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12. Major Keys And The Cycle/Circle Of Fifths

This post is one of a 2-part series of free basic music theory lessons on my blog, musictheoryde-mystified.com. You can see the complete list here. Please feel welcome to make a comment or ask a question.

The Order Of Keys

Look at the list from the last lesson, 11. Introduction To Keys And Key Signatures: Major Keys.

Now that the keys are in key signature order,we can make one more observation:

The order that the keys come in (the order of the root notes of the keys) is the same as the order that the sharps or flats come in, just starting on a different note than the root note, as shown here by the red arrows.

For sharps keys, the next key is the 5th letter above the current key.
For flats keys, the pattern is reversed. The next key is the 4th letter above the current key, which is the same as saying it’s the 5th letter below the current key. We call this sequence the Cycle of 5ths (see below).

Sharps Keys

The sharps keys start with G major (one sharp) and go up 5 letters at a time.
The sharps themselves start with F#, the 7th note of G major.
The latest sharp of a key signature is the 7th note of the scale or one letter below the root note.

Flats Keys

The flats keys start with F major (one flat) and go down 5 letters at a time.
The flats themselves start with Bb, the 4th note of F major.
The latest flat of a key signature is the 4th note of the scale, the 4th letter counting up from the root note.

Why Are Some Notes Missing?

Notice also that some note names aren’t on this list. The list of keys above only goes up to 7 sharps or 7 flats. It could go further, but scales in those keys would have more sharps or flats than notes! We would need to use double sharps or double flats in order to preserve the note naming rule (see 10. How To Find The Notes Of A Scale).

Most notes have two possible names. If the root note isn’t on the list, simply re-spell the note (re-name it with the alternative note name) and it will be there. With the alternate spelling, the same sounding key uses only a few single sharps or flats instead of doubles and is much easier to read. For this reason, keys with more than 7 sharps or flats are seldom used.

For example, G# major has 8 sharps including F double-sharp. The note G# can also be called Ab. Because it’s the root note there is no special reason to use a particular name as long as we have the right pitch. G# can be re-spelled to Ab. Ab major only has 4 flats; Bb, Eb, Ab and Db.

The Cycle (Circle) Of 5ths – The Ultimate Shortcut

The cycle of fifths (aka circle of fifths) is the ultimate shortcut for finding keys and key signatures. It’s just the list of keys we’ve already looked at above, but in condensed form.

Since keys and key signatures follow the same pattern, we don’t need to write them out separately. Here’s how it works:

This is a very long line… We can shorten it a bit by putting the sharps and flats sections on top of each other. The sharps list reads from left to right, the flats list from right to left (see arrows). The green dotted line represents where the sharps and flats themselves start.

To find the key signature of a scale:

Find the root note. For example, D major is in the sharps row, Db major is in the flats row. F major is in the flats row, F# major is in the sharps row.
If you can’t find the root note, its key signature has more than 7 sharps or flats. These are seldom used. Re-spell the name and look again.
The number above (or below) the root note is the number of sharps or flats in the key signature.
From the start of the row, follow the direction of the arrow until you cross the green dotted line. The first note after that line (the first letter with a sharp or flat) is always the first sharp or flat in the key signature.
Continue reading the following sharps or flats up to the number that’s written above (or below) the root note.
On each stave of the piece, write the sharps or flats after the clef, in the order that you found them. Be sure to write them at the standard octave for key signatures, as listed in the previous post, 11. Introduction To Keys and Key Signatures: Major Keys.

Examples

E major

E major is in the sharps row and has 4 sharps.
Reading from left to right, the first sharp is always F#.
Continue counting sharps until there are 4: F#, C#, G#, D#.

Ab major

Ab major is in the flats row and has 4 flats.
Reading from right to left, the first flat is always Bb.
continue counting flats until there are 4: Bb, Eb, Ab, Db.

The first sharp is always F# and the first flat is always Bb. If you remember BCEF, you already know this…

So far we’ve only looked at major keys. For minor keys we could use a similar list as the one above but the sequence would start on A, the minor with no sharps or flats, rather than C. The pattern would be the same but all the numbers would be different.

There is an easier way to do minor keys. We’ll visit that in the next lesson, so for now we’ll just stay with the major keys.

Try These…

Here are a few keys for you to look up in the cycle of 5ths, using either the line version or the circle version below. Find some paper and a pencil and write down the name of each key with the key signature next to it, with the sharps or flats in the correct order. Answers at the end of this post.

G major
B major
Gb major
Bb major

What’s a 5th?

We haven’t formally looked at interval names yet, that’s for a future post. Essentially, we count the interval (pitch difference) between notes in letters, including the first and last letters of the interval.

From a note to itself, such as C to the same C, is one letter. This interval is called a 1st.

