Questions tagged [key-signatures]
In musical notation, a set of sharp or flat symbols placed together at left side of each staff, effectively indicating the default pitch class set of the notes to follow.
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What are the natural and sharp signs between the repeat signs for?
What do the natural and sharp signs in the middle of the repeat symbols mean?
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Why is this A major blues notated in C major?
The sheet music for Charlie Byrd’s Spanish Guitar Blues (produced by Columbia Music Co., © 1961) is in the key of C major, but it seems obvious to me that the piece is in A major.
I understand that ...
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How to read the key signature from Biber's 15th sonata?
This is from Heinrich Franz Biber's Mystery Sonata 15:
The key signature is odd in that the F# appears in both octaves and the C# appears in its usual place, but an octave below it's natural. Does ...
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Why do key signatures switch from flats to sharps at a certain mode brightness?
I'm looking at Hooktheory's Key Cheat Sheet Index. I've noticed that for each key signature where the root is a black note, the choice to use a sharp or flat in the key signature's name changes in ...
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Pomp and circumstance march no. 1 Edward Elgar F horn and trumpet written without key signature - which C was it transposed to?
I am transcribing Edward Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance March no. 1 in Musescore. Here is the part of the score was puzzling me until I read this question.
You can see that the Horn and Trumpet are ...
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What determines the orders of flats or sharps appearing on a key signature? Why is it not just top to bottom? [duplicate]
Backstory:
Beginner Piano player, self teaching, just trying to learn how to interpret key signatures
Problem:
Here I am puzzled:
This key signature details 6 notes to be flats.
The sequence left to ...
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Can a key signature express Phrygian mode (not just major or minor)?
Relative modes share the same note.
I was told the key signature could mean either major or minor.
But can it not also mean the other five modes like Phrygian, Locrian, etc.?
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Why is the key typically the first and/or last note (or chord) of a song?
Is there a strategical reason when composing for the key to commonly be the first and/or last note (or chord) of a song?
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What is the meaning of the affixed paragraph on Sharps?
I am having a doubt with regard to the below portion of a textbook I am studying. I am new to music theory and therefore, the doubt that I have might sound trivial. But, Kindly help.
It says that when ...
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Why does Musescore interpret Westergaard's A-flat as G? Seeking Clarification on Pitch Spelling
I was reviewing some rules from Peter Westergaard's An Introduction to Tonal Theory. I am really only literate in the key of C major, and so I was notating one of Westergaard's example in MuseScore ...
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Do enharmonic keys have a preferred name?
i.e do we refer to the key of F# more than the key of Gb or are they truly interchangeable and referred to equally? Or does the context matter?
(I’m trying to get a clear hold on what keys are more ...
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Why is the G flat major key signature written with a flat on the lower G and not the higher one?
I was going over the circle of fifths as part of theory, and I was trying to write out the G-flat key signature. I put the G-flat in where the red flat is in the image below, but I realized that the ...
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How do find the key signature in "Fantasia on Greensleeves" [closed]
Can someone verify if Ralph Vaughan Williams "Fantasia on Greensleeves" is played in F natural minor/melodic minor scale or C minor, if not which key signature?
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How to notate altered diatonic scales (in this case Mixolydian ♭6)? [duplicate]
If I am notating a piece that's in [mostly] a C Mixolydian ♭6 scale (B♭ and A♭), what approach to notation would be most easily read?
Notate everything in a non-standard key signature, B♭, E♮, and A♭...
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I’m looking for information/references on how we developed the Major Mode (Scale/Key) [closed]
As the title says, I’m looking for some information on the history of how the Major Mode (Scale,Key) was developed/designed. I already know a little bit, that is, I am not completely new to the topic, ...
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Custom scale and key signature
I am currently experimenting with microtonality in LilyPond. Mainly, I would like to switch to the Pythagorean tuning and lower or raise pitches by a syntotic comma, as in the this snippet. However, ...
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Gymnopedie no 1 key signature [closed]
I have a handbell arrangement of Gymnopedie with Bb in the signature. Normally you know that means key of Fmaj. Is it Fmaj?
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How do the notes on the treble and bass staves here correspond to each other? (Mozart K331 Mvmt 1 Var. V Measure 100)
In this measure 100 of the Variation V of Mozart's K.331, I'm trying to get it right which note on the treble staff is played at the same moment as which note on the bass staff. In the image I drew ...
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Is it okay to change the key signature in the middle of a bar?
In music notation, is it okay to change the key signature within a measure? Or should I split the meter into two for that?
For example, I have the following four quarter notes in one measure with:
𝄞 ♭...
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What’s the correct key analysis for this excerpt?
From the ABRSM G5 workbook.
To my mind the excerpt could be in F minor or B flat minor, both contain flat BED (and A). The answer given is B flat minor; why is it not F minor?
(Saw this after posting: ...
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accidentals of the treble and bass clef
I don't understand why we have to write the key signature on the bass line?
It's already precise on the treble line, so we already know the tonality of the piece.
What's more, is it possible in this ...
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How do scales actually help a person play in a different key?
I've recently started the piano, and I want to learn all my scales so I know them, but I just can't seem to grasp how these scales actually help when I have a different key signature, sure I know the ...
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Confused about the natural symbol (♮) and the omnipresence of the C major scale in music theory
Something is confusing me in our use of accidentals in modern music theory, and more particularly about the use of the natural symbol ♮.
It is not always easy to formulate accurately a mess of ...
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In which cadence can parents reasonably expect multiple key signatures to be introduced in piano instruction?
If a child starts to play the piano at six (at or about the beginning of Grade 1) with a teacher, reading sheet music from the first lesson, at what point can one reasonably expect the pupil/teacher ...
