Download - Key Signatures - Vancouver Youth Symphony Orchestra · Key Signatures • Key signatures tell you what sharps or flats that a piece has. • When you see a sharp/flat in the key signature,

©Aydan Con (2020), for use by VYSO online theory learning

Key Signatures

• Key signatures tell you what sharps or

flats that a piece has.

• When you see a sharp/flat in the key

signature, you will play those notes

throughout the piece

• This means, for example, if F♯ is in the

key signature, you will play all Fs in the

music as F♯

• Key signatures always have their

sharps and flats arranged in a special

order.

The order of the sharps:

F# C# G# D# The order of the flats:

B♭ E♭ A♭ D♭Mnemonic:

Fast Chickens Go Dancing

Mnemonic:

Bears Eat and Dance

Let’s practice drawing key signatures in the treble, alto and bass clefs!


Keys • Music is based on a collection of high and low sounds

• Sounds are organized into groups that are equally spaced apart called octaves.

• Each octave contains 12 notes, exactly one semitone apart

• Octaves repeat the same 12 notes, from the lowest possible sound to the

highest possible sound

• On the piano keyboard, we can see how each octave has the same 12 notes.

• As you can notice in the picture above, the octave can start on any note and

repeat as you move from low to high sounds.

• The key of a piece tells us which notes in the octave we play, and which note our

octave starts on.

• The key signature of a piece tells us what key we are in.


• Relative keys have the same key signature Eg. G major and E minor have F# in the key signature

• Parallel keys have the same tonic note Eg. G major and G minor have the same tonic.

• Enharmonic keys sound the same.

Eg. F# major and G major sound the same

Let’s learn the key signatures of different keys. Practice

drawing the key signatures for each line!


To summarize the key signatures, look at the following table of

relative major and minor keys.

# Major Minor Major Minor

0 C A 0 C A

1 G E 1 F D

2 D B 2 B G

3 A F# 3 E C

4 E C# 4 A F


Write the following key signatures in the treble clef

C maj D maj A maj E maj G maj F maj

B flat maj E flat maj A flat maj D maj G maj E maj

D maj A maj A min E maj E flat maj B flat maj

C min D min A maj E min G min F min

B min C min E maj D min G min E min


Write the following key signatures in the bass clef







Write the following key signatures in the alto clef







Putting it all together! For the following melodies from the Pirates of the Caribbean suite:

1. Add the correct time signature

2. Add the key signature

Hint 1: Remember that the key signature shows all the accidentals

that a piece may have. E.g. piece with lots of F# C# G# and D# will

likely have a key signature of 4 sharps

Hint 2: Look at the time signature/rhythm signature sheet for help

with the time signatures.

Note: All the melodies have been modified for this worksheet.

Download - Key Signatures - Vancouver Youth Symphony Orchestra · Key Signatures • Key signatures tell you what sharps or flats that a piece has. • When you see a sharp/flat in the key signature,

Top Related