Basic Music Theory: How to Read, Write, and Understand Written Music

Basic Music Theory

Here’s a more visual representation of what I’m talking about.

Or you could just memorize that one flat is the key of F. Whatever works

best.

Sharp Key Signatures

Hopefully you’ve already got the toughest part learned, which is the

order of sharps. It’s the order of flats backwards, or: F C G D A E B. If

you want, make a mnemonic device for the order of sharps, or simply

reverse the order of flats.

In the following key signature, which uses all the sharps, notice the order

and the placement of the sharps.

Example 22.3 Key signatures in bass and treble clef with all seven sharps.

Find the Name of a Sharp Key

Finding the name of a key with sharps in it is much less involved than

finding a flat key.

That very last sharp in a sharp key signature is the one responsible for

making the half step from the seventh to the eighth degree of the major

scale. Simply go up half a step from that last sharp and you have the

name of the key.

B E A D G C F

Here’s the B flat in the key signature

And here’s the name of

the key with one flat: F.