative to Eb) because of the first note being the tonic. Nonetheless, the key signature doesn't necessarily point to how difficult the piece is. In my opinion that piece looks at about a grade 4 or 5 level. It usually takes about a year per grade for adult beginners to reach that level.

Ah, I thought you meant 3 flats behind a single note. Yes, it seems to be in Eb major, so you play Eb, Bb, and Ab as your flatted notes. What you call "3 lines" might be the trill symbol as in m. 7.

You will need to learn a bit of basic theory before/or during the learning process of this piece. This Link will take you to free theory youtube clips. The guy is a bit eccentric but if you can see past that I think this is a great starting place.

While learning nursery rhyme pieces may not sound much fun, for the very beginner they can still be enough of a challenge to stimulate enjoyment in the learning process.

The important thing for any beginner is to learn the basics as thoroughly as possible and take a structured approach to learning. This means starting off with preliminary grade pieces and working through grade levels. This is the most efficient way to learn anything which requires you to build on previous lessons. This will lead to a solid foundation from which to tackle more advanced pieces.

This Link will take you to free sheet music site which you may find useful.

I would suggest you get a beginner's book for learning to play piano and begin with page 1 and work your way through it carefully. It sounds like you are trying to jump in a level that is way beyond your capabilities. That will not work.

Of course, the best course of action is to get a piano teacher and have he/she get you started in the right direction.

Trust me, just doing things with no direction or course of action will get you nowhere fast.

Good Luck

There are no situations in common practice theory which call for a triple flat. They can very occasionally be found in modern compositions. The triple sharp is rarely seen in common practice, although a few composers have employed them, notably Alkan and Reger. However, in this case, given that the OP seemed to be referring to the key signature rather than an accidental, the piece is not, as one poster has surmised, in C minor, but rather in E flat as the OP correctly guessed. As for the "three lines on a note," I would have guessed out of context at a thirty-second note, but as it is very unlikely that the piece in question contains one, perhaps keystring is correct. Clarification or context in the OP would have been very helpful.

To get at the key of a piece, there are several things to look for. The V and I chord, and (if we can see the last page) what chord and final note the music ends with - usually with V-I.

With a key signature of 3 flats, we have a choice of Eb major or C minor. A key of C minor would commonly have the chords of Cm, Fm, and G. You would see accidentals for B natural, since the v chord is commonly made major.

Here we see Ab (your C) , Bb, and Eb, which are the IV, V, and I chords of Eb major.

My guess is that "three lines on a note" might mean ledger lines.
OP could google it, or better yet, google an introduction to music theory.

3 lines on a note, could that mean 3 notes below the lowest on the stave, which would be C?

I don't see any in the limited preview on the site, but my first thought was that she was describing a 32nd note. I'm probably wrong

i believe, like someone else pointed out. since there are no accidentals the OP was probably refering to the key signature.

nice piece of music though, ive learned the first page lol. use to love the instrumental in highschool lol.

What is interesting to me about this thread is being able to determine if its in Eb or C minor. Im a beginner still and i have not learned to determine which it is.
So what i got is...Usually starts on the tonic, and look for IV&V chords to determine if its major or minor?

Sorry for straying OT :P

JT

Not straying at all.

It doesn't always start on the Tonic chord (the person who thought it was in C minor tried to determine by the first melody note).

If your piece is in Eb major, then you will have many V-I chords, and it will usually end with a V-I, therefore Bb or Bb7 and Eb. You may also hear an "Eb feeling" - like it keeps wanting to settle or come home on the Eb chord.

Be aware that music can modulate to different keys, so this is a general outline.

This may not be much help for the OP, but for a long time, (playing mostly by ear), I played mostly in the key of C, F, and G, with F being my favorite singing key, as it seems to match my voice on most songs I like to play and sing.

As of the last couple of years or so, I've been exploring the flats and sharps (black keys) and I'm becoming comfortable playing in the flats and sharps. I especially like F# or Gb, which ever you prefer. A lot of church hymns are written in Ab, Bb, and Eb.

E major, B major and A major are difficult keys in which to play... at least for me.

All the best!

Rick

The first 3 measures have the chords Ab, Bb and Eb (look at the bass notes). Once you hear the Bb -> Eb (V to I as keystring pointed out) your ear hears this song in the key of Eb. If it were C minor, you would eventually hear the V -> I in that key. The V would be a G chord (major, not minor), so you would see a B natural somewhere. Once you hear that B natural, your ear would hear it as the key of C minor. That's a very simplified explanation, since how long and where the chords are also plays a part in determining key. Hope that helps.

Also keep in mind that some songs stay purposely deceptive, not establishing a solid sounding key right at the beginning.

This piece is centred around the key and the scale notes of E flat major, which starts on E flat, and continues with F, G, A flat, B flat, C, D, E flat etc.. You may have to do a bit of online research to gain a better understanding of basic scales and keys.

Nonetheless, to answer your question above: the group of 3 flats at the very beginning of each staff (or line) indicates here, that ALL B's, E's, AND A's IN THE PIECE ARE TO BE PLAYED AS FLATS. B flat, E flat, and A flat are played on the black note to the left of the original white key. For example, the black key directly to the left of B is B flat.

As for the "3 lines on a note", I believe you are referring to last bass clef note in m. 7. These are ledger lines - short lines that extend the range of notes from the original lines of the staff. What we have here is an F that lies far below the lowest line in the bass clef staff. Including the short line through the note itself, there is actually a total of 4 ledger lines. The note on the lowest line of the staff is G: the 1st ledger line down brings us to E (two notes below G), the 2nd ledger line down brings us to C (two notes below the previous), the 3rd ledger line down brings us to A, and finally the last ledger line on which the note is sitting, brings us finally to F.

I aimed to keep this explanation as concise to your question above as possible. As a 15+ year piano teacher myself, I would recommend that, as a beginner, you may benefit more from starting with some simpler pieces to build-up to one of this level, which I would teach to a student with at least 2 years of piano experience. It never hurts though, to challenge yourself with a harder piece as long as you learn from it!

Best of luck.

Thank you to the above, for your great explanations! I think i will be able to determine the difference now

JT

The notes that have the Flats on them, Bb - Eb - Ab in this case, are played flat from the natural (white key) notes on the staff.