From C to D is 2 letters is a 2nd, from C to E is a 3rd, etc. all the way up to an octave, from C to the next C above (or below) it, the 8th note. Octave means 8th, hence the name “octave”. A 5th is 5 letters, such as from C to G.

Real interval names go a bit further than that but in essence, interval names are based on counting letters.

The cycle of 5ths is so named because the interval from one note to the next in the cycle is a 5th. Reading from left to right, for sharps keys, the cycle goes up in 5ths, while reading from right to left, for flats keys, it goes down in 5ths.

The Circle Game

Many people say Circle of 5ths rather than Cycle of 5ths. This is because, instead of showing the pattern across a page, potentially trailing off each margin forever, it can be shown as a circle. The circle is the most popular way of representing the Cycle of 5ths. It works just the same as the line version we used, with left-to-right (sharps) being clockwise and right-to-left (flats), anticlockwise.

Here’s the circle representation of the cycle of 5ths for major keys.

The circle of 5ths is often shown without the extra sharps/flat: after all, these just follow the same sequence as the root notes. Instead, the key signature is displayed next to each key, as below. This is great as an image on your device but not as clear for committing to memory.

For jotting down quickly on paper from memory, I find the line version easier, but if you have the image to look at, the circle version with key signatures is great. The circle also has the added benefit of being able to show minor keys on the same image. We’ll come back to minor keys in the next post but if you want to have a look, visit The Cycle (circle) Of Fifths.

Know Your Key Signatures

Much of what we’ll learn in the rest of this course is dependent on knowledge of key signatures and the cycle of 5ths. Keys and key signatures are essential concepts in the language of music.

Furthermore, the cycle of 5ths is more than just a list of keys. It also represents the musical relationships between chords within an overall key, possibly the most important topic of all (but that’s for a future post).

TIP: It’s worth learning all the keys and their key signatures, or at least the common keys for your instrument or genre. Start with the major keys. Later I’ll show you a schortcut for minors.

I’m not a fan of unnecessary rules but any language has a basic vocabulary and syntax. Music is no different. Just as we need to learn the symbols for note pitch and duration, the “key” to musical success in almost any genre is to become familiar with keys and key signatures.

A Mnemonic Can Help

In primary schools, the Cycle of 5ths is taught as a mnemonic. Mine was a boring one, Go Down And Enter By Fifths, with a C at each end. I’m sure you can come up with your own… A mnemonic is a good idea because keys are the times tables of music and should be deeply embedded in your mind.

Keys are the times tables of music.

This post is one of a growing series of free basic music theory lessons on my blog, musictheoryde-mystified.com. You can see the complete list here.

Please feel welcome to like, comment or to share this post. If you have any questions, pleased leave them as a comment and I will respond as soon as I can. If you enjoy my posts and would like to be kept up to date, please subscribe.

Much of the material in this post, including the custom diagrams, is taken from Music Theory De-mystified, my upcoming music theory reference.

NEXT LESSON: 13. Relative Major And Minor

PART 1 CONTENTS: Basic Music Theory Course Contents

Answers to “Try These”

G major has 1 sharp, F#
B major has 5 sharps, F# C# G# D# A#
Gb major has 6 flats, Bb Eb Ab Db Gb Cb
Bb major has 2 flats, Bb Eb

11. Introduction To Keys and Key Signatures: Major Keys

This post and the next two cover two important musical concepts. If you need to read them more than once, please do so. If you have any questions, please post them as a comment. I’ll be happy to answer them.

Scales And Keys: What’s The Difference?

A scale is a list of a series of consecutive notes adding up to an octave, based on and named after its first note, the root note, and its mode (e.g. major or minor).

A key is the musical use of the notes of a scale. A piece is said to be in a key, (e.g. C major), when it is largely made up of the notes of the scale (e.g. of C major) and we can hear the tonality of the mode (e.g.major). For more detail, please visit How Can We Tell Which Key We’re In?

I prefer to think of this in reverse priority:

A key is music, a scale is a list of notes that music is made from.
A key is the cake, the scale is the ingredient list.
A scale is the notes of a key, listed in consecutive pitch order.

Keys and scales have the same name, except if you’re writing or playing a scale you say the word “scale” in the description:

“This piece is in C major” means “this piece is in the key of C major”.
Else you would say “play the scale of C major” or “play the C major scale”.

In other words, when talking about actual music we say “key”, not “scale”.

Practical Tip: To easily play in a key you need to be familiar with its scale.

A Scale Has A Key

Since a scale is also a basic melody, a scale itself is in a key. For example, the scale of C major is in the key of C major.

Unless we’re actually playing scales, we talk in terms of keys rather than scales.

Key Signatures

Apart from C major and A minor, other major or minor keys require some notes that are sharps or flats. So far, we’ve written them in before each note. That’s no big deal if it’s just a scale but in a piece, some of those notes might be used many times. It’s hard work when writing and the music ends up looking cluttered.

