Chasing Your Scales

I wrote a very short etude illustrating how to use what I call the “trinity of major chords” to move from C major to E major to A flat major using basic scales. The idea was very simple. I wrote something in C major. Then I copied it and transposed to E major. Finally I copied it once again and transposed it to A major. To complete everything, I returned to the beginning in C major and wrote a very short ending.

I wanted to write something simple but also interesting.

The sort of materials I have seen in method books generally stick to only one key. This means that they are theoretically rather easy to learn and play but don’t sound particularly interesting when you learn them. In other words, as a beginner you are generally presented with materials that are easily playable but rather boring, or you are presented with famous music that you want to play.

But then you and discover that famous music almost always has all sorts of technical and musical problems above your level.

What intrigued me in writing this short etude is that by the time I had transposed C major to E major and A flat major it was no longer easy to play. The addition of four sharps and then four flats in the modulations made it about five times harder. This reminds me that the moment we make something interesting to a listener it automatically becomes much harder. It suddenly becomes more sophisticated and demands other skills that very easy music does not require.

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