Keyboard Pentascale Sheets

Posted on October 15, 2008 by DNet

I had a request to make the Keyboard Pentascale Cards into a reference page for young pianists.  Here is the result – All of the major pentascales on 2 pages.  Susan Paradis also has a wonderful version of the pentascales here. 

Keyboard Pentascale Sheets

Filed under: Scales |

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17 Responses

  1. celia, on October 15, 2008 at 7:01 am said:

    You are the best piano resource ever! Thanks so much.

    Reply
  2. Cathy S, on October 16, 2008 at 9:33 pm said:

    D’Net! Imagine my surprise when I bumped into your webpage. Fun ideas. See you at Eagleridge sometime.

    Reply
  3. DNet, on October 16, 2008 at 10:30 pm said:

    Hey, Cathy! You’ve found me out! This is what I do when I am procrastinating or have kids keeping me up at night. Maybe I’ll get back into the music room again sometime so we can at least chat during back to school nights. 🙂

    Reply
  4. susanparadis, on October 20, 2008 at 7:00 am said:

    D’Net, this is a great idea. I never thought of doing it this way. Thans a lot.
    Susan P.

    Reply
  5. Aarne Kela, on October 22, 2008 at 8:13 am said:

    Hi D’Net. I was wondering where you found the graphic for these pentascale sheets. I have been using the macmusicfonts. Did you adapt it from those keyboards?

    Reply
  6. Aarne Kela, on October 28, 2008 at 1:10 pm said:

    Hi D’Net. I was wondering how you use this tool to explain the scales to your students. For instance, the “Snowmen” scales include two that are all white, but one that is not. How do you explain the black key? Same thing with E major in the “Hamburgers” group. Thanks.

    Reply
  7. Marcia Vahl, on November 20, 2008 at 11:22 pm said:

    Hey D’Net! These reference sheets just fit what I was looking for my student who is taking a theory test this Saturday. Thanks always for your great resources.

    Reply
  8. music teacher, on January 15, 2009 at 7:32 am said:

    Thanks for this very useful information D’Net. I am very sure that many other music teachers will appreciate your site. More power!

    Reply
  9. Roxane Lee, on June 24, 2009 at 7:20 am said:

    I love this idea! I can’t wait to give it to my next beginner.

    Roxane Lee

    Reply
  10. Natashia, on April 15, 2010 at 11:54 am said:

    D’Net,

    I just came across this blog and I absolutely love this question. I don’t know if you’ve already answered this question as I know it’s been asked before, but I’m a little confused with how you would present the concept as teh “Snowmen” pentascales include two that are all white and one that is not, how do you explain the black key? Thanks.

    Reply
  11. DNet, on April 15, 2010 at 1:51 pm said:

    When teaching the pentascales, I first teach the tonic-whole-shole-half-whole pattern. I have them figure out several different pentascales, starting both on white and black notes. Next, I explain how the 1st, 3rd, and 5th tones make up the tonic triad. I show them how the C, F, and G triads all consist of white keys, so I like to refer to them as the “Snowman” group.

    The terms simply help group the pentascales based on the tonic triads. My students have never had a problem with there being a black key in the F group. It is still a member of the “Snowmen” because of how the tonic triad looks. Hopefully this helps!

    Reply
  12. Susanna, on October 20, 2010 at 11:37 am said:

    Wow, I can’t say thank you enough for having such a big heart to share your hard work with us. I love your creative ideas. I group the keys according to their patterns, but never thought of using words such as “snowman” or “hamburger”.

    Reply
  13. Jo, on January 5, 2011 at 10:17 pm said:

    D’Net
    I have taught group 1 and group 2. I understand group 3. How do the chocolate and killer bees work? My brain is probably just fried. it took me forever just to find this page. first time around I only copied page 1 and I needed page 2. thanks so much for all you do. Especially your primary music.

    Reply
    • D'Net, on January 5, 2011 at 10:55 pm said:

      The Chocolate is F#/Gb, since the triad is on all black keys. The Killer Bees are B natural and Bb, since these can be “killer” keys to learn. I usually make a big deal about how difficult the Chocolate Killer Bee’s can be, and act SO surprised when the student plays them after only a few tries. Sometimes I even teach these first, and make a big deal about how it is just downhill from there.

      Reply
  14. Jann Harrison, on April 22, 2011 at 6:05 pm said:

    Hi D’Net! Love this resource, SO helpful for my visual learners (and I have quite a few!)….would you be able sometime to do the same with the triads?

    I call the F pentascale in the snowman group the “oddball”, then E Major is the oddball in the hamburger group and Eb major is the oddball in the oreo cookie group. The final 3 are ALL oddballs!

    Thanks so much for sharing! You provide wonderful teaching tools for those of us who are “graphically challenged”!
    Jann

    Reply
  15. Corrie Anne, on February 8, 2013 at 10:21 am said:

    Those are SO awesome!!!!!!!

    Reply
  16. ≫ Recursos para la enseñanza de arpegios de piano, on December 5, 2022 at 5:11 am said:

    […] Utilizo esos mismos grupos cuando presento patrones de 5 dedos a principiantes con Teclado Pentaescala de D’net Layton para imprimir gratis. […]

    Reply

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