Melody in A major without key signature

A key signature uses the space on the stave just after the clef, before the time signature or any notes, to store the sharps or flats of that key for the whole length of the stave. Now they don’t need to be written next to the notes. The music looks cleaner and it’s quicker to write.

A key signature is a list of the sharps or flats used in a key.

The note naming rule states that each letter is only used for one note in the scale (7 scale notes, 7 letters), so the scale notes which are NOT in the key signature are naturals.

For example, the key signature of D major is 2 sharps, F# and C#. All the other letters are naturals.

Note: unlike time signatures, key signatures are written at the start of every stave.

The notes of a key can be played at any octave. If that note is a sharp or flat, it’s symbol is written next to the note; at the same octave as the note. In a key signature, however, a sharp or flat is only ever written at one particular octave and it applies to all octaves. It simply tells us that, for a given key, that note is a sharp or flat.

A key signature is a shortcut for writing out a scale. If we start on the root note and play the notes of the key signature, we’re playing the scale for that key.

It’s important to check the key signature, else you may play some wrong notes!

Here are two scales that look the same apart from the key signature. Carefully read the notes as you listen. In these two scales, every note is different because of the key signature!

The Order Of Sharps and Flats

The sharps or flats in the key signature are always written in the same order, regardless of the order in which the notes are played in the scale, and always in the octave shown below.

For sharps, the order is F# C# G# D# A# E# B#. F# is always the first sharp. Each sharp is the 5th letter above the previous sharp.

For flats, it’s the reverse, Bb Eb Ab Db Gb Cb Fb. Bb is always the first flat. Each flat is the 5th letter below (or the 4th letter above) the previous flat.

Don’t worry if you can’t remember all this, we’ll come back to it later…

Let’s look at A major, for example. In the scale, C# comes before F#, but in the key signature, F# appears before C#.

One big advantage to having a set order is that a player only needs to glance at the key signature to know which notes are sharps or flats. If you know the order, you only need to see how many there are.

Here’s the key signature order on the stave in the treble and bass clefs:

Note the octave where the symbols are written. For example, F# is written in the high octave rather than the low octave.

Why This Order?

Let’s say we worked out every major (or minor etc.) scale by counting semitones. If we looked at them all we would notice three things:

There are no scales with both sharps and flats.
The number of sharps/flats is unique. For example, there is only one major scale with 3 sharps.
Sharps and flats are cumulative. Once a sharp (or flat) is used in one scale, all the scales with more sharps (or flats) include that one.

We can reshuffle our list of scales in increasing key signature order. Here’s what the list of major scales looks like. To save space I have listed their key signatures rather than the whole scale:

Note: In the next post we’ll look at key signatures for minor keys as well as some shortcuts for learning key signatures.

NEXT LESSON: 12. Major Keys And The Cycle/Circle Of Fifths

PART 1 CONTENTS: Basic Music Theory Course Contents

Scales, Modes And Keys: What’s The Difference?

These three terms are often confused. They refer to the same subject but in different ways.

Scale

A scale is a series of (usually 7) consecutive note pitches finishing an octave above the first note.
The series can be extended over several octaves and is either played in ascending or descending order.
The first (and last) note of a scale is called the root note or tonic.

Mode

A mode is the pattern of intervals between the notes of a scale.
The pattern is based on the first note of the scale, the root note.
Western modes are made up of an irregular combination of (usually 1 and 2 semitone) intervals. This gives each mode a unique character called its tonality.

Key

A key is the use of the notes and tonality of a scale in a piece.
A piece is “in a key” when it uses the notes of a scale in such a way that the tonality of its mode is apparent overall when listening/playing.

Tonality

Tonality is the unique character of a mode, common to all keys in that mode.
The tonality of a mode is simply indicated by the mode’s name.

We should learn to recognise the tonality of the more common modes, both in a scale of that mode and in music written/played in that mode.

Names Of Scales And Keys

Scales and keys have the same names. They are named as the name of the root note followed by the name of the mode. For example:

the major scale on C is called C major.
Music using the notes of C major is in the key of C major.

For more on scales, modes and keys see 8. What is a scale?, 10. How To Find The Notes Of A Scale, 11. Introduction To Keys And Key Signatures: Major Keys.

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10. How To Find The Notes Of A Scale

In a hurry? You can scroll down straight to the summary (but you’ll miss all the fun…)

A scale is the combination of a root note and a mode. It’s even named that way. C major means C is the root note and major (Ionian) is the mode. The same for A minor: A is the root note and minor (Aeolian) is the mode.

In 8. What Is A Scale? we saw that a scale is a selection of (typically 7) notes within an octave, and that our sense of tonality depends on knowing which of these notes is the root note. In a piece that has a clear tonality the notes are organised so that the root note (tonic) is highlighted, especially near the beginning and end.

