Learning key structures

[tapper mike]

As the piano became a virtuoso instrument, and there started to be virtuosic composers (like Chopin and Liszt) composing very idiomatically for piano, they started to favor keys like Gb Major, B Major, Db Major, and so on.

Why?

Because your fingers fall more naturally on the keys.

Steve

The inverse is what I love about the guitar. It's very chromatic once you land on the first fret. However the educational process is fouled by open notes. Guitarists usually learn open chords (chords where the 0 note is played) First. As a consequence guitarists favor keys where an open chord is played. (EADG), Untill they move on to alternative tunings.

The only reason "Johnny B Goode" is in Bb is that Johnnie Johnson spoon feed the blues to Chuck Berry.

[Chester Desmond]

Also, I use the mnemonic "Father Christmas Goes Downstairs And Eats Breakfast" for the key signatures. This gives:

F C G D A E B

If I have a score with three sharps in the key signature, I go right three steps from C (as C has no sharps or flats), to get A major. If it has one flat, I go one step left from C to get F major.

etc

I'd like to thank you very much for this .. it is easy to understand and was quite helpful to me in clarifying some things in my head.
Incidentally I discovered that this same mnemonic can be used to determine the order in which you add sharps and flats to the staff to indicate key signature.
ie: count 5 from C and you get B .. this major scale has 5 #s and they are written in the order they come up in the mnemonic..


Which leads to another way to determine key:
In order to determine the name of a major key that contains sharps, simply name the note that is a half-step above the last sharp.
In order to determine the name of a major key that contains flats, simply name the next-to-last flat and that will be the key. The key of F major, with one flat, is the exception.

as per:
http://spider.georgetowncollege.edu/mus ... 1/Keys.htm

[llatham]

Incidentally I discovered that this same mnemonic can be used to determine the order in which you add sharps and flats to the staff to indicate key signature.
ie: count 5 from C and you get B .. this major scale has 5 #s and they are written in the order they come up in the mnemonic..

Are you ready for this Chester:

Clockwise around the circle gives you F-C-G-D-A-E-B which is the order of sharps.

Counter-clockwise gives you B-E-A-D-G-C-F - the order of flats.

Notice they're simply reversed.

It's all tied together, and all 5th related.

BTW, in the states we usually use

Frank Can Go Down And Eat Breakfast.

I'm sure there are more.

For flats it's

BEAD, Greatest Common Factor

Again, I'm sure there are others.

Steve

[llatham]

The only reason "Johnny B Goode" is in Bb is that Johnnie Johnson spoon feed the blues to Chuck Berry.

But we always play it in A so we have some open strings

Steve

[Nystul]

Four Cats Got Drunk At Elmer's Bar.

[jancivil]

Some little trick tied to the theory behind it?

I'll show how in a major key, the sharps/flats reveal the diatonic structure.

let's look at C sharp, maximum of sharps = 7. From the 7th or last sharp, far right in the sig:

the last sharp, B# is the 7th degree of the diatonic scale, 'leading tone' to the tonic C#.
The penultimate #, E# is the 3rd degree.
The # before that, A# is the 6th degree.
Before that, D#, the 2nd degree.
Before that, G#, the 5th.
Before that, C#, the 1st degree or tonic.
Before that, F#, which is the first # to appear in every key sig, so when there is one sharp, it's F#. F# is always the first sharp to appear owing to the cycle of fifths.

>Notice the pattern, ordered in rising perfect fourths or falling perfect fifths.

Exactly as G major with the one sharp proceeds around to C sharp major and vice versa:

G, D, A, E, B, F#, C#, each key gains (or loses, per vice versa) one sharp.

For instant recognition, look at the last sharp and the tonic is a semitone up from that.

Flats go the other direction:

Maximum flats = 7, Cb major.

The last flat is a perfect fourth above the tonic of the key. Here is it Fb.
The penultimate b, Cb is the tonic degree.
The flat before that, Gb, the fifth.
Before that, Db, the 2nd degree.
Before that, Ab, the 6th.
Before that, Eb, the 3rd.
Before that, Bb, the 7th, here, the leading tone; Bb is always the first flat to appear owing to the cycle of fifths.

>Rising perfect fifths, or falling perfect fourths is the order of occurrence. Each key gains/loses one flat in this cycle.

For instant recognition, the tonic lies a fourth below the last flat.

[AnalogGuy1]

Not to diss all the imaginative mnemonics, but for me they were unhelpful. When I really need theory is when I'm actively playing where any mnemonic gets in the way of instant recall. For me, instant recall, really "owning" them, came effortlessly and automatically once I learned how to play them (unfortunately, learning to play them was not effortless at all, but at least it was more testable goal than learning scales, which made it easier to practice).

[jancivil]

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