Tag Archives: piano

The Fibonacci Sequence Within Musical Scales

As stated previously within this blog,

“The Fibonacci Sequence is a sequence of numbers beginning with 1,1,2,3,5… where each proceeding number in the sequence is the sum of the two numbers before it. Thus an extended version of the sequence shows

1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34,55,89,144,233,377… and so on.”

Looking at the first few numbers in the sequence, up until 13 we can see that many of these numbers can be applied to a musical scale. Within one octave of the scale, there are 13 notes total. Any scale, consists of eight notes, and when played in order, the 5th, 3rd, and 1st notes, make up the basic triad, and the difference of two between each of these notes. Going from one note to the next in a scale consists of whole or half steps, where going up one note is 1 half step, and one whole step is 2 half steps. In the most basic major scale, the one without any accidentals (flats or sharps in the key signature), C major, on a piano, the scale consists of 8 white keys, skipping the 5 black keys in between. The 5th note of the scale is the 8th note when counting all keys.

While these sorts of patterns may not influence the way music sounds, it may give us more insight into the way music works and how instruments as well as musical writing was designed

The Alberti Bass

Back in the 18th century, when piano music was popular and creative, composers needed to develop new patterns and ways to convey music in order to captivate audiences. As the Baroque period transitioned into the Classical era, the style of music changed in a way that reflected social norms and events occurring at the time. While still utilizing the musical devices such as the contrapuntalism of the earlier eras, Classical music become much simpler and lighter. To appeal to the public with this simple music, the Alberti bass was largely utilized, especially among keyboard music pieces during the Classical era. Although it was not developed by Domenico Alberti himself, it was named after him because he was the first to extensively use the device. Mozart too was a notable user of the Alberti Bass.

The Alberti Bass is an accompaniment that is often played by the left hand on a keyboard or lower instruments in an ensemble. The accompaniment consists of a broken chord pattern, where the 3 notes of a triad or inversion (1st, 3rd, and 5th), are played in the order 1, 5, 3, 5 (or 1, 5, 3, 5, 3, 5 in triple meter time signatures). The pattern itself not only allowed for a new form of music but also created a smooth and sustained accompaniment that sounded nice on a wide variety of instruments.

The Alberti bass as can be seen in the left hand (bass clef) http://www.music.vt.edu/MUSICDICTIONARY/texta/AlbertiBass.html