Sharp Flats

Did you try it--making major scales starting on different notes? Here's a little chart that will tell what notes are in several different keys. Remember that the distance between the notes in a major scale are Tone, Tone, Semitone, Tone, Tone, Tone, Semitone.

A: A, B, C#, D, E, F#, G#, A
B: B, C#, D#, E, F#, G#, A#, B
C: C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C
D: D, E, F#, G, A, B, C#, D
E: E, F#, G#, A, B, C#, D#, E
F: F, G, A, Bb, C, D, E, F
G: G, A, B, C, D, E, F#, G

These are just 7 of the 14 keys. Since the pattern for finding these notes are the same, each scale sounds the same when they are played, except starting on and containing different notes. The intervals, or distances between notes is the same. So, it is possible to sing a melody in the key of B, containing certain notes, and sing the same melody--but with different notes--in the key of D. If a song is too high for a person to sing in G, he can lower it to another singable key without changing the melody at all. (Don't worry if you don't understand--it will all come together later.)

A melody is an arrangement of notes within the key signature. A key signature is the number of sharps or flats in the key. Like a signature, each key has a designated number of sharps of flats that distuguishes one key from another:

A: 3 sharps----Ab: 4 flats
B: 5 sharps----Bb: 2 flats
C: 0 sharps----C#: 7 sharps
D: 2 sharps----Db: 5 flats
E: 4 sharps----Eb: 3 flats
F: 1 flat-------F#: 6 sharps
G: 1 sharp----Gb: 6 flats

The "b" means "flat," so you have the key of A, and also the key of Ab. If you look at the diagram in the previous post, you'll notice that there is no F flat, E sharp, C flat or B sharp on the keyboard. Because of this the key signatures of F and C and their related keys look different than most. Instead of having 1 sharp, the key of F has 1 flat. True, Bb is the same as C#, but in the key of F, it is called Bb. In a flat key, and in F, all the black keys are called flat. In most other keys the black keys are called sharp. There's a little phrase that will help you remember how many sharps or flats there are and I'll tell you what that is in my next post.

Tim Heider

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