Letters from the Kingdom of Tune. #20 Mr.Tuning Fork: I did not expect so many accidental events to happen while writing you a letter!
Hello dear friend!
Uncle Tuning Fork is writing to you.
I haven't written to you for a long time! How are you?
Do you remember how I taught you to count the tones and semi-tones in butterflies?
If you want to, you can repeat the material here.
I asked a friend to take a picture of me now. Do you see it? I'm not alone today.
Early this morning, these cute cats came running up to me; they are now looking into my computer. These are the pets of our Maid of Honor MI.
She is apparently still asleep. It looks like they want to repeat their favorite exercise with you: "Black Cat--White Cat." If there is a desire, of course, repeat it. They will be very happy!
Today I want to tell you how our residents of the Kingdom of Tune go to visit each other.
First, to navigate the keyboard, you need good weather. So that there is no rain or lightning. Lightning cancels any travel and brings everyone back home. This sign is called the “natural” sign in music .
The natural sign itself resembles a lightning bolt , so that no one will forget about the force of nature: it has the right to cancel any other signs to travel through the keys!
Therefore, all our wonderful residents of the Kingdom of Tune will do well to remember this sign and, when it appears, they always drop everything and hurry home.
You, too, try to remember this sign and do not confuse it with any other!
I have drawn an example for you: the rain is outside on the window, the lightning flashes, while our Maid of Honor sits at home, in a warm, cozy room and does not go out into the street. Her natural sign has canceled all travels!
Now let's get to know the signs that help our beautiful residents travel.
They are called accidentals because when you travel, you are getting out of your comfort zone.
Sharp.
This sign resembles a ladder:
Every resident of the Kingdom of Tune knows that with the help of a sharp, it is easy to move one-half step - up:
You see, as soon as the Maid of Honor misses her sweet niece, she takes one sharp--and rises half a butterfly up and--up! Now they are on the same key, reading an interesting book together.
Flats:
The Flat Sign – is a sign that helps the inhabitants of the Kingdom of Tune go down a semi-tone—or a half a butterfly.
I often use a flat when fishing instead of a float. The weight pulls it down when I fish so the hook doesn't get blown away by the wind. Every resident of the Kingdom of Tune knows that with the help of a flat. it is easy to move one semi-tone down:
Sorry, I just received an incomprehensible text message.
I have to figure out who is writing and why.
In the meantime, try to think of another character that also needs just one Sharp to go a half-tone higher and be on the same key with another character in C Major. Remember?
Between which inhabitants of our Kingdom of Tune is there still a semi-tone?
I see that you managed to guess: of course, it is the Courier. Semi-tone up--and he is already on the key of the Queen Tonic.
I am back from talking to the Maid of Honor and . . . the security Guard. They wrote messages to me. Together!
Apparently, they are on the same key. Now I get it why all the Maid's cats moved to my apartment early this morning. The Queen's Maid of Honor has escaped from the palace to see the Guard! Here's the photo I got from the couple:
When I received this photo, I couldn’t believe my eyes. It cannot be that at such a crucial moment, the Maid of Honor left her beloved cats and irresponsibly fled the palace.
No sooner had I regained consciousness than I received a message from the Guard:
“Uncle Tuning Fork! Maid of Honor missed me greatly. She cried every day . . . " – he texted.
Yes, we all know she cried. After all, a Minor was announced in the Kingdom on this occasion. As if we all didn't hear it . . . I am rolling my eyes.
“. . . I could not see these tears and asked her to come over. Now we are together!" the Guard continued to message me. “Please look after the cats! "
As if I have a choice! I can't drive these lovely animals out.
“Stay calm, Uncle Tone! The main thing is not to get upset in any way," I decided.
"If I lose my composure, who will all the inhabitants of the Kingdom of Tune look up to? Who will give them the right tone?
“And I advise you, my friend, in any critical situation, not to cry or get angry. The best way to deal with stress is to count tones and semi-tones or butterflies.”
Double Flat
Dear friend, remember that you can always make lemonade from a lemon.
Since Maid of Honor has escaped, we must take this fact for granted.
Let's imagine how she could get on the same key with the Guard. She did it with two steps--two flats because there is a whole butterfly between the Maid and the Guard, and she needs two semi-tones or two flats to get to the Guardian key.
A double flat looks like two flats side by side . It's very easy!
Double Sharp.
If you draw two sharps—##—then the eyes are a little dazzling.
Therefore, the double sharp looks like a butterfly spreading both wings
Here I am sending you a picture with all the main accidentals using the example of Maid of Honor's traveling:
I hope my explanation of the accidentals will help you remember them.