We also discovered that the reason the root note is so important in allowing us to hear the musical character is because typical Western scales have uneven intervals from note to note. Changing the root note effectively changes the pattern, changing the mode and thus its character.

Scales On Different Root Notes

If you know the character of the mode, you can sing a scale in that mode. As long as it’s within your range, you can sing that scale starting on any note (without even knowing what that note is!). As long as you don’t change the mode it will sound the same, just higher or lower.

The same is true for writing music. You can write a scale on any note. Here’s how it works:

Let’s look at the the major mode, which naturally starts on C. C major is made up of only the naturals.

We can pick any other note as the root note and build a major scale on that. All we need to do is make sure we stick to the major mode, the pattern of intervals from note to note that matches C major, or else we’ll change its character.

Let’s say we want D major. If we just started on D and used the same notes we would have a different pattern of intervals – a different mode – a different character.

It would sound like this:

This scale has quite a different character to C major.

Instead, we use the same pattern of intervals as C major, write D as the root note and then, working from left to right, count the number of semitones from each note to the next to work out the other notes. This will involve using one or more sharps or flats.

The 2nd note should be 2 semitones higher. 2 semitones above D is E.
The 3rd note is 2 semitones higher than E. F is 1 semitone higher than E and G is 3 semitones higher so we want the note in between. This could either be called F# (F+1) or Gb (G-1). What should we call it? We’ll come back to that shortly. We can put in both for now.
The 4th note is just 1 semitone further which is plain old G, and so on until the 7th note, 2 semitones above the 6th note, B. Again we have 2 options, C# or Db, and again we’ll write in both for now.
And, of course, the 8th note, 1 semitone above the 7th, should be exactly the same as the first, as it is the octave.

OK, time to look at what we’ve got… If we choose Gb for the 3rd note we have Gb AND G but no F, whereas if we call the 3rd note F# we have one F and one G. The same goes for the 7th note: Db uses the same name as the root note but a different sign, whereas C# allows one C and one D.

Now that we’ve worked out the notes in D major, let’s have a listen.

Now compare it to C major. The character should be the same, even though one scale is a little higher than the other…

The Note Naming Rule

For scales, there is one simple rule: the next note in a scale should have the next letter in its name.

Each note in a scale must have its own letter.

There’s a good reason for this: there are 7 note names, 7 notes in a scale and 7 pitch positions per octave on a stave.

Music notation is very visual. We can see the notes climb and descend as the melody itself climbs and descends. As we can see from the two versions of D major below, if two different notes in a scale share the same note name there are two different pitches sharing the same place on the stave and needing constant accidentals (sharps/flats/naturals) to show which is which. There is also one unused position, leaving a gap in the visual that we don’t hear.

Below is D major as notes on a stave showing both sets of note naming options. Try to read the notes while you listen. Which one is more visual (and less cluttered)?

Note: We can make a scale look even less cluttered by using a key signature. We’ll look at key signatures in the next lesson.

How to find the notes of a scale

Now that we know how to work out what notes we need to write a major scale starting on D instead of C, we can do so for any mode and any root note.

As the most common modes are major and minor, let’s find the notes for some other major and minor scales.

Choose a mode, e.g. major or minor.
Write the note that you want to build the scale on as the 1st note (root note).
Working from left to right, count how many semitones to the next note. Where there are two names for the same note, choose the name using the letter after the previous note.
(safety check: if you’ve added it up right, the 8th note’s name should be exactly the same as the first).

TIP: Learn the patterns that make up the major and minor modes (I think of them as phone numbers).

Major .2.2.1.2.2.2.1.

Minor .2.1.2.2.1.2.2.

Example: D minor

Have a go…

Here’s the answer…

OK, this one’s minor and has a flat. Pure fluke! There is no connection between being major or minor and having sharps or flats.

Try These…

Grab some paper and a pencil and try a few more… Bb major, A major, C minor, F# minor.

Answers at the bottom of this post. Here’s what a blank major and minor look like:

Practical Tip

Pick a major or minor scale that’s easy to play on your instrument, find its notes and doodle around with those notes. Just in one octave will do for a start, then try 2 octaves worth – it’s more fun. As long as you highlight the root note every now and again, for instance by making it long or strong, you should be able to feel the tonality of the mode you’ve chosen, or at least keep coming back to it if the music goes elsewhere. For a bit more on how to highlight the root note, visit How Can We Tell What Key We’re In?

Summary

A scale is a combination of a root note and a mode.
The root note is the first note of the mode.
A mode is a set of (usually 1 and 2 semitone) intervals from note to note adding up to an octave. The most common modes are major and minor. Of these, only C major and A minor have no sharps or flats.
Due to the irregular pattern of intervals from note to note, each mode has a unique musical character.
To make a scale on a different root note, choose the mode with the character that you want, e.g. major or minor, and write in the note you want to be the root note.
To find names for the other notes, start with the root note and count 1 or 2 semitones to the next note, according to the mode. Write the 2nd note in, count semitones to the 3rd note and so on, all the way to the octave.
Each note of a scale should have its own letter. Work from left to right, using the next letter each time, as you go.

