Major Scales and Key Signatures A Little Help…Please!

Having taught music (Elementary, Junior High, and College) for over thirty years, Professor Haddock writes from the experience of explaining the basic building blocks of music to students. With over twenty-five years at the college level, Lynette Haddock has taught classes in Fundamentals of Music, as well as Theory and Musicianship (Sightsinging and Eartraining). Understanding how students learn has enabled her to concentrate on the smallest teachable concepts, hone her craft of presenting those concepts to her students, and watch the students successfully master the concepts.
In her words, “Textbooks often lose track of the essential thread upon which most music concepts are based—key signatures. The reason we teach fundamentals of music is because there really are basic fundamentals in music. These fundamentals are the underpinnings of the superb music of the ages. They are used over and over and can be learned. My goal is to write mini-books that focus on mastery of these fundamentals, spiraling conceptual learning by systematically building new learning upon previous learning. Key signatures need to be learned before attempting scales. Once students learn key signatures, they can build and analyze chords, build and analyze intervals, and write major and minor scales. Building concept upon concept with intentional reinforcement of previous concepts results in solid academic understanding and retention.”