The White Cat just came up to me.
He asked: “Can you play the violin?” What a question! Of course, I can. I took the violin and began to play the "White Cat--Black Cat" exercise on it.
Of course, this is not as easy to do as it is on the keys. When I am pressing the piano keys I usually get an exact vibration.
Nevertheless, on the violin, your finger just slips a little from the right place and there you go.
You are in the middle of nowhere: you can get a sharp or even a half-sharp.
Or even a quarter of a sharp!
You need to have perfect pitch to catch that. Otherwise, it will sound like a cat is meowing.
I practice, and the White Cat is saying to me: “Only mediocre, untalented people need steps in music. Talents and geniuses must rely on their ears.”
I was stunned by this phrase.
“There are no mediocre people!” I answered. “Guido knew how to teach anyone and bequeathed to us a method for teaching everyone. One time, he got an appointment with the Pope. The Pope had no musical education at all and didn’t have perfect pitch. However, Guido taught him to sing from notes. After that, the Pope issued a decree that everyone should use Guido’s method when teaching students.
Before I had time to properly tell the White Cat the story of Guido's meeting with Pope John the Nineteenth, a white bird appeared out of nowhere.
The bird had a scarlet rose in its beak and a message in its claws.
The bird dropped the rose and the envelope on my desk and flew away.
It was so unexpected that the White Cat hid further under the sofa. Black Cat came to replace him and looked at me questioningly.
"Maybe let's go and play?" the Black Cat asked.
I stroked the Black Cat, put the rose in my pocket, opened the envelope, and began to read the message:
"Hello, Uncle Tuning Fork!" was written by hand. “This is Queen Tonic’s Courier writing to you. I had to urgently leave the palace today . . ."
"Well, what a day this is!" I immediately thought. The Queen's Maid of Honor, now the Queen's Courier. Have they conspired? How can a person be so irresponsible about his or her duties?"
“I got mixed up and lost my way home. One familiar pigeon decided to help me deliver my message to the palace. It is very important!"
“I have two requests:
1. Pass the picture enclosed with this letter to Queen Tonic and
2. Find me, please!"
A second sheet of paper fell out of the envelope. On it was drawn a piper, who was happy to paint a hand that I knew from the treatises of Guido of Arezzo.
But in Guido’s books that helped me build the Kingdom of Tune, there were absolutely no signs on his hand.
It was very strange indeed!
I didn’t understand why the Piper needed to paint Guido's hand.
While I was thinking about it, I did not notice a small ginger kitten, who suddenly appeared beside me.
“It was because of meow that the Courier got lost. It was because of meow that the little mice were thrown out of the palace,” Ginger Kitten said apologetically and looked at me sadly.
Seeing Ginger, all the other cats immediately departed my room with no apparent reason.
Today is a surprising day indeed: I did not expect so many accidental events to happen while writing you a letter!
"Tell me what happened!" I asked the kitten politely.
“Adult cats constantly laughed at the mice and chased them. They said that only creatures with innate musical abilities should play musical instruments. They called gifted creatures superior” Ginger barely uttered.“ ‘We belong to the highest caste of Cats,’ the cats of the Maid of Honor used to say. We don't need any drills, let alone some gray, mediocre mice."
"What a news!" I exclaimed.
"That's not all!” Ginger meowed. “They convinced the cat MiMiMi to meet King Dominant and tell him that there were mice in the palace. This was the cats’ cunning plan. That is why our absent-minded King accidentally threw a briefcase at the mice, the mice ran away and carried away the briefcase with sheet music . . . "
"So it was not by chance?!" I asked in amazement.
“No. It was a set up,” Ginger confirmed quietly.
Then the kitten pushed a piece of paper with the exercise "White Cat--Black Cat" towards me. I looked closely and saw that the exercise was somewhat different from the original.
"Where did you get that?!" I asked Ginger.
“I stole this from our ingenious cats. They said that only fools want each key to have its own note. Real musicians do not need keys or notes: they can play anything by ear. Only people who are not very bright need to go from key to key and learn to read notes."
My dear friend, as you can see, we have not one or even two problems here.
There is no Maid of Honor, the Courier is lost, the cats do not want to follow the rules of the structure of the chromatic scale.
On the positive side: the rose flower, which I put in the water, has blossomed even more and has spread a magical aroma throughout the palace.
Keep practicing as if nothing happened!
Remember: the main things are not to lose hope for the best and always to be in the right tone.
Until next time, Your friend Uncle Tuning Fork
PS
Do you know that we have a room for you in our Kingdom? Come and claim it! Choose your school year and click New Topic. It will be your place! Here is the link!
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