This post is one of a growing series of free basic music theory lessons on my blog, musictheoryde-mystified.com. You can see the complete list here.

NEXT LESSON: 11. Introduction To Keys and Key Signatures: Major Keys

PART 1 CONTENTS: Basic Music Theory Course Contents

Answers

Bb C D Eb F G A Bb

A B C# D E F# G# A

C D Eb F G Ab Bb C

F# G# A B C# D E F#

7. Rest Values, How To Count Rests

What Is A Rest?

A rest is a silent note. Imagine that you have to make room for an important, loud note played on another instrument.

Every note value has an equivalent symbol for a rest. Rests are named after the note values they replace. A rest that lasts for a crotchet (quarter note) is called a crotchet rest (or quarter note rest).

Here are the note values from 5. Note Values 1 with their matching rest values. As previously suggested, don’t worry about really short notes and rests to start with.

Just like note values, the length of a rest can be extended by half by placing a dot after it.

Counting Rests

You have to play a rest, just like you play a note.

For example, in 4/4 try counting crotchets and only playing the first and 3rd. It feels like counting minims, except that you cut the note short at a specific moment. Here, that’s the start of beat 2 or 4. You’ll hear a metronome ticking every beat.

You should think of the cutoff point as a deliberate act, as if someone else is playing an important note that needs to be heard. You cut the note off by “playing” the rest, as if you have to squash the note to stop it. Some players tap the beats with a foot while playing; this may help…

The importance of rests is more obvious when they’re on the strong beats rather than the weak beats.

Two Types Of Rests

Broadly speaking, rests fall into either of two categories depending on how they feel when we play them.

Off-beat rests are rests that feel like they just stop the note from being a longer note. They don’t change the overall character of the rhythm. For longer notes, these include rests on weak beats, as in our first example.
On-beat rests feel like they’ve displaced the next note, forcing the note off the beat (or strong beat). Compared to the time signature’s natural rhythm, they make the notes feel “against the grain”. NOTE: This isn’t a value judgement. In fact, on-beat rests often make the music feel more exciting.

NOTE: The following examples and exercises have a double bar with 2 dots at the end. This is the repeat sign and indicates that the piece should be played a second time. For more on repeat signs and other navigation symbols, please visit How To Navigate Music 1: Animated Tour.

Shorter rests have a more obvious effect on the rhythm, so here’s two examples using quavers. They’re also a great warm-up for getting used to counting and playing rests. Try playing and counting along.

The last example, playing off the beat (between the beats) after an on-beat rest, is known as syncopation. We’ll look at syncopation in part 2 of this course.

NOTE: If you find these too hard, visit 3. Beats, Tempo And Timing for some help on how to count and play.

Try These…

Here are a few exercises for reading rests. Try them on your instrument before you listen to them. If you find that hard, play along to them first, then play them by yourself.

NOTE: Many percussion instruments have no control over how long a note sounds. For such instruments, the difference between writing bar 2 of the first example as crotchets followed by crotchet rests or as minims is moot. It would make sense for such parts to we written as longer notes without rests. However, for on-beat rests, the presence of a rest helps players to capture the feeling of playing between the beats rather than on them.

This post is one of a growing series of free basic music theory lessons on my blog, musictheoryde-mystified.com. You can see the complete list here.

If you enjoyed reading my post, please give it a like and feel welcome to share it. Any questions, please leave a comment and I’ll answer it as soon as I can. If you’d like to be kept up to date on new posts, please subscribe.

NEXT LESSON: 8. What Is A Scale?

PART 1 CONTENTS: Basic Music Theory Course Contents

9. Accidentals, Sharpen and Flatten

The term accidental has two similar meanings:

In general terms, an accidental is a symbol that affects the pitch of a note. The main accidentals are sharp, flat and natural.
In a musical context, the term accidental is also used to describe a note that doesn’t belong to the key of the piece; the scale that the piece is based on.

Give Me A Sign…

Symbols for accidentals such as # or b are called signs, not symbols.

A sharp sign acts like a plus sign: it adds 1 semitone to the pitch.
A flat sign acts like a minus sign: it subtracts 1 semitone from the pitch.
A natural sign cancels a previous sharp or flat.

Back in our first lesson we briefly looked at sharps and flats. Here’s a reminder.

For notes on a stave, accidentals are written before the note, immediately to the left of and at the same pitch position as the notehead.
When written as text, accidentals are written after the letter.

Writing a sharp next to a note raises its pitch by one semitone, without changing its name. Sharp = natural plus 1 semitone.

