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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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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If I ever compose minor key music, for the original key, should I use A minor or C minor? [closed]
The A minor scale is the first and easiest minor key to learn in music since it has no sharps and flats just like its relative key called the C major scale but I've seen some composers like Grant ...
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Confusing clarinet key signature changes
I am reading through a miniature score book of the Vorspiel (Prelude) of Die Meistersinger Von Nürnberg by Richard Wagner. It's a piece for orchestra, including two B-flat clarinets.
The clarinet ...
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WHy can you not play metal in Major keys?
Well you can but people are just going to think you are a Sum 41 cover band. It just seems like the Major key does not translate so well on electric guitar.
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What does it mean when one flat in the key signature is in parenthesis?
Can someone please help me make sense of why some flat symbols in the key signature are in parenthesis?
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In what key signature is singing written in, and how do I adapt for alto saxophone?
Note: I am not that good in general music theory but I will try to get my point across as best as I can.
I am currently in charge of writing/transposing the scores of a little hobby band.
I got the ...
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Why practice enharmonic equivalent keys as separate keys
In this video Victor Wooten explains that there are 30 keys that people need to practice in as opposed to 24. I found out that the 6 extra keys are actually redundant in the sense that each one of ...
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Horn & Trumpet and Key Signatures
In reading from 100 Orchestration Tips by Thomas Goss, I've come across a tip which I'm perfectly happy accepting, but (perhaps as I'm not a horn player nor a trumpet player) I do not understand.
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Setting changed key signature before volta in Lilypond
I'm scoring Mozart's first piece, K1 - Minuet and Trio. The structure is essentially 4 repeats. After the first two repeats, the key signature changes from G Major to C Major.
I've split the right ...
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Modulating a minor 3rd
I want to modulate from a chorus that's in F# minor to a verse which is in D# minor.
Do you know a good (preferably short) chord progression/transition for this modulation?
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Is it ok to use irregular key signatures for neutral scales?
So for 24-TET neutral scales is it correct to use irregular key signatures? or do I need to use a minor with accidentals or something?
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Piano sight-reading confusion [duplicate]
everyone. I am a beginner pianist and I am to improve my technical and sight-reading skills. I have been sight-reading Primavera - Ludovico Einaudi for the past week and I came across something odd. ...
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"Wrong" key signature for a score in F dorian?
TL;DR I'm a bit confused on which key signature to use for a score in F dorian: 4 flats or 3 flats?
I wrote this arrangement of Mad World by Gary Jules back in 2012 using 3 flats as key signature. ...
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On Noteflight, I would like to change the staff (score) key signature. How do I do this without keeping absolute pitch? (It adds accidentals.)
Here is what it looks like before:
The key signature change only adds accidentals to the 'affected" notes. Thus, even a staff/score transposition does not solve my problem:
If the score were ...
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Blues progression: are those changes of key?
Suppose we have a simple blues in E with the following chord progression
E7 A7 B7 E7
and that we have to play
Over E7: Em penta scale
Over A7: mix of A major and A minor penta scale
Over B7: B ...
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How could you make a key change sound natural
I've been working on an orchestral piece for a while and I want to include a key change. For example, from Bb major into Eb major. How could one go about changing keys in a way that makes the music ...
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Understanding alternate key signature in Neumeyer's Hindemith analysis
Regarding David Neumeyer's The Music of Paul Hindemith:
As you will see in Example 3.12 (below), Neumeyer likes to show us the key without a key signature. While he indicates the key with a simple &...
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Piano, accidentals, and key signatures
say theres an f sharp in the key signature, and within a measure that note becomes natural. Do all F's preceding that one now become natural? or do they follow the suit of the key signature?
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Key Signature Only On First Line
This might be a dumb question (I’ve only been playing nearly 2 years), but if the key signature is only stated on the first line of the music, would that still apply to the rest of the music or not? I’...
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Is it a G flat or a G natural?
I've got a doubt here. Do I play G flat or G natural??
The accidental doesn't come in till the 3rd beat while the key signature does not have G flat, while the lyric has an accidental but at the ...
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Keys in Real Book vs. Real Vocal Book
I like seeing the lyrics to jazz standards, but I would also like to practice standards in their original/standard keys.
How many tunes in the Real Vocal Book "High Voice" (which has the ...
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Why is the key signature completely different from the actual notes?
Beginner here. So, I wanted to play this little phrase that is written, supposedly, in A major with 3 sharps on F, C and G. However, every G has a natural sign and there's a B and a E with sharps (no ...
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Can there be C# without F# in signature?
Could it happen, that there would be C# in the key signature but no F# ? (or in general any higher # without lower one.)
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Transposing key signatures - how to do so quickly?
I've been attempting to pick up my music theory after a 1 month hiatus, and I've stumbled across transposing key signatures - is there a quick method of figuring out the new key signature? Because ...
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Keyscales & Melodies
I'm fairly new to learning music theory at a basic level. I understand notes, triads, intervals and how to read sheet music but I am struggling to understand key scales and how and when they apply and ...
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Learning a new piece -- tips to make sure to get all the notes accurately from the start (piano)
As a self-learning piano beginner, I make tons of colored markings in the score of a new piece. First I must highlight all the notes that are included in the key signature so as not to forget they ...
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