Posts Tagged ‘five sharps’
Key Signature
Wednesday, October 7th, 2009
A Key signature is shown to the right of the clef symbol and will show a series sharp symbols or flat symbols which can be interpreted to deduce which key the piece is written in.
The Key of a piece means that when playing a piece of music, certain notes may be sharpened or flattened by the pieces key signature unless overridden by a natural symbol or an extra sharp/flat symbol. Therefore, on a Key Signature such as D Major, where the sharps are F# and C# each C note you see on the notation is played as C# and not C natural.
The word / term Sharp means to increase the pitch of a note by a semi-tone.
The word / term Flat or Flatten means to decrease the pitch of a note by a semi-tone.
The Table Below outlines the various Key Signatures you may encounter. There are many others but these are simply the basic or most common key signatures.
| Common Key Signatures | ||
| Key | Description | Key Signature |
| C Major | No Flats | ![]() |
| D Major | Two Sharps | ![]() |
| E Major | Four Sharps | ![]() |
| F Major | One Flat | ![]() |
| G Major | One Sharp | ![]() |
| A Major | Three Sharps | ![]() |
| B Flat Major | Two Flats | ![]() |
| B Major | Five Sharps | ![]() |
Time Signatures
A Time Signature indicates how many beats there are in each bar and which note is to be used as a beat. This basic introduction to time signatures will assume that the crotchet is to be used as the one beat measure – therefore all times will be something:4 time. Certain time signatures lend themselves to certain styles of songs, e.g. most waltzes are written in 3:4 time, and the majority of rock songs would be based around 4:4 time.
| Time Signatures | Symbol | |
| 4:4 Time | ![]() |
|
| 3:4 Time | ![]() |
|
| 6:4 Time | ![]() |
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