For instance, B# is one semitone higher than B. C is also 1 semitone higher than B. C is a much easier name than B#, so normally you’d call that note C. However, in some circumstances, the name B# is appropriate. We will see some examples of this in the next few posts.

A flat does the opposite to a sharp. Writing a flat next to a note lowers its pitch by a semitone, again without changing its name. Flat = natural minus 1 semitone.

Again, there are occasions where an unlikely name such as Cb is more appropriate than the natural, B.

Here are some more accidentals.

The letter notes are naturals; they aren’t raised or lowered. Normally we don’t need a sign to indicate that. However, if we’ve just used a sharp or flat (e.g. F#) and we want to follow it with the natural (F), we use the natural sign to indicate that the sharp or flat is now cancelled.

Double Trouble

There may not seem any point at this stage, but a note can be raised or lowered by as much as 2 semitones! We do this using the double sharp or double flat signs.

We already had 2 possible names for most notes, now we have even more!

Double sharps and double flats aren’t that common. We don’t randomly name a note as double sharp! It requires a really good reason to use them.

Nonetheless, notes are named according to their function in the music and sometimes their use is appropriate. If you see one, don’t worry – it’s just more of the same, “sharp sharp” or “flat flat”…

Sharpen And Flatten

To sharpen or flatten means to raise or lower a note by 1 semitone while keeping the same note name. For instance, if we change an F to an F# or a Bb to a B, we have sharpened it. You might ask, “why would we change any notes in a scale?”

In real life, we’re talking about musical pieces, not scales. Most music doesn’t just stick with the one scale for the whole piece. Also, notes can be changed temporarily just for effect, such as an ornament.

The note naming rule requires that each note in the scale has its own letter. If a note temporarily replaces a scale note it must use the name of the note it replaces. We use an accidental to make it the right pitch.

For example, if F and G are both scale notes and we want to write the note in between, it’s name depends on whether it replaces F or G in the scale. If it replaces F, it’s sharpened (= F#). If it replaces G, it’s flattened (= Gb).

Some scales have lots of sharps or flats. The note which is sharpened may already be a sharp in the scale. In that case we use a double sharp. Similarly, if we flatten a note that was already a flat it becomes a double flat. Double sharps and double flats, although fairly rare, are no big deal…

To sharpen a note is to raise it by 1 semitone without changing its name. A double flat becomes a flat, a flat becomes a natural, a natural becomes a sharp and a sharp becomes a double sharp.
To flatten a note is to lower it by 1 semitone without changing its name. A double sharp becomes a sharp, a sharp becomes a natural, a natural becomes a flat and a flat becomes a double flat.

If you change the note name, you are NOT sharpening or flattening, you’re using a different note!

Try These

Grab a pencil and a piece of paper and try some sharpening and flattening. Actually doing it is the best way to learn…

Sharpen the following notes:

Bb, C, G#

Flatten the following notes:

C#, A, Db

Answers at end of post.

This post is one of a growing series of free basic music theory lessons on my blog, musictheoryde-mystified.com. You can see the complete list here.

NEXT LESSON: 10. How To Find The Notes Of A Scale

PART 1 CONTENTS: Basic Music Theory Course Contents

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Answers

The Note Naming Rule For Scales And Keys

Each note in a key or scale must have its own letter.

Most Western scales have 7 notes. Including those with a sharp or flat in their name, most notes have two possible names.
We have 7 letters for note names and 7 pitch positions per octave on a stave. It makes sense that each note in a scale has a different letter as it’s name.

(Graphic, dots, D major scale with wrong crossed out and right notes)

(Sib graphics of D major melody, wrong/right notes)

If there are two possible names for a note, always choose the name that’s not used by any other notes in that key or scale.

6. Time Signatures 1 – Simple Time

In 3. Beats, Tempo and Timing we saw that music is counted in beats – a bit like counting seconds, except that different pieces are counted faster or slower. How fast we count is indicated by the tempo.

We also saw that beats are grouped into bars, which act as a larger unit within the piece’s structure. These groups can be any length but are typically a few beats long.

The number of beats in a bar is written at the start of the first stave, in the form of a fraction without the dividing line. This is called the time signature.

A Time Signature Tells Us How to Count

In simple time, the time signature tells us two things. The numerator (the top number) indicates how many beats per bar and the denominator (bottom number) represents the fraction name of the note value used to represent 1 beat.

3 3 beats per bar
4 quarter note (crotchet) = 1 beat

TIP: Read this as “3 x 1/4 note beats per bar”

In the above example of 3/4, there are 3 beats per bar, where the quarter note (crotchet) = 1 beat. We count to 3 for each bar.

Of course the bars can be filled with notes of various lengths. The time signature indicates where the beats are and tells us how to count.

NOTE: A few time signatures, known as compound time, are interpreted differently. We will visit these in Part 2 of this course.

Common Time

The most popular time signature in modern times is 4/4, which is 4 crotchet beats per bar. It is so popular that it has a unique name, common time, and a shortcut symbol, the letter C.

