Music Scales Exploration on Keyboard

A keyboard, piano, or free piano app on a tablet

Optional: a printed scale diagram showing which keys to play

Sit at a keyboard. Find middle C — it's the white key just to the left of the group of two black keys in the middle.

Play the C major scale: all white keys ascending from C to C. C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C. That bright, hopeful, "do-re-mi" sound is the major scale.

Now play C natural minor: C-D-Eb-F-G-Ab-Bb-C. You'll use some black keys this time (Eb, Ab, Bb). Hear how the mood shifts? It's sadder, more mysterious.

Play them back to back. Major: happy, bright, resolved. Minor: moody, emotional, tense. The difference between them is just three notes.

Try a simple melody (like "Mary Had a Little Lamb") in major, then shift it to minor. Same rhythm, completely different feeling.

Explore the pentatonic scale: play only C-D-E-G-A (skip F and B). These five notes are magical — anything you play using just these sounds good.

Improvise a melody using only pentatonic notes. Seriously, play randomly among those five keys. It always sounds musical.

The major vs. minor distinction is one of the most fundamental concepts in all of Western music. Once your child hears it, they'll start identifying it in every song.

The pentatonic scale is used in music worldwide — from Chinese classical to blues to rock solos. It's a universal musical language.

Encourage free experimentation on the pentatonic notes. The inability to play a "wrong" note is incredibly freeing and builds confidence.

Ask: "Is your favorite song in major or minor?" Listen together and figure it out. This applies the concept to music they already love.

This is the foundation for understanding how all music works. Scales are the alphabet; melodies and chords are the words and sentences.