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First, a key is only really a basis. You can have an F# in a piece written in C Major without having the piece "switch" keys. Second, keys are defined arbitrarily. Sure there is theory about what sounds good and that sort of thing, but at the end of the day it's just a group of notes that's just as valid as any other group of notes. This is made clear by ...

The short (and oversimplified) answer is: Because Ab Major has fewer flats than G# Major has sharps, and thus it's easier for musicians to read. This becomes especially apparent with keys such as D# Major, which has a double-sharp in it---the seventh note of the D# Major scale is not D, but Cx (that's "C double-sharp"). The longer and more accurate answer ...

The ♭III is a borrowed chord from the parallel minor. A bit more info: The bIII is commonly followed by the IV, giving it something of a subdominant function relative to the IV. The ii here is acting as a IV (it's the relative minor of IV) in a plagal cadence, so functionally what we have is more similar to I bIII IV, a common rock progression. Also, the ...

The convention generally follows that which we see for minor key signatures. There is not a 1 to 1 relationship of key signature to root, rather, the key signature is there to tell us what notes exist in the scale. Then, we use the music itself to figure out where the root is. If you were writing in D phrygian, for example, would you have two sharps in the ...

'Dorian mode on C' does not mean "the Dorian scale that you can find among the notes that are available in the major key of C"! 'Dorian mode on C' refers to the Dorian scale, or set of note intervals, that start on the note C, i.e. C is its root or tonic. This set of notes happens to be the same as the ones found in the Bb major key, thus two flats. This is ...

"Key" implies "tonality." The name of a key corresponds to a pitch class that is considered the "focus" of a key or section. Is it possible to compose a melody without a key? Of course. That was the whole point of the Second Viennese School. Of course, it is possible not to be tonal (which implies a specific framework of relationships surrounding one ...

The easiest way for me to figure this out (until you start memorizing them or gaining more aural awareness of tonality) was to remember the orders of sharps and flats (which are opposites of each other), and two simple rules for translating from key signature to major keys. Sharps: Order: FCGDAEB = Fat Cats Go Down After Eating Breakfast From the last ...

I'm not sure why you'd have any reason to question why it's real ... it's not really related to G Major though, no more than C# major is related to C Major. It's enharmonically equivalent to A♭ major, just like C# Major = D♭ Major or F# Major = G♭ Major. As for pieces involving it, Wikipedia mentions some. In general, keys with ...

As I'm sure you're aware, you can transpose any tune to whatever key you like. One reason to choose a certain key, is simply that it sounds good. It might be that you feel that notes of a certain pitch inherently sound pleasant on your chosen instrument. I happen to like the tone of my guitar with a capo on the 7th string, for example. Or it might be ...

To add to the other answers, there is also dodecaphony, or twelve-tone technique, a method to compose music explicitly without a key by trying to give equal weight to all 12 notes of the western scale. (Look ma, no key) Another example: YouTube: Arnold Schönberg: Suite op. 25 / Musette Surely sounds interesting, but this kind of music is definitely more ...

Possible, yes. Recommended, probably not. As other answers have stated, it is certainly possible to write a song that does not conform to defined tonal "scales" like the Ionian mode (major scale) and related modes, pentatonic scales, and variations like harmonic and melodic minor (which differ from "natural minor", the Aeolian mode, in a couple subtle ways ...

If you examine the circle of fifths, this will help visualize why the orders of sharps and flats occur in their respective sequences. For sharps, we begin with C. The next item in the circle is the key of G, with one sharp in the key signature: F. The next key is D, with two sharps, F and C. Next comes the key of A, with F, C, and G in the key signature. ...

The larger question is why any composer would use a certain key signature rather than its enharmonic equivalent. For instance the choral music composer John Rutter is known for notating songs in C♭ major (with seven flats) rather than in B major (with five sharps). In the equal-tempered system, C♭ major and B major are the same key. Despite the fact that ...

I've played a lot of Eastern European music and often the minor keys will show the mode in the key signature e.g G minor has F sharp and B flat in the key signature so no accidentals needed all over the place. Another is a mode based on E that only has a G sharp in the key signature. It may not be a familiar to a newer musician, but I find once people know ...

There is a strong case for certain enharmonic key uses depending on the mode (minor/Major). These four little tables show that Eb is significantly easier to write than D# for a major scale as the latter would involve double sharps in the signature. But F# and Gb Major are really close in complexity. Major scales Number of #s (upper lines) versus ...