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microtonal accidentals and theoretical key signatures
In microtonal music, theoretically, microtonal accidentals can be placed to key signature.
So can we think microtonal key signatures as a kind of theoretical key signatures?
I really appreciate any ...
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how does the key signature work (not reading it)
If I find the key signature contains, let's say, E flat, does that only mean only E's are E flat or every note on the staff of the key signature are flats? I've looked up multiple things but I am not ...
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Why is french horn not written a 5th above the rest of the orchestra when it is supposed to be? [duplicate]
Here the orchestra plays in D but the french horn is written in C major when it should be written in A major. There are accidentals but I dont understan why the correct key signature is not used?
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Finding the key of a song that begins in other key
Most classical musics begin in a key that matches its inital key signature, but some songs doesn't.
For example, Schubert's impromptu no. 4, op. 90 begins in A-flat minor, but its key is A-flat major, ...
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Trouble reading sheet music - identifying sharp note [duplicate]
I have watched this YouTube video and wanted to play it myself. I downloaded the sheet music from his description. In the following image I have marked the first incident where I wasn't sure about the ...
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How do I recognize the key of a song that doesn't have a "home chord"?
I've just started learning music theory so i don't know if my question is understandable.
I've been searching on google, youtube, and here how to be able to recognize the key a song is in by ear, or ...
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How to notate a non-standard hexatonic key
I am writing part of a piano piece in a hexatonic "key" containing these notes:
C - D# - E - G - Ab - B
(I say "key" instead of scale because I'm treating it like a key, deriving ...
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Sharps used in Super Mario theme
Why are there sharps/flats in super Mario theme played on piano as the song is written in C major key.
I was reading this sheet music. I have seen many others and they all use sharps but write C major ...
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Why does music from the Classical era rarely use keys beyond 3 sharps/flats?
This is just something I noticed when looking through music from this period. They almost never go beyond 3 sharps or flats. For example, Mozart's symphonies:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
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Is Fantaisie Impromptu actually in G# Phrygian?
I’m new to music theory and the definition of key I’ve learned seems to contradict established fact. I’ve been told that the tonic of a piece is the key where the melody comes to rest, where it feels ...
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Should a scale like C double harmonic major or C phrygian dominant be notated as a 4 flats or natural key?
I'm not really looking for an "objective" answer, but a list of pros and cons for the 2 options I listed (and maybe other options like notating the key as 3 flats or making a weird custom ...
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What is this key signature used in Gymnopedie 1 - F major or D major?
I'm learning Gymnopedie no 1 from the Faber-music Piano Anthology but I'm confused about the key signature of B-flat. All of the B-flats within the piece are written as a natural and there's an ...
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How to move placement of key signature in Lilypond
In LilyPond (ver. 2.18.2), I'm notating some Ligeti (as a challenge, mostly). When writing out a snippet of his Étude En Suspens, mm. 18-21, there's a passage with different keys between the bottom ...
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How can Key be understood differently when composing music vs playing it as a musician?
When I was younger, for years, I played musical instruments such as the french horn, violin, acoustic ("standing") bass, electric bass, piano, and electric guitar. During these years, I also ...
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Clef with signature keys, entering other notes
I would like to know, suppose a clef with key signature (e.g., G is always sharp), independent of octave, appears at the beginning of the staff.
Then every G that appears must be read sharp.
Then what ...
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Modulating to new keys in blues
I found many threads and YouTube videos on modulation in general, but not specific to blues.
I’m getting pretty good at the basic I-IV-V progression in blues, playing some old delta-style or BBking ...
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Why are some musical pieces using tricky key signatures? [duplicate]
I have learned in solfege classes when I was a kid that each sheet music of a musical piece has a key signature made out of sharps or flats.
I understood that this key signature changes when the piece ...
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Writing Key Signatures for Polytonality/Frequent Key Modulation
I looked through similar questions and didn't really see anything that answered a broader question so I guess I'll ask it.
As I write music, my chord progressions tend to go through a lot of different ...
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Lilypond: Set key change signature before D.C. or D.S., and different key in next line
Imagine you have a piece consisting of 3 parts, say A, B, C, and they appear in order A B A C. You want to typeset this in the following form
with Da Capo and a Coda, and a line break after the "...
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How to transcribe key(or mode) signature to word
Here is my method and it work 80% of the time but sometimes it didn't work. What do I do wrong?
I know how to do all the major no problem.
so:
C = 0
D = 2#
E = 4#
F = 1b
G = 1#
A = 3#
B = 5#
and if ...
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How to notate scores when the keys don't admit a heptatonic scale?
I was playing with microtonality. Specifically, equal temperaments other than 12edo. Since the point of equal temperaments is versatility, I wanted them to admit a notion of key signatures similar to ...
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The Grand Staff Revealed?
This is a long explanation (with a question at the end), but I hope it might help some struggling students.
I'm embarrassed that I always shunned reading music. I first learned music a lifetime ago by ...
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Is D minor also F Aeolian?
If I were to write a song in D minor, could I notate it correctly in F Aeolian? Because the subsequent 4th of the root in F Aeolian would be flat, right? Therefore, D minor and F Aeolian, which in ...
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Nonstandard key signature names? (7 scale degrees)
I read an interesting point that when we use accidentals it might be fruitful to think of it like changing key signature (locally, I guess). So I naturally started wondering if the more exotic key ...
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Circle of Fifths (Added Sharps and Flats) [duplicate]
I understand that an easy way to determine the 'key' of a piece of music is to either look at the last sharp within the key signature and add a half step (semitone), or look at the second to last flat....
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Interval quality in key signatures
I have plotted all m2, M7, M2, m7, m3, M6, M3, m6, aug4, dim5 intervals in all key signatures, and it seems that the notes don't move vertically or change accidentals (barring for accidentals in the ...
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