I believe that many musicians have trouble making smooth transitions. In my case. I have a lot of head knowledge on music theory, but often either, I forget to apply what I know, as I am playing and concentrate too much on playing the music or don’t have enough time to think. Sometimes I write little notes on my sheet music to remind myself. I believe that using the circle of 5ths helps a lot to help you with getting to the closest next key you need to get to. Miriam
HI Nina, thanks for the clarity on the transitions chart, 😀 You commented that transitions can be simple and fun if you plan them. What is the plan? How do we know what chords to use to get to whatever the new key is? Thanks!
Hi Christine – what an amazing question! What looking at the transition / song key chart – you will see the chords that are used for songs that are in each key. For example, in the key of C, you can see that the chords are Dm, Em, F, G, Am. If you plan songs in your set that are in the same key of C – you won’t need to do much work in transition, since all the songs will be in one key.
Another example would be if you had a song in the key of C, but the next song would be in the key of G. Both the key of C and key of G have a common chord “G”. You can use that during transition by staying on that G for a while between those two songs and use that chord as a bridge that connects those two keys (C and G). To expand on that example – you can play a song in the key of C and end it off by playing a G chord and you can slow it down and stay on that G and when you’re ready to start that second song – you can play the chords of the song that is in the key of G. Hope that makes sense! Let me know how it works for you!
I immediately went to the piano and
i did exactly that transitional and i was so amazed for example i played Lord i lift you name on high key od D then i transition to every Praise to our God also D also i did Amazing Grace key of C F G C and How Great is our God which has C A G F. When i realized what i was doing i just praised God. I do worship and i hope Nina will give us chords and songs of worship some are Sanctuary, i am the God that hesleth Thee i have so many worship songs with no chords.
Will we get fo more advance chords? Any advance guys on my figering. I have a difficult time my 3rd finger i want ro use finger 2 rather thsn 3. I think i have more power in finger 2. I do try hard with practice
I am learni much but i dont quite get that chart but it will come. Also sometimes Nina’s voice goes down and i will miss something she says plud she does a lot of giggling which is cute
Cool chart – great idea to map out the chords with shared notes. Not sure how useful the T and S labels are, aside from indicating the whole and half steps. How does that information apply to transitions?
Hi Therese, if you watch the second video in this lesson, you will see where I explain why this chart specifically is helpful for planning transitions between songs. It is helpful to know which songs are in the same key. Songs that are in the same key are nice to put right after each other so that the transition will be smooth. Hope that helps!
This past Sunday I played keyboard and sang for the very first time ever! My co-leader, who plays the guitar (our only instrument, there are just two of us) was away for the weekend leaving me to either lead acapella as I have done in the past or to take what I’ve learned here so far and apply it to Sunday’s worship.
I did Who You Say I am, Still, and Great Is Thy Faithfulness, mindful of the transitions, leveraging your tutorials for the first two. Was it flawless? No! I actually made quite a few mistakes. But I kept singing and playing and the congregation followed me.
Before Sunday’s worship I always needed sheet music and even with that I could not sing and play at the same time, so never attempted it in church. This was a huge milestone for me as I continue to work on my chording skills and transitions. Thank you, Nina, for ushering me along this journey.
This past Sunday I played keyboard and sang for the very first time ever! My co-leader, who plays the guitar (our only instrument, there are just two of us) was away for the weekend leaving me to either lead acapella as I have done in the past or to take what I’ve learned here so far and apply it to Sunday’s worship.
I did Who You Say I am, Still, and Great Is Thy Faithfulness, mindful of the transitions, leveraging your tutorials for the first two. Was it flawless? No! I actually made quite a few mistakes. But I kept singing and playing and the congregation followed me.
Before Sunday’s worship I always needed sheet music and even with that I could not sing and play at the same time, so never attempted it in church. This was a huge milestone for me as I continue to work on my chording skills and transitions. Thank you, Nina, for ushering me along this journey.
Hi Nina – really good explanation and very useful chart, however I’m not sure my question was answered. Perhaps I’m missing it or maybe I wasn’t clear in my question, but here’s what I was wondering: what is the application of identifying each key as a Semi or full Tone? Why is that important or is it purely informational? The chart itself is very cool in that you’ve mapped out an easy way to identify common chords between different keys so I can use that common chord as my transition. Got it and will apply it. Just was wondering if there’s an application for the T and S labels.
Knowing about full tones and semi-tones is important when it comes to general piano theory. For example, when playing the C scale, you will notice that the formula for a scale is T-T-S-T-T-T-S (T stands for Tone, or full tone, or whole-step and S stands for semi-tone, or half-step). If at any time you would need to know how to play a major scale starting from the F# notes, you will know that some notes will be pressed right next to each other, and some notes will be skipped. If this sound confusing to you, I have a short lesson on piano scales here (https://learn.ninanevski.com/product/learn-to-play-major-scales/) that will teach this in more detail. So in Piano Ministry, you may not need to know the Tone and Semi-tone details, but further down the road, you may find this knowledge helpful.
This chart is helpful to see which key your song is in. Then, you can choose a next song based on whether it’s in the same key or not. Sometimes, I can transpose the next song to be in the same key so that I don’t have to switch keys for each song. Let me know if that makes sense.
Awesome Nina THANK YOU!!! ?
