I hear there are easy way to remember the key signatures for all ther scales.
Can anyone tell me what they are?
Exam in June!!!
Thanks,
Tommy.

Hi Tommy

For sharps:

Father Charles Goes Down And Ends Battle

where the last sharp is the seventh note in the scale
(eg seventh note of scale of D is C, last sharp is C sharp, so Father Charles, that's the scale of 2 sharps)

For flats:

Battle Ends And Down Goes Charles' Father

where the last flat is the fourth note in the scale
(eg fourth note in scale of Ab is D, last flat is D flat, so Battle Ends And Down, that's the scale of 4 flats)

I hope this helps (& makes sense!!)

Jen

the first four flats are BEAD.

Sharp keys: Think of C major as the first one, then think of starting a new scale on the 5th note this scale (i.e G) this gives you the next key and (if you look at a piano keyboard) you will see you need to sharpen the 7th note (i.e. F) to keep it the major scale pattern.

The 'sharp' key that comes after C maj is therefore G major, with one sharp (F).

Repeat this process and you get D major, (2 sharps), repeat it again (A major, 3 sharps), and again (E major, 4 sharps), again (B major 5 sharps), again (F# major, 6 sharps). If you feel enthusiastic do it again (C# major, 7 sharps)

Flat keys: same idea but this time you are going down a 5th every time so the first key is F. You'll also find you have to flatten the 4th note ( to keep the major scale pattern.

The 'flat' key that comes after C major is therefore Fmajor withy one falt note (.

Go down another 5th and you come to Bflat major with 2 flats (E and , again (E flat, 3 flats ), again (A flat, 4 flats), and again (D flat, 5 flats).

At this point you realise that you've come to the same point as in the 'sharp keys' above 'cos D flat is the enharmonic equivalent of C #. If you feel enthusiastic you can carry on to Gflat, which is the enharmonic of F#.

If you keep this sytem in mind it doesn't matter if you forget everything, you can work any key siganture in just a few minutes with a pencil and a piece of scrap paper. Try it - just write them out in a column.

The order in which the notes are sharpened is:

Fish Can Go Down And Eat Bait (which I like 'cos I'm a keen fisherman)

They are flattened in the reverse order:

British Eurpean Airways Do Good Cheap Flights (this may not be so good 'cos BEA hasn't existed for years).

Hope this helps!

My two little rhymes fro remembering key signatures are:

Farmer Charles Goes Down And Ends Battle (for sharps)

Big Elephants Always Drive Giant Cars Fast (for flats)

Just another little tip: if you've already got the sharps and flats put in on a piece of music and have to know what key it's in then if it's sharps you think of the next note that you would play if you imagine the last sharp written is a note (ABCDEFG etc.) and that will be the key you're in, e.g. if you have 2 sharps (F & C) then the next note you would play after C would be a D, so that is what key the music is written in. However, if the music has flats then you just knock off the last flat and that will be the key you're in, e.g. if you had 3 flats (B, E & A) then if you knocked off the last one which in this case would be the A, the last flat written would be an E and the key of E has 3 flats in.

I'm sorry if you don't understand this but it's just very hard to explain when you have to write it! Anyway hope this helps, my teacher told me it when I first started learning theory and I found it really useful.

Lisa xxxx

QUOTE (Jen W @ May 5 2005, 12:06 PM)

Father Charles Goes Down And Ends Battle Battle Ends And Down Goes Charles' Father

I like the way this shows how the sharps and flats work backwards from each other.

I find it harder to remember the mnemonic than to just remember the facts.

As usually you only learn key signatures one at a time and in a logical order (through leaning to play scales) I never had any problem with this.
So long as you take notice of each one as you learn them then you only have to learn one at a time.
By the time you get to grade 5 it is fairly likely that you have played scales in most keys at least.

The other one that makes sense 'backwards and forwards' is:

Father Christmas Gave Dad An Electric Blanket

Blanket Explodes And Dad Gets Cold Feet!

QUOTE (sbhoa @ May 6 2005, 09:30 AM)

As usually you only learn key signatures one at a time and in a logical order (through leaning to play scales) I never had any problem with this. So long as you take notice of each one as you learn them then you only have to learn one at a time. By the time you get to grade 5 it is fairly likely that you have played scales in most keys at least.

That works for pianists, but doesn't for flautists. By the time they get to Grade 5 they have played scales with up to four sharps and flats in the key signature, but they don't tackle them in a logical order, with C major not being introduced until Grade 4.

The Grade 5 theory exam usually requires candidates to write scales with 4, 5 or 6 sharps or flats in the key signature, which the flautists don't play until Grade 6. I now try to teach the Grade 6 scales and this component of the theory exam concurrently, so students get the benefit of learning theory and practical together.

I am also reviewing the sequence I teach scales to beginners (although most students are Grade 3 and beyond when I begin teaching them).

I get all my Grade 5 theory entrants to draw out the circle of fifths before they start looking at the exam questions. This helps them with not only the scale question, but with the transposition and the harmony questions too. Knowledge of 'Father Charles' or 'Father Christmas' acronyms helps reassure them they have drawn the circle of fifths correctly.

I have also found useful the fact that the equivalent key signature for a minor is always 3 semitones down from the major.

Helps when you can easily remember the KS for a major, say D major having two sharps, but cannot instantly remember what the minor is with two sharps....

QUOTE

I have also found useful the fact that the equivalent key signature for a minor is always 3 semitones down from the major.

yes - and -

The number of sharps / flats for two keys with the same letter name adds up to 7. It sounds complicated, but a couple of examples ...

G major 1 sharp, Gb major 6 flats, 1=6=7
D major 2 sharps, Db major 5 flats, 2+5=7
A major 3 sharps Ab major 4 flats etc

F major 1 flat F# major 6 sharps

Pupils who happen to know the keys with fewer # and b better than the ones with more sometimes find this handy for a quick check.

Maggie

Thank you all for the good tips. I will go away and try and work on them.
First time I've used the site and it's been really useful.
Tommy.

Thanks lots for all of the help with the major key signatures but do you know any good ways to remember the minor keys? If you do please reply quite soon as my exam is in around 1-2 weeks. That would be great thank you.

P.S: Don't worry if you don't know any ways your help has been great already!

Minors are exactly the same as the Majors, just starting on different notes

i.e

Major ====> + Major 6th ====> Minor
or
Major ====> - 3 semitones ====> Minor

so

D Major (F#, C#) ====> + Major 6th (count 6 - D,E,F#,G,A,B) ====> B minor (F#, C#)
And just reverse the process to get the relative minors etc

Also, this gives the natural minors. Sharpen the appropriate degrees to get harmonic/melodic minors etc

(Hope this made sense :|)

I always count 4 up from and including the minor to find the relative major, eg:

E minor count E, F, F# G - G major is the key of one sharp, so E minor has one sharp

Hope this helps

Jen