Information AboutKey Signature |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT KEY SIGNATURE | |
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In Musical Notation , a key signature is a series of Sharp symbols or Flat symbols placed on the staff, designating Note s that are to be consistently played one Semitone higher or lower than the equivalent Natural notes (for example, the White Note s on a piano keyboard) unless otherwise altered with an Accidental . Key signatures are generally written immediately after the Clef at the beginning of a line of musical notation, although they can appear in other parts of a Score , notably after a Double Bar . APPLYING KEY SIGNATURES Here is a B major scale written with notes: and here is the same scale (played on the same notes) written using a key signature: The purpose of the key signature is to minimize the number of accidentals required to notate the music. In principle, any piece can be written with any key signature, using accidentals to correct any notes where it shouldn't apply. The effect of a key signature continues throughout a piece or movement, unless explicitly canceled by another key signature. For example, if a five-sharp key signature is placed at the beginning of a piece, every A in the piece in any Octave will be played as A sharp, unless preceded by an Accidental (for instance, the A in the above scale — the penultimate note — is played as an A even though the A in the key signature is written an octave lower). Generally, if there is only one sharp, it must be F sharp; the sequence of sharps or flats in key signatures is rigid in music from the Common Practice Period . The order is set out below. In the 20th century composers such as Bartók and Rzewski (see below) began experimenting with unusual key signatures that departed from the Standard Order . In a score containing more than one instrument, all the instruments are usually written with the same key signature. Exceptions:
RELATION OF SIGNATURE TO KEY A key signature is not the same as a Key ; key signatures are merely notational devices. They are convenient principally for Diatonic or Tonal music. Some pieces that change key ('' Modulate '') insert a new key signature on the staff partway, while others use accidentals: natural signs to "neutralize" the key signature and other sharps or flats for the new key. For a given Musical Mode the key signature defines the Diatonic Scale that a piece of music uses. Most Scales require that some notes be consistently sharpened or flattened. For example, in the key of G Major , the Leading-note is F sharp. So the key signature associated with G major is the one-sharp key signature. However, there is no causal connection; a piece with a one-sharp key signature is not necessarily in the key of G major. Many other factors determine the Key of a piece. This is particularly true of minor keys. The famous "Dorian" Toccata And Fugue by Bach is so named because, although it is in D minor, there is no key signature, implying that it is in the key of C. Instead, the B flats necessary for D minor are written as accidentals as and when necessary. Two keys which share the same key signature are called Relative Keys . When Musical Mode s, such as Lydian or Dorian , are written using key signatures, they are called ''transposed modes''. HISTORY motet. In the Superius part the E-flat appears first, and in two other parts a flat occurs in two octaves.]] The use of a one-flat signature developed in the Medieval period, but signatures with more than one flat did not appear until the 16th Century , and signatures with sharps not until the mid- 17th Century . Harvard Dictionary of Music, 2nd ed. ''Key Signature'' When signatures with multiple flats first came in, the order of the flats was not standardized, and often a flat appeared in two different octaves, as shown at right. In the late 1400s and early 1500s it was common for different voice parts in the same composition to have different signatures, a situation called a partial signature or '''conflicting signature'''. This was actually more common than complete signatures in the 15th century. Harvard Dictionary of Music, 2nd ed., ''Partial signature'' The 16th-century motet "Absolon fili mi" attributed to Josquin Desprez features two voice parts with two flats, one part with three flats, and one part with four flats. Baroque Music written in Minor Key s often was written with a key signature with fewer flats than we now associate with their keys; for example, movements in C minor often had only two flats (because the A would frequently have to be sharpened to A natural in the Ascending Melodic Minor Scale , as would the B). TABLE OF KEY SIGNATURES The table below illustrates the number of sharps or flats for each key signature and the Relative Major key signatures for minor scales (see Circle Of Fifths ). Remembering all the key signatures is easily done when you apply four simple rules:
Alternatively, starting from C major, each sharp raises the key by a fifth, and each flat lowers it by a fifth (or, equivalently, raises it by a fourth). See the "Major Key" columns in the table. The relative minor is a Minor Third down from the major, regardless of whether it is a "flat" or a "sharp" key signature. For key signatures with sharps, the first sharp is placed on F line (for the key of G major/E minor). Subsequent additional sharps are added on C, G, D, A, E and B. For key signatures with flats, the first flat is placed on the B line, with subsequent flats on E, A, D, G, C and F. A common mnemonic for remembering this is Father '''C'''harles '''G'''oes '''D'''own '''A'''nd '''E'''nds '''B'''attle for key signatures with sharps, and vice versa for key signatures with flats: '''B'''attle '''E'''nds '''A'''nd '''D'''own '''G'''oes '''C'''harles' Father. There are 15 possible different key signatures, including the "empty" signature of C major/A minor. This sequence is rendered in the Circle Of Fifths . The key signatures with seven flats and seven sharps are very rarely used, not only because pieces in these "extreme" sharp or flat keys are more difficult to play on most instruments, but also because they have simpler '''s Prelude and Fugue No. 3 from Book 1 of The Well-Tempered Clavier BWV 848 is in C major. However, the aforementioned 15 key signatures only express Diatonic Scale s (and are therefore sometimes called "standard key signatures"). Other scales are written either with a standard key signature and use Accidental s as required, or with a non-standard key signature, such as the E (right hand) and F & G (left hand) used for the E diminished (E Octatonic ) scale in Bartók 's "Crossed Hands" (no. 99, vol. 4, '' Mikrokosmos ''), or the B, E & F used for the D Phrygian Dominant Scale in Frederic Rzewski 's ''God to a Hungry Child''. Note that an absence of a key signature does not always mean that the music is in the key of C major or A minor: each accidental may be notated explicitly as required, or the piece may be Modal , or the piece may be Atonal . REFERENCES SEE ALSO |
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