I believe that many musicians have trouble making smooth transitions. In my case. I have a lot of head knowledge on music theory, but often either, I forget to apply what I know, as I am playing and concentrate too much on playing the music or don’t have enough time to think. Sometimes I write little notes on my sheet music to remind myself. I believe that using the circle of 5ths helps a lot to help you with getting to the closest next key you need to get to. Miriam
HI Nina, thanks for the clarity on the transitions chart, 😀 You commented that transitions can be simple and fun if you plan them. What is the plan? How do we know what chords to use to get to whatever the new key is? Thanks!
Hi Christine – what an amazing question! What looking at the transition / song key chart – you will see the chords that are used for songs that are in each key. For example, in the key of C, you can see that the chords are Dm, Em, F, G, Am. If you plan songs in your set that are in the same key of C – you won’t need to do much work in transition, since all the songs will be in one key.
Another example would be if you had a song in the key of C, but the next song would be in the key of G. Both the key of C and key of G have a common chord “G”. You can use that during transition by staying on that G for a while between those two songs and use that chord as a bridge that connects those two keys (C and G). To expand on that example – you can play a song in the key of C and end it off by playing a G chord and you can slow it down and stay on that G and when you’re ready to start that second song – you can play the chords of the song that is in the key of G. Hope that makes sense! Let me know how it works for you!
Thank you! Yes, it does make sense, AND it makes the chart make sense to me, ha ha. So much enlightenment in one answer. 😀
Ooh thank you sooo much once again. Learn another new things again next worship will applied that transition part. Thnx
Nina the chart is so helpful and super well explained thank you for helping us all improve our confidence with playing.
I immediately went to the piano and
i did exactly that transitional and i was so amazed for example i played Lord i lift you name on high key od D then i transition to every Praise to our God also D also i did Amazing Grace key of C F G C and How Great is our God which has C A G F. When i realized what i was doing i just praised God. I do worship and i hope Nina will give us chords and songs of worship some are Sanctuary, i am the God that hesleth Thee i have so many worship songs with no chords.
Will we get fo more advance chords? Any advance guys on my figering. I have a difficult time my 3rd finger i want ro use finger 2 rather thsn 3. I think i have more power in finger 2. I do try hard with practice
I am learni much but i dont quite get that chart but it will come. Also sometimes Nina’s voice goes down and i will miss something she says plud she does a lot of giggling which is cute
Cool chart – great idea to map out the chords with shared notes. Not sure how useful the T and S labels are, aside from indicating the whole and half steps. How does that information apply to transitions?
Hi Therese, if you watch the second video in this lesson, you will see where I explain why this chart specifically is helpful for planning transitions between songs. It is helpful to know which songs are in the same key. Songs that are in the same key are nice to put right after each other so that the transition will be smooth. Hope that helps!
This past Sunday I played keyboard and sang for the very first time ever! My co-leader, who plays the guitar (our only instrument, there are just two of us) was away for the weekend leaving me to either lead acapella as I have done in the past or to take what I’ve learned here so far and apply it to Sunday’s worship.
I did Who You Say I am, Still, and Great Is Thy Faithfulness, mindful of the transitions, leveraging your tutorials for the first two. Was it flawless? No! I actually made quite a few mistakes. But I kept singing and playing and the congregation followed me.
Before Sunday’s worship I always needed sheet music and even with that I could not sing and play at the same time, so never attempted it in church. This was a huge milestone for me as I continue to work on my chording skills and transitions. Thank you, Nina, for ushering me along this journey.
This past Sunday I played keyboard and sang for the very first time ever! My co-leader, who plays the guitar (our only instrument, there are just two of us) was away for the weekend leaving me to either lead acapella as I have done in the past or to take what I’ve learned here so far and apply it to Sunday’s worship.
I did Who You Say I am, Still, and Great Is Thy Faithfulness, mindful of the transitions, leveraging your tutorials for the first two. Was it flawless? No! I actually made quite a few mistakes. But I kept singing and playing and the congregation followed me.
Before Sunday’s worship I always needed sheet music and even with that I could not sing and play at the same time, so never attempted it in church. This was a huge milestone for me as I continue to work on my chording skills and transitions. Thank you, Nina, for ushering me along this journey.
Hi Nina – really good explanation and very useful chart, however I’m not sure my question was answered. Perhaps I’m missing it or maybe I wasn’t clear in my question, but here’s what I was wondering: what is the application of identifying each key as a Semi or full Tone? Why is that important or is it purely informational? The chart itself is very cool in that you’ve mapped out an easy way to identify common chords between different keys so I can use that common chord as my transition. Got it and will apply it. Just was wondering if there’s an application for the T and S labels.
Oh I see what your question is.
Knowing about full tones and semi-tones is important when it comes to general piano theory. For example, when playing the C scale, you will notice that the formula for a scale is T-T-S-T-T-T-S (T stands for Tone, or full tone, or whole-step and S stands for semi-tone, or half-step). If at any time you would need to know how to play a major scale starting from the F# notes, you will know that some notes will be pressed right next to each other, and some notes will be skipped. If this sound confusing to you, I have a short lesson on piano scales here (https://learn.ninanevski.com/product/learn-to-play-major-scales/) that will teach this in more detail. So in Piano Ministry, you may not need to know the Tone and Semi-tone details, but further down the road, you may find this knowledge helpful.
Are you saying that this chart is a way of taking a common cord for the next song in a different key!?
This chart is helpful to see which key your song is in. Then, you can choose a next song based on whether it’s in the same key or not. Sometimes, I can transpose the next song to be in the same key so that I don’t have to switch keys for each song. Let me know if that makes sense.