Hi everyone! My name is Syd, and I’m the Front End Manager here at the Kitchener Academy of Music. Even though I work at a music school, I’ve actually never taken music lessons before- can you believe that? So I figured now is as good a time as any to get started! Join me as I take music lessons with some of our amazing teachers. So far I’ve taken Violin, Guitar, Vocal, Theory and Drum lessons! You can read all about them HERE!
Today I was so excited because I got to have my first lesson with Kandice! Not only is Kandice an amazing piano & theory teacher, but she’s also the founder of The Kitchener Academy of Music! How cool is that? Because I don’t have a piano at home,
we decided to do a music theory lesson. I was really excited to build on the theory I learned during my lesson with Chris, because I know that the skills I learn during my theory lessons will really help me during all of the other music lessons I take.
Since our lesson was happening online, Kandice and I thought it would be really cool to play some games over Zoom! We decided to play some musical bingo; I got a bingo card with some music notation on it, and Kandice read out some terms. This was a great way for me to test what I already knew, and learn some new facts. One of the things I learned was the difference between sharps and flats. I’d heard those terms before, but never really knew what they were! When there’s a sharp sign, it means the note is half a tone higher than usual, and a flat sign means the note is half a tone lower! That’s what the black keys are on the piano. I also learned about ‘enharmonic’ notes, which Kandice calls “are also” notes. For example, an A sharp would also be a B flat, because A and B are one whole tone apart, so half a tone higher than A would also be half a tone lower than B!
We also talked about time signatures, which are the numbers you see at the beginning of a piece of sheet music. The top number shows how many beats are in one measure, and the bottom number shows what note gets one beat. The note signature I see the most is 4/4, which means there are 4 beats in a measure, and the quarter note gets one beat. A waltz is commonly in ¾, so there are only 3 beats in a measure. Fun Fact: the song “Hey Ya” by Outkast uses both 4/4 and 2/4 signatures; it switches between the two!
I really loved this lesson. Having lessons over Zoom means that there are a TON of online resources we can use, just like the bingo game that Kandice and I played! If you’re interested in taking theory lessons, or any music lessons, contact us today! Right now you can sign up for Music Lessons at The Kitchener Academy of Music for by emailing us at tkaminfo@gmail.com, or giving us a call at (519) 893-2121. We can’t wait to hear from you!