Moonlight sonata

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Thanks for your help & patience.

I'm sorry, but you lost me. :confused: If it is played on the same note as a C and it sounds like a C, it's gotta "B" a "C", lol.

Hehe... no. The "problem" is in the corresponding relationships between notes.

as it was mentioned before... The moonlight sonata is played in c# minor.
So here we go again :D

C# D# E F# G# A B C# (c#-minor)

Now i don't know what piece of the song you were talking about but if there's a B# in a c# minor chord, it can only be the natural 7th. (someone correct me if i'm wrong)

So to play the c# minor with it's natural 7th you have your minor triad which is C# E G# and the B# (but most of the players drop out the III which in this case is E)

It's all about the chords, the right hand just plays the melody over those chords... :)
 
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Now if this was Arabic music I could understand the difference between Bsharp and C, 'cause they have Quarter-tones. Did Beethoven learn music in the Middle East? Lol.

Actually that's not a bad way to think about it. On a piano, obviously B# and C and everything are the same, however on a violin or trumpet etc. notes are played differently based on how they function. I'll use a different example to (hopefully) better illustrate the point.

Let's take an Eb note, and let's say you're playing a C minor triad (C, Eb, and G). Let's say in another context we're playing a B major triad (B, D#, and F#). Even though on a PIANO the D# and Eb are the same, if a violin were playing those notes they would play them differently due to the context. The Eb would be played slightly lower than the D# tuning-wise. hopefully this is useful to you.

Another thing to consider is the chord you are playing. In a minor piece, when the 7th is raised, if there's a chord accompanying it it is the V chord, or in this case a G# chord. The V chord is always a major triad, and a dominant seventh if there's a seventh (don't worry about that if that's confusing though). Suffice to say the V chord has to have that "leading tone" (the half step below the root, in this case a "B#"). This is why the seventh gets raised. So.... let's say we called the B# a C. The triad would be a G#, C, D#. This doesn't make sense, however, since a triad is stacked thirds. A C and D# is not a third, it's a second. In this case, an augmented second, but it's a second. A G# and C is a fourth. A diminished fourth, but still a fourth. It would actually be more confusing to read G#, C, D# and then realize it sounds differently than it's written.

Basically a triad, in terms of what we name the notes, has to be stacked thirds. So a triad built off of some sort of G (b or #), the next two notes HAVE to be called B and D, sharp or flat.

Suffice to say, this is nothing compared to G# minor. The raised seventh you ask? An F double sharp (enharmonically a G). That's not fun.
 
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they way to do it if you have small hands is to split the chord - playing the top note exactly on the beat, and placing the lower note just before it - also move your wrist from up the keyboard at the same time to aid the jump...;)
 

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