Howdy Everyone, Bianca Te Tremelo extends a Warm and Hearty Welcome back to our Piano Lesson Site.
Here is Pianolesson Number Seven.
Today, I am going to give you a Complete List of All the Key Signatures. That is the gist of this lesson – The Fantastical, Mathematical Logic Behind Key Signatures. The whole range of Major and Minor Key Signatures, inclusive of all the Flat Keys and the Sharp Keys will be given here.
My mentor, the extremely learned and expert piano teacher Sister Mary Fidelis from St Joseph’s Convent, New Zealand, gave me this magic formula many years ago, when I was studying music full-time.
You just cannot go wrong with this formula. Once you see how it works, you can ascertain the key signature of any key at all. It is a great formula for those who are sitting examinations in the theory of music, as it really doesn’t matter if you forget what the key signatures are: Once you understand the sequence, you can draw up the table anywhere, at any time, even in the exam room, to give you a faultless result. This knowledge will not only help you in your understanding of the logic behind key signatures, but will be invaluable in helping you pass those music exams with flying colours.
The Chart of Key Signatures has the Major keys on the left hand side, and the related Minor Key to the right of the chart. The related Minor Key is so called because it has exactly the same key signature as its companion Major Key.
The Complete List of Sharp Key Signatures. Note that the sharp keys move up by degrees of a 5th each time.
- 0 Sharps C Major and A Minor
- 1 Sharp- F# - G Major E Minor
- 2 Sharps F# C# – D Major B Minor
- 3 Sharps F# C# G# – A Major F# Minor
- 4 Sharps F# C# G# D# - E Major C# Minor
- 5 Sharps F# C# G# D# A# – B Major G# Minor
- 6 Sharps F# C# G# D# A# E# – F# Major D# Minor
- 7 Sharps F# C# G# D# A# E# B# – C# Major and A# Minor.
Note that the order of Sharps is always the same. This is:
F C G D A E B. If the Key has two sharps, then they will be F# and C#, and will be written in that order. If the key signature has six sharps, then they will be F C G D A and E sharps, and will be written in that order.
You can see that there is another system to this Key Signature Table. Beginning with NO sharps (or flats) with C Major, we move up that scale of C to the 5th degree of that scale to find the next Key Signature which ranks with ONE Sharp. This will be G Major, which, as you can see from the chart, has ONE SHARP F.
In a Sharp Key: We always move up a fifth to find the next ranking key signature in a Sharp Key. From G major, with one sharp, we move up another fifth to find the key signature which will have TWO sharps, which will be D Major, with F and C sharps, and so on. The same logic applies to the relative minor, which lies always a minor 3rd below its related major key.
Another amazing thing about this chart is that you can see how just one more sharp is added each time. They are ALWAYS written in the way these sharps arrive in sequence. F# ALWAYS begins the written key signature, no matter how many sharps you have in the key, and no matter whether the key is Major or Minor.
It is a FLAWLESS system.
THE FLAT KEY system of Key Signatures: The same methodology applies to the Flat Key Signatures, except that the flat keys move up by degrees of a 4th each time. Going up the scale of C Major to the 4th degree, you arrive at the Key Signature which has ONE FLAT B.
Here is how the Chart of Flat Key Signatures Looks:
- 0 Flats – C Major and A Minor
- 1 Flat Bb- F Major and D Minor
- 2 Flats Bb Eb- BbMajor and G Minor
- 3 Flats Bb Eb Ab- Eb Major and C Minor
- 4 Flats Bb Eb Ab Db- Ab Major and F Minor
- 5 Flats Bb Eb Ab Db Gb- Db Major and Bb Minor
- 6 Flats Bb Eb Ab Db Gb Cb- Gb Major and Eb Minor
- 7 Flats Bb Eb Ab Db Gb Cb Fb – Cb Major and Ab Minor
The key to the range of Flat Key Signatures is this:
B E A D G C F – Just seven Flats. If the Key Signature has One Flat, that Flat will ALWAYS be Bb. If it has TWO Flats, then those flats will ALWAYS be Bb and Eb, and will always be written in that order. If the Key Signature has FIVE FLATS, then they will be the first FIVE flats of our list of flats - B E A D G, and will ALWAYS be written in that order in the Key Signature.
Note that the order of FLATS is EXACTLY the OPPOSITE to the list of Sharps, which goes F C G D A E B.
If you can remember BEADGCF for the FLAT keys, then you have the magic formula sussed for those theory exams. Just reverse it to find the sharp keys.