Teach Key Signatures - Major
Most people would agree that knowledge of major and minor key signatures is helpful to musicians. I tired the traditional methods of teaching key signatures to my junior high students with little success. Some non-traditional methods seemed to work better:
Sharps and Lines - The names of the sharp major key signatures can be drawn with the same number of lines as there are sharps in the key signature as follows:
- A “G” can be drawn with one line. G major has one sharp.
- A “D” can be drawn with two lines. D major has two sharps.
- An “A” can be drawn with three lines. A major has three sharps.
- An “E” can be drawn with four lines. E major has four sharps.
- A triangular “B” can be drawn with five lines. B major has five sharps.
- A small “f” and a sharp sign can be drawn with six lines. F# major has six sharps.
- A square “C” and a sharp sign can be drawn with seven lines. C# major has seven sharps.
Seven, minus the number of sharps in the sharp key signature, equals the number of flats in the flat key signatures.
- G major has one sharp. Seven minus one equals six. Gb major has six flats.
- D major has two sharps. Seven minus two equals five. Db major has five flats.
- Etc.
BEAD - The following worked even better than the “sharps and lines” approach:
Write BEAD.
B E A D
Write BEAD again.
B E A D
B E A D
California (abbreviated CF) is on the west coast. Write CF on the left side of both beads.
C F B E A D
C F B E A D
The Grand Canyon (abbreviated GC) is east of California. Write GC on the right of both beads.
C F B E A D G C
C F B E A D G C
Put a sharp above the diagram and a flat below.
♯
C F B E A D G C
C F B E A D G C
♭
Sharp the first two on the top and flat all but the first two on the bottom.
♯
C♯F♯B E A D G C
♭
Number from seven to zero on the top and from zero to seven on the bottom.
♯
7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
C♯F♯B E A D G C
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
♭
Now you have all the major key signatures. B major has five sharps. Bb major has 2 flats. A major has three sharps. Ab major has four flats. C major has no sharps or flats, etc.
For more information, see the Major Key Signatures* slide show from the Slide Shows section.
*Microsoft PowerPoint required.
To download, right click on the link and select "Save target as" (Internet Explorer) or "Save link as" (Firefox / Chrome).