4/4 and C are equally valid symbols – the choice is up to the composer.

X/4

The most frequently used time signatures use the crotchet to represent 1 beat, as in the above examples.

The fraction name for a crotchet is 1/4. For convenience, we can say that all these time signatures are in x/4, where x is the number of beats in the bar.

A time signature can have any number of beats but smaller numbers are more common. For longer time signatures we tend to mentally break them up into smaller groups. For instance, a bar of 7 beats could be thought of as 3+4 (or 4+3, depending on how the music flows, or even 3+2+2 etc.). Sometimes this is indicated in the music with an accent > symbol over the strong beats.

In general, though, bars tend to be fairly short, typically 2 to 4 beats per bar.

Simple Time

Simple time is an overall term encompassing all time signatures that can be read as a simple fraction, where the upper number represents the number of beats in a bar.

Of these, time signatures in x/4 are by far the most common, but the crotchet or 1/4 note isn’t the only note value that can represent 1 beat. Other note values can also be used, such as a quaver (1/8 note) or minim (1/2 note).

Although not covered in this basic course, these other time signatures work the same way as x/4: 4/8 = 4x 1/8 note (quaver) beats per bar and 3/2 = 3x 1/2 note (minim) beats per bar.

Halves and Quarters

In simple time, beats are easily divided into halves and quarters, the default rhythmic framework for many genres and styles. Even the note values themselves are designed to divide into halves and quarters – each symbol is half (or double) the length of the next.

Note values from minim (half note) to semiquaver (sixteenth note)

The notes of an actual melody are usually a mixture of longer and shorter notes. Some of these are on a beat, others might start between beats. The time signature gives us a counting reference so we can interpret the notes correctly. Is a particular note on the beat or not, and on which beat within the bar?

Note: Most pieces have a single time signature throughout. However, some are made up of different sections with contrasting character. Each section can have its own time signature, like miniature pieces within the overall work. (Actually, it’s possible to change the time signature any time, or even change back and forth!)

The Rhythm of a Time Signature

A time signature has a built-in hierarchy of strong and weak points. The most obvious example of this is beat 1. When we count to music, it’s quite natural to emphasise the start of each bar, to help us keep track of where we are as we count. This also makes it easier to “feel” the beats within each bar rather than have to count numbers in your head.

Even when not counting aloud, musicians typically emphasise the first beat of each bar a little in their head as they play, so that it feels like the the start of a group.

Unless the bar is only 2 beats long, there’s room for a secondary emphasis part-way through the bar.

Being bipedal, humans have an affinity for two’s and halves. That’s why simple time is so popular. The most comfortable way to count is in two’s: strong, weak, strong, weak. At a pinch we can count in three’s but unless it’s quite fast, we prefer to feel it as 2+1: strong, weak, strong(ish).

To count in 4 we split it into 2+2, strong, weak, strong, weak. To feel like one group of 4, we make the first emphasis stronger than the second.

Time signatures have strong and weak beats, alternating where possible.

For example, in 4/4, beat 1 is the strongest of all, beat 3 a little less so but still strong, and beats 2 and 4 are weak.

A Beat Is Like a Miniature Bar of 4/4

Dividing up a beat is the same in miniature. The beat itself is the strongest, the 2nd quaver, halfway through, is the next strongest, and the other semiquavers, numbers 2 and 4, are the weakest.

Below, you can see and hear the hierarchy of the most common time signatures using bass guitar and drum kit sounds (the bass plays the strong beats and the snare plays the beats).

The more notes are on top of each other, the stronger the implied emphasis.

This is an exclusive preview of one of my custom illustrations from my upcoming music theory reference, Music Theory De-mystified, which I hope to complete by end 2023.

So What?

The implied rhythm of the time signature acts as a reference accompaniment which allows us to feel where the bars and beats are. Without this we wouldn’t be able to interpret the rhythm of the music correctly.

Have you heard the term “syncopation?” It’s where the rhythm is played with emphasis in unexpected places, typically between the beats rather than on them, or on the weak beats rather than the strong ones. It feels like it’s “against the grain”; like it’s competing with something – often in an exciting way!

We’ll visit this in more detail in a post down the track but the point is that syncopation feels “against the grain” or between the beats BEACAUSE OF the time signature. The implied accents of the beats and strong beats determined by the time signature is the competition.

That’s where the “in-between “ sensation of syncopation comes from; even if there is no instrument emphasising the beats we can still feel the implied rhythm of the time signature. We can feel the music skip between the beats when syncopated or work together with the beats when playing on the beat.

In the following example, the first bar is syncopated and the second bar is on the beat. Without being aware of the time signature, the first bar is hard to interpret until you hear the second bar following the beats. Once we’ve heard the 2nd bar, the rhythm of the first bar is easier to understand.

