Note: You may find it helpful to come up with mnemonic devices to help remember these patterns. There is also a useful, quite easy trick for determining the tonic of a sharp key.
In every sharp key, the right-most accidental of the key signature is the leading tone of the key. A is the leading tone for the B major scale. Therefore, the key is B major. Write out each of the following sharp key signatures on the staff provided. Be sure to write each sharp on the appropriate line and in the correct order. Write out an F -major key signature:. F major has six sharps. Flat key signatures can be determined similarly, though here, the lower tetrachord of each scale becomes the upper tetrachord of the next closely-related key.
If we were to continue, the next key would be E b major which would have three flats B b , E b , and A b. Again, it is essential that you remember the order in which flats are added to key signatures and the pattern in which they are notated on the staff. The second to last accidental in a flat key signature will tell you the key. E b major, for example, has three flats: B b , E b , and A b. The second to last E b is the tonic of the key! Write out each of the following flat key signatures.
Be sure to write each flat on the appropriate line and in the correct order. Write out an A b -major key signature:. A b major has four flats. Write out a D b -major key signature:. D b major has five flats. Write out an E b -major key signature:. E b major has three flats. Although treble and bass clefs are the most commonly encountered, it is also helpful to be able to write and recognize key signatures written next to other clefs.
The following example shows where each sharp and flat would be written in a key signature next to treble, bass, alto, and tenor clefs. For key signatures requiring less than seven sharps or flats, simply follow the pattern as far as needed:. Notice that, for the most part, the placement pattern of sharps and flats remains the same, regardless of the clef.
The symbols are simply moved up or down to match the arrangement of pitch letter names on the lines and spaces of the staff as indicated by the clef. The only exception is the set of sharp key signatures written beside a tenor clef the last key signature on the first line. Here a small adjustment is made: the first and third sharps are shifted down an octave to avoid using ledger lines in the key signature.
In tonal music, you will never see a key signature with a mixture of sharps and flats. You may, however, encounter natural signs in a key signature when the accidentals of a previous key signature must be canceled out as in the following excerpt where the key changes to E major in m. A piece that draws primarily from the pitches of a single major scale is said to be in that major key. Within a key, pitch classes are organized hierarchically—primarily around the tonic which is heard as the most stable and grounding degree of the scale.
A piece in G major, for example, will use pitch classes from the G major scale but will treat the pitch class G as the most conclusive sounding resting point. Other scale degrees will be treated accordingly, relative to the tonic. A key signature is a symbol—a collection of sharps or flats—that indicates the key of a particular piece or passage.
Key signatures are written just to the right of the clef and appear at the beginning of each line of music. A sharp or flat indicated by the key signature applies to every instance of that pitch-letter name, not just those on the line or space on which it is written. They remain in effect throughout the entire piece unless they are canceled out by an accidental or a new key signature. Key signatures are always written in a particular pattern on the staff and must be adjusted to match the clef.
Skip to content I. Example 8—1. Amalia Hjelm, 5 Songs, 5. Example 8—2. Example 8—3. Example 8—4. Exercise 8—1a: Question In what key is the following melody? While it is preferable to memorize key signatures, use the following method to determine major key signatures based on the sharps or flats in the key signature. For key signatures withs sharps : Go up a half step from the last sharp to find the key. For key signatures with flats : The second-to-last flat is the key. Section 2.
With time and practice you will memorize all 15 key signatures. This will go hand in hand with learning scales and harmony. In music notation, the key signature tells the reader which notes to play sharp or flat throughout the music. If you are playing a song in a certain key, the same notes will be sharp or flat throughout the entire song. Instead of writing sharps or flats for each note every time it occurs in the music, the sharps or flats of the key are placed at the beginning of the music in the key signature.
The reader is expected to remember to sharp or flat those notes as he or she plays. In this example, you can see the notes of the D Major scale written without a key signature. That means every F and C you encounter in the music are to be played as F and C. All key signatures work the same way. The sharps and flats of the key signature always follow a specific order and are always written in that order. There is a logic for this order, but we will look at this later.
You might notice they are the same order of notes only reversed. When we discuss keys and harmony I will explain why you want to memorize these orders of flats and sharps.
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