Unit 37: Keyboard Skills - Task 2 Write-Up

The keyboard is an instrument laid out like a piano with black and white keys representing notes ascending in pitch from left to right, so low notes are on the left and high notes are on the right. All white keys are notes C, D, E, F, G, A and B, the black keys are sharp's or flat's of the notes they're next to as they're a semitone different in pitch, so the first black note to the right of C is C sharp or D flat, as it's a semitone above C and a semitone below D. An octave is when you reach the same note as the note on which you started, so C to the next C is an octave, and the 2nd C is an octave above C. Typically MIDI keyboards begin and end with a C note, and have five C's altogether, referred to as C1 to C5 in MIDI terms in the sequencer. The function of a keyboard is to allow you to play notes or chords, and a MIDI keyboard as a MIDI controller has no sounds of it's own, it triggers sounds in a sequencer and software plug-ins to play by transmitting MIDI data generated from the player pressing keys on it. This is the fundamental function of the keyboard, as to anyone with basic piano or musical knowledge it presents a relatable way to trigger notes of a virtual instrument that they may not otherwise be able to control with ease, and also the fact that any virtual instrument from drums to melodic instruments can be triggered or played on the keyboard is a big advantage for working quickly and simply.

A MIDI keyboard has features to control sounds in the sequencer. Firstly a modulation wheel can control parameters of a sound like vibrato, phase or tremolo. Turning the wheel from O-128 MIDI steps   turns this modulation from off to full, and the steps inbetween apply reletive amounts of the modulation to the sound. A common example of modulation being used to make a virtual instrument more realistic is vibrato on a violin instrument, as vibrato is what simulates a skilled playing technique where the players uses their bow to make the violin string vary in volume and tone by subtly varying the pressure they apply to it. Without vibrato a virtual violin sounds like a constant wave, and transition between notes and even the notes themselves sound unrealistic, whereas with the vibrato it simulates a real violin far better. Another keyboard feature is the pitch bend, which can move a note a tone higher or lower gradually, as the bend goes between notes as it bends.

Playing techniques for keyboard are as follows:

• Scales - Playing a scale is where you play eight notes which make a musical scale with your right hand, playing the first three notes with your thumb and first two fingers then stepping under with your thumb for the fourth note and using your four fingers for the last four notes to complete the scale. Once you can play the scales you can devise melodies to use in songs, which I have done in my finished track. To make the melody I established the scale from the key my songs was in, and decided which notes sounded nice at which points over the chords I had to make an interesting melody, with different spacing between notes and some trilled or tripped notes to add interest or groove.
• Chords - Chords are where you combine notes from a particular scale and play them simultaneously. The common chords are triads which consist of the root note, and the third and fifth note of the scale, which is defined by the root note. So a simple example is a C major chord which made of three notes, C (the root note) E (the third note of the C major scale) and G (the fifth note of the C major scale). These notes combined create the C major chord. I've used chords in my composition which are more complex than triads as I added more notes of the scale to them, like seventh notes and lower octaves of the root note with my left hand.
• Arpeggios - An arpeggio is taking the notes of a chord like the C, E, G of a C major triad and breaking it up, by playing the notes in sequence to a certain rhythm which makes a melody out of the chords notes. I've used an arpeggio in the bridge of my track, where I've taken the notes of my keyboard chords and made a rhythmic melody line out of them, beginning by playing the notes in sequence like a scale, then playing around with them.