Sharps and flats in the key signature are one indication as to the key of a piece. Lacking those notes in the actual music is irrelevant. For example, play all the white notes on a keyboard in order from C to the next C an octave higher. Now do the same from F to F. Hear how it sounds weird on the 4th note (B)? That's because you need to play it in the key ...

A key signature is a bunch of zero or more sharp or flat signs written at the beginning of each line of music (sometimes only the first line). It tells you which notes are to be raised or lowered by a semitone by default. When you start from C and play a scale of "just the names", that is C, D, E, F, G, A, B and C, without any sharps or flats you get ...

Even though you are learning the flute, I think it is worth understanding the piano keyboard, and thinking about key signatures in terms of that. It's worth experimenting with a piano, or an electronic keyboard, or even web app like this one. The white keys are the 'natural' notes A-G. The black keys are used to play sharps and flats. Notice that B flat ...

This is a great question that is subtlely different from the usual "what is the difference between A♭ and G♯?" Apart from frequency differences in non-12-et tunings, that question relates to the function of the note within the chord/scale/key. But if we're talking about choice of key, then there are other factors at work. Obviously in non-12-et tunings, the ...

If it starts on C and ends on C, it's probably in C. And vice versa. If it has lots of A minor and E minor chords, it's probably in Am (E is the dominant). Likewise, lots of Cs and Gs implies C Major. There are a few other indicators, but largely speaking it doesn't matter. They're two names for the same thing. Often people say that minor keys sound ...

The order of sharps and flats is as it is because, in preserving the whole-step/half-step arrangement of the major and (natural) minor scales, the sharps and flats appear in that order. That is, there are no major keys with E♭ that do not also have B♭, but there is a major key (F Major) that has B♭ but still has E♮. The order of sharps works similarly.

Realize first that keys can be, and very often are, "temporary" within a piece. That is, the tonality may modulate to a new key without changing key signatures. Accidentals are used to indicate on notes that are in the tonality of that section. With that in mind, I could imagine that G♯ Major would be used in a number of works, but not as a key signature. ...

I appear to be the only one (with my quick viewing of this thread) that feels that you SHOULD have accidentals. If you're in D dorian, write as if it was D minor (aka one flat) and have B naturals as accidentals. That lets your performer know that you're in a D minor mode, and looking at accidentals clarifies it. Because it's so easy to divide the modes ...

Most music I've seen that uses modes other than major and minor just uses the key signature that requires the fewest accidentals, and I've seen people who try to read it run into both problems you mention. (I'm thinking of two different choir pieces in F# mixolydian: people thought the first one was in B major and sight-read the second one as if the key ...

Obviously the answer depends on your point of view, and there probably isn't one "right" answer. There are 12 unique named tones in Western music; all pitches are one of these 12 tones. Thus, from a purely sonic perspective, there are only twelve starting notes for a key, and with major and minor scale qualities, there are 24 tonally unique keys. For my ...

As alluded to in the comments, it's not notated in the key of D Major because it's not in the key of D Major. Similarly, having one sharp doesn't mean you're in G Major, even when that sharp is F#. What you've been taught is a shortcut for recognizing key signatures, but it's not the truth. A key can be composed of any set of notes — even fewer or ...

When I was a beginning musician I wanted the key signature that told me what notes to play, with the fewest accidentals written in the line. When I got a little more advanced I realized that knowing the "real" key/mode is important for understanding harmonic properties. This matters if you need to know where your part is in the blend (e.g. am I on the 3rd? ...

I think you've already received a good answer for determining the key signature from key, but for the other way round, it's actually really simple fortunately. All you need to know is two rules and a special case: If the key signature is composed of sharps, then the major key is a semitone above the ultimate (right-most) sharp. (Rather to be pedantic, I ...

Indeed there is. For sharps: Father Charles Goes Down And Ends Battle For flats, just read in reverse! This works as follows: For C Major, there are no sharps. For G Major (up a perfect fifth), there is 1 sharp (F#; Father). For D Major (up a perfect fifth), there are 2 sharps (F# and C#; Father Charles). For A Major (up a perfect fifth), there are 3 ...

It's not particularly surprising that none of the pieces contained an F#. First grade pieces tend to focus on the tonic, mediant, and dominant (with the supertonic and subdominant thrown in for runs and the like). The leading note is less likely to appear because beginning pianists are struggling with rhythm, identifying the limited notes they do know, ...