At one of my piano lessons earlier this week, I made a reference to the Circle of Fifths with one of my students. As I debated whether to quickly sketch out what I was talking about on a dry erase board or pull a printed worksheet from one of my theory worksheet binders, I had the thought that it would be wonderful to have a Circle of Fifths poster on the wall in the studio. I envisioned a poster that would serve as both an educational tool and a piece of art. So I jotted myself a quick note to search for such a poster or print. After spending the last several days searching in vain, I decided to try creating one.
I wanted something visually appealing, but not cluttered or distracting. The Circle of Fifths had to remain the focal point. Plenty of white space was important for a clean and elegant look. And as for the content, one of my pet peeves is displaying the key signature in only one clef, so I included a grand staff depicting the key signature for each key in both the treble and bass clefs! After many hours of fine-tuning (and working with my incredible husband to figure out the mathematical formula for measuring and drawing equal segments of the circle for each key!), I am thrilled that the Circle of Fifths poster design is complete and my print from VivyxPrinting is on the way. I’ll be sure to post a picture of it in the studio once I have it up on the wall. And just in case anyone else has run into the same dilemma of not being able to find an artistic, wall-worthy rendering of the Circle of Fifths, I’ve made the design available in the Music Matters Blog store at a special introductory rate until the end of next week.
“Saturate the environment with what you want your students to absorb and remember.” ~Andrew Pudewa
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