Major Scales, the Circle of Fifths, and Barred Chords

SWBAT orally identify the chord progressions in the songs and their Roman numeral function within the key by spelling out each major chord.

Chord Theory

You already know that the 4 main chords used in popular music are the I, IV, V, and vi chords.

You have found these chords in a few keys.

Today, you will be finding the chords in each key by spelling out each of the 12 major scales.

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Our goal: to learn the chords that correspond with each scale and to be able to perform them (performance test next week, on Wednesday)

Circle of Fifths

The circle of fifths is a great graphic organizer to help us see how all of the key signatures are related to each other. It’s easy to see the neighboring keys, and the keys that farther away.

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By going through all of the scales, you will be able to see how the circle of fifths is formed, and you will find those 4 chords in each key.

C Major - home base

You already are familiar with the C Major scale and chords. I, IV, V, and vi are in parentheses.

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Spelled scale:

(C) D E (F) (G) (A ) B C

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Can you find the whole steps vs. half steps?

Remember, the major scale pattern is:

WWHWWWH w=whole h=half

Chords in the key of C

I chord

IV chord V Chord vi chord

Before we begin...

You should know that sharps and flats follow a certain order.

Sharps: F, C, G, D, A, E, B

Flats: B, E, A, D, G, C, F

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Our first edge of the circle will be adding sharps, so keep this order in mind as we go through each of these scales.

G Major

You’re familiar with this key as well.

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(G) A B (C) (D) (E) F# G

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Does this follow the pattern of wwhwwwh?

What are I, IV, V, and vi?

D Major - 2 sharps

Why are there more sharps each time?

The formula for a scale is wwhwwwh, and in order to keep this relationship of intervals, the starting note needs to be taken into account.

D E F G A B C D

Without the sharps, the relationship is whwwwhw… this is not correct.

D E F# G A B C# D

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Chords in the key of D

I IV V vi

A major - 3 sharps

Are you able to figure this out on your own?

What are the sharps?

How do you spell the scale?

What are your 4 chords?

A Major Scale

A B C# D E F# G# A

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

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I, IV, V, and vi are…

A, D, E, & F#m

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A Harmonic Minor

A B C D E F G# A

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A natural minor - You can find the relative minor scale by starting on the 6th scale degree of the major scale. Then write a scale starting on the 6th note, using the same key signature.

A B C D E F G A

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A Melodic Minor

A B C D E F# G# A→ A G F E D C B A

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Major Chords (take notes)

Chord: playing more than one note simultaneously to produce harmony

Harmony: more than one note playing at the same time; second layer to the melody.

Melody: the main tune of a piece/song

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A Major is the “I” chord in the key of A major. (A - C# - E)

D Major is the “IV” chord in the key of A major. (D - F#- A)

E Major is the “V” chord in the key of A major. (E - G#- B)

F# Minor is the vi chord in the key of A major. (F# A C#)

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Roman Numerals denote chords:

| I(1) | ii(2) |iii (3) | IV(4) | V (5) | vi(6) | vii*(7) ||

Capital = major, lower case = minor

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Perfect Authentic Cadence - V - I

Plagal Cadence - IV - I

Why is it the Circle of Fifths?

What scale is coming next and how do you know?

We just did the A major scale which is spelled:

A B C# D E F# G# A

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

If it is the circle of fifths, that means we need to move to the 5th of the scale in order to find the next scale. What is the 5th note of A?

When you find the 5th note, you’ve found the name of the next scale

E Major

E F# G# A B C# D# E

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

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C# Minor

B major

B/Cb C#/Db D#/Eb E/Fb F#/Gb G#/Ab A#/Bb B/Cb

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

F#

piano

Enharmonic - same sound, different name

A#/Bb

G#/Ab

F#/Gb

E#/F

D#/Eb

C#/Db

B#/C

B/Cb

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F# Major

F# G# A# B C# D# E# F#

Gb Ab Bb Cb Db Eb F Gb

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

B Scale - 5 #

B C# D# E F# G# A# B

C# Major Scale/Db Major scale

Enharmonic notes - notes with the same sound but different names (if you do not remember this term, take time to memorize it now.)

C# D# E# F# G# A# B# C#

Db Eb F Gb Ab Bb C Db

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

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Ab Major Scale

Ab Bb C Db Eb F G Ab

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Eb Major Scale

Eb F G Ab Bb C D Eb

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Bb Major Scale

Bb C D Eb F G A Bb

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

F major scale

F G A Bb C D E F

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8