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The Mental Keyboard

You should be able to run a keyboard in your mind. I try doing it as a mental exercise and see what works and what doesn't. I think, its really important to memorize intervals (initially by visually highlighting, but later by sound too). The most important interval to memorize, IMHO is the fifth-interval. If you can sing, then trying humming the notes as you are doing this exercise. (Again, why complicate life than it already is? If you want a reason why you need to hum or even learn this exercise, my answer would be "It's just an exercise", just do it for that sake.1)

Fifths

  1. First imagine all the white and black keys in a keyboard. You should use the black keys to identify the white keys (like if the the white note after the third consecutive black note is a "B")
  2. Then try to identify all the intervals on a keyboard. For example, highlight the notes CG, DA, EB, FC, GD, AE, BGb. You can use some mental shortcuts like
    • CG Prakash
    • DA: District Attorney
    • EB: Don't ebb around
    • FC: Fan Club
    • GD: Group Discussion
    • AE: "Aee, don't behave like that"
    • BGb: A flat BGM (Background music)
      These ones are completely random, and you can use any that is convenient for you. Just imagine the notes being highlighted and do that more to get quicker at it.
  3. Now, recognize that these are actually in the circle of fifths and recognize where each of these intervals lie in the circle of fifths. This way you will have an idea about where the notation lies on the keyboard vs the circle.

  1. This is what Sailesh sir taught me when I asked him why do we need to play this note in this particular exercise? ↩

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