Two Most Important Visuals for Musicians

For years, I've mentioned in lessons that there are two things a musician can know well and really increase their overall musicianship level.  The two items are the Rhythm Pyramid and the Circle of Fifths.

The Rhythm Pyramid

What's most important about this image is what it doesn't tell you, and that is how many beats each item gets.  If you haven't reached this point in your lessons yet, you will;  Quarter notes don't always get 1 beat.  Sometimes they get 2.  Sometimes they only get 1/2 beat.  The bottom number of a time signature tells you what the beat is.  If it's a 4, then a quarter note is 1 beat.  If it's something else, then you have to change the values of all these notes.  But here's what stays the same:  THIS PICTURE.

A whole note (at the top) is equal to any one of the rows below it (2 half notes, 4 quarters, etc).  Then notice the diagram lines to see what fits into a half note.  Look at what fits into a quarter note.  In other words. the number values may change, but the ratios stay the same...always.  It's something you can count on, and is the ultimate way of understanding rhythm.

The Circle of Fifths

I can only graze the surface of what the Circle of Fifths shows you, because it is an amazing tool.  I've discovered more and more intricacies to it since I started teaching.  But here's what you need to know.

Once you've begun to study key signatures, you'll learn that you can have up to 7 sharps or 7 flats in a piece.  The Circle of Fifths is what it says it is: a circular diagram showing the letters in music going up (clockwise) or down (counterclockwise) by a perfect fifth (7 half steps).  This arrangement shows you many things but here are the most important:

• The order by which keys are sharp or flat.  Start at the top and go to the right.  You go from 0 sharps to 7 sharps,  Go to the left from the top, and you go from 0 flats to 7 flats.
• The order of sharps and flats.  Sharps and flats occur in a traditional order.  If you have ANY sharps in the key signature, you can count on it being an F#.  If you have a flat, it will include B-flat.  Here's what's going on.  Go to the top of the circle where you'd put "11" on a clock.  That's the letter F.  Start there and read the 1st 7 letters clockwise: F-C-G-D-A-E-B.  That is your order of sharps in a key signature.  Now go in reverse: B-E-A-D-G-C-F.  That is the order of flats.

If any of the above seems complicated, it's only because we've either not gone over it much in your lessons or because they are both very versatile.  It's not a tool for teaching from scratch, but it illuminates what you're learning in your lessons.  If you can memorize the above images (and keep in mind that both have many variations out there), you'll know so much about music just from this.