Key Signatures and Solfege Naomi McIlwain & Devon Harper

Transition - Animation

The Circle of Fifths In music theory, the Circle of Fifths (or Circle of Fourths) is a visual representation of the relationships among the 12 tones of the chromatic scale, their corresponding key signatures, and the associated major and minor keys. More specifically, it is a geometrical representation of relationships among the 12 pitch classes of the chromatic scale in pitch class space.

Circle Of Fifths The Circle of Fifths is an easy way to find out the key a song is in. [It] tells you how many sharps or flats are in a given key. C has no sharps or flats. It is called the Circle of Fifths because as you go clockwise, you go up a fifth. For example, the fifth note of the C major scale is G. The fifth note of the G major scale is D, and so on.

When creating the Circle of Fifths When creating the Circle of Fifths to the right are: C major, G major ,D major, A major ,E major , B major, and F# major.[ To remember these keys you can say and remember : C-Cow G-Girls D-Dance A-And E-Eat B-Bacon F-Forever

When creating the Circle of Fifths When creating the Circle of Fifths to the left are : F , B Flat , E Flat, A Flat , D Flat and G Flat. To remember these keys you can say and remember : F-Four B Flat - Boys E Flat- Eat A Flat- And D Flat- Dance G Flat – Gracefully

Key Signatures In the Key of C, there are 0 sharps and 0 flats. In the Key of G, there is 1 sharp. In the Key of F, there is 1 flat. In the Key of D, there are 2 sharps. In the Key of B flat, there are 2 flats. In the Key of A, there are 3 sharps. In the Key of E flat, there are 3 flats. In the Key of E, there are 4 sharps. In the Key of A flat, there are 4 flats. In the Key of B, there are 5 sharps. In the Key of D flat, there are 5 flats.

Key Signatures Key Signatures are the collection of sharps and or flats at the beginning of the staff. There are 15 major and 15 minor key signatures. The sharps or flats at the beginning of the staff indicate the main tone (diatonic) to which other tones are related.

How To Find ‘Do’ How to find ‘Do’ is a concept all vocal musicians should know. I will show you how to easily find the tonic (or home tone) for easier sight reading of new music.

When Looking for ‘Do’ When finding ‘Do’ look at the Key signature and identify the last sharp or flat Whenever your key signature is in a sharp key, the last sharp is ‘Ti’. Go up a half step and the next note will be ‘Do’

Finding Tonic in Flats To find ‘Do’ in a flat key signature, simply find the last flat. This last flat is ‘Fa’. Descend down in solfege from Fa, mi, re and lastly Do. Click on the link below to play the pitches on the piano keyboard. http://www.musictheory.net/piano

Finding Tonic in minor (i) To find the tonic in a minor key if using the movable Do system you should find the relative minor If not, simply go three half steps down from your major key

Finding Tonic in minor (ii) Instead of using ‘Do’ in a major key, the tonic minor would be ‘La’, which is the 6th scale degree of the major key.

Examples (i) Notice the last flat is A flat Descending backwards, the tonic note is E flat which is the second to the last flat.

Examples (ii) Notice the last sharp is C sharp Which means one half step up is D, so D is the tonic

Examples (iii) Notice the G major key signature or ‘e’ minor key signature

Questions Questions Anyone????

Acknowledgment We want to thank our parents and teachers for their unwavering support over the past four years at The Center for The Visual & Performing Arts, Suitland High School. Thank you: Mr. Nate Newman, Principal Mrs. Jean Fadiga (Theory 1; Theory IV & Piano) Dr. Hovayda Samandari (Theory II, IB Theory & Orchestra) Mr. Matthew Allen (AP Theory & Theory III) Mr. Kurt Lucas (Theory II & Band) Mr. Ken Boucher (Director of Voice & Piano Department)