Level 37 of 44 · Book V: Minor keys and new rhythms
Sight-reading exercises in minor keys: A, E and D minor
Book five opens with minor keys. A minor, E minor and D minor share their key signatures with C, G and F major, which you already know, so the notes look familiar. What changes is the home note, and a sharp that isn’t in the key signature.
- Hands together
- A, E or D minor
- 4/4 time
- = 52 to start
8 different exercises, each 8 bars. Listen first, or play it yourself: the music waits for each note.
What level 37 adds
The pieces are in harmonic minor: the seventh note of the scale is raised by an accidental wherever it comes, G♯ in A minor, D♯ in E minor and C♯ in D minor. The raised note leads up to the home note, and it belongs to the V chord, which is major.
The right hand plays halves, quarters and pairs of eighths, from that leading note just below the home note up to the sixth above it. The left hand plays triads two a bar, in close inversions, through the chords i, iv and V.
What to watch for
- The key signature alone doesn’t name the key: one sharp is G major or E minor. Look at the first and last notes, and for the accidental: a D♯ means E minor.
- The accidental, bar after bar: the raised seventh isn’t in the key signature, so it is written again in every bar it appears.
- The V chord: in A minor it is E–G♯–B, with a sharp, while i (A–C–E) and iv (D–F–A) have none.
How to practise it
- Before you start, find the home note and the raised seventh just below it. That half step, G♯ to A in A minor, is the sound of the key.
- Play the key’s three chords once, i, iv and V, so the left hand knows its shapes.
- Listen first if minor keys are new to you: they sound darker than major, and the raised seventh pulls hard towards home.
Each exercise is new music, written for this level by the same generator the app uses, so you can’t have learned it by ear. Read it once before you play, keep a steady beat, and play on through mistakes. Play it yourself checks your notes from a MIDI keyboard, the mouse or your computer keys, and Print gives you the music alone, to read at the piano.
A new piece every day, at your level
Pianomi is the app these exercises come from. It listens to your MIDI keyboard, grades every note and every beat, and moves you up the 44 levels as your reading improves. It’s free.