An octave is defined as a series of eight; the term is derived from the Latin word " octo ," meaning " eight. The word "octave" can refer to two different things in music; an interval and a scale. An octave scale is a series of notes, iterating through the seven notes of any particular scale until you arrive on the note you started on, but one octave higher. You'll notice that we start on G, we iterate through all the notes of the G Major scale, and we finish on G.
However, it's not the same G that we started on ; it's the next G up on the piano. We refer to this as being an octave higher ; essentially it's the next occurrence of the note you start on. This also ties into the octave as an interval ; in the same way that a fifth is five notes apart, and a fourth is four notes apart, an octave is eight notes apart.
On a modern piano, the very bottom note is A. There are seven more As on the piano, making for a total of 7 A octaves. Older pianos finished here and just had seven octaves; modern pianos have an extra three notes; a B-flat, a B and a C, to make seven octaves plus three notes. A very brief history lesson. Essentially, the piano is derived from the harpsichord , a seventeenth century instrument that itself derives from the virginal and the organ.
Harpsichords often had more than one set of keys , but each was around four octaves in length. With a little bit of practice, you will begin to increase your stretch. Soon you will be playing both notes alternating on just one hand, and then you will be able to move your hand up and down the notes in octaves.
Also, as you practice frequently and get better at stretching your hands to play the octaves, you can increase your speed to give yourself another challenge. Are you interested in learning more about playing octaves on the piano?
Working with a music teacher or piano teacher online or in-person can give you the skills you need to know how to play and practice, even for complete beginners. Whatever piano you decide to practice with, as long as you keep the longevity of your piano and the octaves in mind, you will be ready to tackle this marvelous instrument.
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Facebook Youtube Twitter Instagram Linkedin. Give the gift of music Gift cards are the perfect gift for any ocassion and can be used for in-home or online lessons. How To Hold a Guitar Pick read more. Instruments , Piano , Technique. Vincent Reina April 26, Table of Contents. MEDIUM The medium pianos consist of 61 piano keys with 5 octaves and are the more suited pianos for those learning to play the piano. An amplifier replaces the sounding board that causes the strings of an acoustic piano to resonate, making a digital piano more compact than an acoustic piano.
Console models have built-in speakers, while digital pianos for the stage are designed to connect to external speakers.
Synthesizers: Synthesizers can electronically reproduce the sounds of many different instruments, as well as create electronic sounds musical instruments can't duplicate. MIDI interfaces also let 2 keyboards connect to each other, enabling you to layer sounds. Workstations: Also called arranger keyboards, workstations are more sophisticated synthesizers that offer music sequencing and recording capabilities in addition to computer interfacing and sound synthesis.
These keyboards are most suited for digital music studios. Consider your present musical knowledge. Some keyboards for home use come with built-in instruction systems, as well as instruction books or software. These built-in systems may include lessons on how to place your fingers on the keys while playing, as well as a number of pre-recorded tunes that can be played while highlighting the keys that correspond to the notes of the song.
If you hesitate to practice in front of someone, look for a keyboard with a headphone jack so that only you hear your music when you play. Look at the number of keys on the keyboard. Digital keyboards can have as few as 25 keys or as many as Digital pianos have the full 88 keys of a standard piano keyboard, and most workstations have at least 61 keys or more.
Lower-end synthesizers may have as few as 25 keys, although most home-use keyboards come with 49, 61, or 76 keys. The more keys, the greater the instrument's range. A key keyboard has only a 2-octave range, while a key keyboard has a range of 4 octaves, a key keyboard has a range of 5, a key keyboard covers 6 octaves, and an key keyboard spans 7.
Each octave includes 7 white and 5 black keys, or 12 chromatic tones. The larger the instrument, the more room there is for other features. The larger the instrument, however, the less portable it is. You may have to sacrifice the 7-octave range of an key keyboard for a smaller unit that you can take with you if you like to jam with friends. Choose a keyboard with keys that are easy to play. In addition to looking at the number of keys, also look at how easy it is to play the keys without giving yourself painful fingers or carpal tunnel syndrome after playing.
Two features to look for when buying a keyboard are touch sensitivity and weighted keys. Touch sensitivity means that the strength of the sound is dependent on how firmly you press the keys. On a touch-sensitive keyboard, if you press the keys lightly, the sound is soft; if you hammer the keys, the sound is loud. Touch sensitivity is usually not available on low-end keyboards.
Weighted keys require you to press them to move them downward, but they come back up on their own faster than unweighted keys.
Evaluate the sound capability. There are 2 main sound capabilities: polyphony and multitimbrality. Polyphony is a measure of how many notes the keyboard can play at 1 time, while multitimbrality is a measure of how many different kinds of sounds the instrument can play at once. Multitimbrality comes into play if you plan to produce music with the keyboard.
It's a definite asset in layering multiple sounds for a recording. Look for ease of use. Notice that there are five black keys, broken into a set of two and a set of three.
On the full keyboard this pattern repeats seven times, hence the seven octaves. You may have noticed that some notes have a b or a next to the letter name. The b represents flat notes and the represents sharp notes. Music moves in steps going up or down in pitch. When talking about steps, especially in relation to scales, we talk about half steps and whole steps. Sharps and flats raise or lower a note by a half step respectively, and the space between notes that are next to each other on the keyboard is a half step.
Normally this is a black key to a while key, but between E and F and between B and C there is no black key. Therefore, the space between those two sets of notes is also a half step. Listen to the example below. The first notes are a half step specifically C to D and the second notes are a whole step specifically C to D. You probably also noticed that some keys have more than one note name.
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