Key Signatures
※ Download: E flat major key signature
Modes, created mainly by the churches, were the basis for most of western music. Ri is the accidental between Re and Mi. Feel free to tell me what you think about the topics covered or give ideas for new tutorials that you would like to see added.
To find the name of a key signature with sharps, look at the sharp farthest to the right. Put another way, if you see a key signature with 1 flat symbol, that flat will always be the first phrase word. First here are all the key signatures of the keys that have flat.
Buy a Keyboard - What about the key of C or the key of F? There are half steps between the second and third and the fifth and sixth degrees; whole steps exist between all other steps.
Remembering Key Signatures I am currently converting the entire Essential Music Theory site to https to give visitors a more secure browsing experience. Everything should be fine but apologies if anything doesn't work quite as expected over the next couple of weeks. Simon 12 November 2017 Remembering key signatures is something that most musicians find difficult to begin with. This page helps you remember the keys which contain flats. As I say on the sharps keys page, knowing the keys isn't only about passing theory exams. In fact, no theory is really about passing exams! Learning music theory is about helping inform and improve your playing. Having a good knowledge of music keys helps your sight reading, makes it easier to memorize scales, helps you become better at improvisation and really helps you if you want to become a composer... Below you will find a video that shows you a simple method of remembering all of the major key signatures containing flats. First here are all the key signatures of the keys that have flat. I have included the key of C Major no sharps or flats at the start, just for the sake of completeness, although clearly there is nothing there! C Flat Major Simple method for remembering key signatures with flats As I said on the sharp keys page, this is something that only occurred to me recently. You only need to remember two things , and if you already know the order of the sharps you can already remember one of them, because the order of the flats is just the order of the sharps backwards! And if you are on this page first, when you get to the sharps page they will just be the flats backwards! The first thing to remember is the order of the flats which is B E A D G C F Some people remember this with the mnemonic B attle E nds A nd D own G oes C harles' F ather but to be honest I am not a fan of this because it is too easy to get the last two words muddles and remember Battle Ends And Down Goes Father Charles. You could also remember to start on B and go up 4 notes each time. One of my favourite methods of remembering came from a students who said she remembered that the sharps went up 5 notes between each because if you sat on something sharp you would go up quickly. The flats go down 5 notes between each because when you flatten something it goes down... The second thing you need to remember is the same thing as for the sharps and that is that C major has no sharps and no flats. Once you know these two things there is a simple method to help work out all the signatures for any major key. Just watch the short video below to learn how to do it. Shortcut to knowing which key with flats One of the easy ways to find out a key with flats is to see what the penultimate flat is. This will give you the major key! Take the quiz Once you are confident you know all the keys with flats. A Clear Path To Learning Music Theory For more help check out my new theory book Essential Music Theory: Learn To Read And Appreciate Music Vol. Or get it on the iBooks Store!
Notice that the pattern changes, which means that this is no longer a Major scale. On the outside are the major key names, separated by fifths. This allows musicians to identify the key simply by the number of sharps or flats which is the same in any clefrather than their position on the staff. A major key and its relative minor key make use of the same scale. Additional terminology Keys which are associated with the same e flat major key signature signature are called. They are based on the formula W-W-H-W-W-W-H. For example, the key of seven sharps is more simply represented as five flats. A-flat major key signature The below shows the major key signature on the treble clef and bass clef. The next key clockwise along the Circle of Fifths is G major, which has one sharp F-sharp : The second key going clockwise is D major, with two sharps: Now we have F-sharp and C-sharp. At the top you have the key of C major, which has no sharps or flats in its key signature. Here's what it would look like without the B flatted. If both naturals and a new key signature appear at a key signature change, there are also more recently variations about where a barline will be placed in the case where the change occurs between bars.
