In all honesty I’d direct her to Wikipedia or You tube first.

Wikipedia has several excellent articles on the "bones" of music. R/

As a fiddler, you could say it’s a way to tell the name of the notes across the string instead of linearly up and down them.

I couldn't splain it. But I can print it, and stick it to my wall.

Same as the circle of 4ths but clockwise

It's the cheat sheet that unlocks all of music theory.

Seriously, it has far more uses than appear on the surface...

quote:

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Originally posted by invisiblewasp

My 12 year old niece asked me what the circle of 5ths was. How would you go about explaining it?

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Start by explaining what a fifth is.

Fifth note of a scale; do-re-mi-fa-sol-la ti-do

With that fifth, sol; make that the new key tonic of do, to make the scale; and go up to a new sol; then repeat. After 12 times, the sol will become the original do... thus making a circle.

If want, can expand to use this to show idea of key signatures, how many sharps/or flats. That every degree move requires sharpening the seventh note of scale, thus  adds one more sharp. Can go the other direction, the fourth note of scale needs flattened. Thus way to define how many sharps/flats in key sig. 

"It's a tool for learning basic music theory; Keys, scales/modes, triads, chord extensions/progressions and intervals...."

quote:

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Originally posted by carlb

quote:

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Originally posted by alaskafiddlerWith that fifth, sol; make that the new key tonic of do, to make the noscale; and go up to a new sol; then repeat. After 12 times, the sol will become the original do... thus making a circle.

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I once tried tuning a piano that way. When I got around to the original note, it was close but not the same. You just can't tune a piano by "just intonation". "Tempered tuning" is just a compromise as is all those electronic tuners.

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And those tuners don't use the same algorithm so they don't agree with one another.

Tell her it's a way to be able to cycle through every key used in music...or at least Western European music. Just so she can get an idea of what a fifth sounds like, have her sing "do-re-mi-fa-so" and then have her try to go directly from do to so (and yeah, you can pronounce it/write it "sol" as well). It may bend her mind for a little while, but the exercise will make her far more musically proficient in short order. Both on a conscious and instinctive level, it'll make her understand far better how melodies work, and what a chord change does.

When I was learning the circle (5th) I would think like this: The "leading tone" of the scale I was playing in is also the "color tone" of the dominant chord. For example, F# in the key of G is the leading tone. F# is also the color tone of the triad D F# A which is the dominant chord in the key of G. Using this little memory thing-a-ma-jig helps a lot when getting started in theory.
It's good to practice scales and discern the leading tone and then to think of what chord the leading tone is the color tone to.
CDEFGABC  = GBD

EbFGAbBbCDEb = BbDF

etc, all the way around the circle of fifths. (CGDAEBF#C#G#EbBbFC)

Tell your cousin it’s the color wheel of music (western music)

The musicians I grew up around any my mention of a fifth referred to whiskey.

I like to turn the circle over and make it a Circle of 4ths, then normal chord movement, aka. tension releasing to the 4 chord, becomes clockwise.

Not the original question, but for taking a simple tune "around the circle" for an ear and finger position workout, I like to go from the key of B to Bb (B-E-A-D,etc) . Starting with the key of G is also good, but starting on C quickly gets you into the flat keys.

The Prisoner's Song is a good tune to try and take around the circle, or play in each key. Its melody sits perfectly within one octave the the highest and lowest note of the melody are the roots of the key.

This version by Hank Snow starts in A, then goes to Bb and then B. Try and copy the melody from his voice, then play it in different keys.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfL56RJqvE0

I would -

1. Teach her the chromatic scale.
2. Teach her the diatonic scale formula.
3. Step by step build the Circle of 5ths.

By doing that, she will realize why things happen the way they do. For example she will know why 'G" comes after "C" when going clockwise. I would take my time and make sure she completely understands something before proceeding. If she learns this material lots of other things will be easy to understand. Build knowledge slowly and step by step.

If you look up my youtube channel (William Sears) and go to playlists, I have a free video on that. I hope that might help.