Learning to play in pitch is an important part of playing the violin. This aim of this worksheet and audio is to help a student understand and play the scale of A major using the Tonic, Subdominant and Dominant chords as guides.
If you find this difficult you can use a chromatic tuner to provide an indication as to the required pitch. A note of caution, a violin tunes to a reference pitch of A, also known as A440, but you need to be able to hear the pitch in relation to other notes as this is not an equal tempered instrument, it can play all notes. Therefore it is always preferable that you exercise the ear rather than depend on the eye to confirm the sound produced is correct.
The notes of D major are A, B, C#, D, E, F#, G#, A
Worksheet to Download
Use a tuner and the audio below to ensure the finger position is at the correct pitch. Do not depend on the tuner. When you feel confident try playing it with the audio and close your eyes.
Piano Chords Download
Audio for the Piano Accompaniment
How a Scale is Constructed
This section is for information, it will be covered more in the written work.
The notes of the major scale are in two sections which forms the major scale. Each section has a pattern.
A, B, C#, D is the first half of the scale, this is the first tetrachord.
E, F#, G#, A is the second half of the scale, this is the second tetrachord.
The distance between each note in each half is tone, tone, semitone. When the two sections go together there is a tone in-between.
Note Position | Technical Name | Letter Name | Piano (Guitar) chord |
1st note | Tonic | A | I (A) |
2nd note | Supertonic | B | V (E) |
3rd note | Mediant | C# | I (A) |
4th note | Subdominant | D | IV (D) |
5th note | Dominant | E | V (E) |
6th note | Submediant | F# | IV (D) |
7th note | Leading Note | G# | V (E) |
8th note | Tonic | A | I (A) |