Now let’s listen with a metronome playing the bars and beats of the time signature.

Hearing the metronome, it’s much easier to work out the rhythm of the first bar.

In summary, think of the time signature as a default accompaniment to a melody. Melodies may or may not have a strong rhythmic quality in themselves but they will almost always be built around the framework of the time signature’s rhythmic hierarchy.

NEXT LESSON: 7. Rest Values, How To Count Rests

PART 1 CONTENTS: Basic Music Theory Course Contents

5. How Long Is A Note? Note Values 1

Note Length

In 3. Beats, Tempo And Timing we saw that the length of a note is counted in beats, and that the length of a beat is determined by the tempo. For instance, when the tempo is 60 bpm (beats per minute), 1 beat is 1 second long: for a tempo of 120 bpm, 1 beat is 1/2 second long. Notes can be any length, from a number of beats to a fraction of a beat.

Note Values

Although we count in beats, not all notes are a beat, or even a whole number of beats, in length. Some are longer, some shorter.

The symbols for note length are called note values. How we interpret these symbols depends on the time signature. Time signatures are a subject for a later post, but let me say for now that the most popular time signature, common time, as well as several others, use the crotchet (quarter note) to represent one beat. For the rest of this post I will refer to a crotchet as 1 beat.

Tempo markings often include the note value which represents 1 beat. When a crotchet = 1 beat, a tempo of 60 bpm is indicated as follows:

60 crotchet beats per minute

Funny Names

There is both an English and an American name for each note value. The American name is a fraction based on a whole note equaling the number 1 (1 = whole). The next shorter shorter note is half its length and is called a half note, etc. The “1” refers to 1 bar in the most common time signature of all, 4/4, which has 4 beats per bar.

The English names are old-fashioned names meaning various degrees of “short”, harking back to the original Medieval runes and the gradual evolution of note symbols since.

On the whole I will be using the English names to avoid confusion between a half note and half a beat, etc. However, I recommend learning the American names as well: note values as fractions are the key to interpreting time signatures. In the table below, I have listed both names.

Table of Note Values

The following table lists the most common note values from longest to shortest. The “Usual Length” column shows the length in beats in common time.

Regardless of time signature, the note values are always proportional to each other. Each note value in the table always equals two of the note value below it. A semibreve = 2 minims, a minim = 2 crotchets etc.

The longest note value is called a semibreve because originally there was an even longer note, the breve. The breve is seldom used these days because, at 8 beats long, most time signatures don’t have bars long enough to be able to fit a breve within a bar.

Don’t be daunted by all these symbols. Just focus on the note values that are 1 beat or longer to start with; the ones bordered in green. It’s much easier to add beats together to play longer notes than to divide a beat into halves or quarters. Later you can include quavers, and eventually, semiquavers. Demisemiquavers are much less common.

Stem direction

All but the longest note values have a stem. The stems in the above tables are shown as extending upward from the notehead.

In 2. Notes On a Stave: Pitch we saw that on a stave, the stem’s position and direction depends on where the notehead sits on the stave.

Notes which are on or above the middle line of the stave have their stems on the left of the notehead, extending down.
Notes below the middle line of the stave have their stems on the right of the notehead, extending up.

Tails and beams are always at the outer end of the stem.

Tails and Beams

Notes shorter than a crotchet have a tail. The shorter the note, the more lines make up the tail. When there are several short notes in succession, their tails are joined together to form a beam. Beams generally join the notes in 1-beat groups such as 2 quavers, 4 semiquavers etc. This allows us to see which notes are on the beats, making the music easier to follow. It’s also a cleaner, less cluttered look.

The exception is quavers/ eighth notes, which can be joined together in one-, two- or even three-beat groups.

Below is an example of the different note values, with the shorter notes beamed in groups. In this example the quavers are beamed in groups of 2 beats (4 quavers).

The vertical lines, called barlines, occur every 4 beats, as in the time signature 4/4. In 4/4, a semibreve lasts for 1 bar.

As you listen, you will hear a metronome tick at 80 bpm and repeated notes of the different note values played over it. The use of different note pitches is just for listening convenience.

Notice that the demisemiquavers have only their outer tail beamed in whole beats: the inner tails are beamed in half-beats. This is a popular convention for an even cleaner look but not necessary. Some publishers beam all demisemiquaver tails in whole beats.

Dotted Notes

A note can be any length. For example, we may want a note to last for 3 beats rather than 2 or 4 beats. One option is to use a dotted note.

Each note value can have a dot beside it, to the right. The dot adds half the length of the note value: the dotted note is one and a half times the length of the note without the dot. Effectively, the dot represents the note value directly below the note in the note value table above. For example, a dotted minim (3 beats) = a minim (2 beats) plus a crotchet (1 beat).

The best way to get used to note values is to try to play some written music; notation means nothing until you try to play what you see. Start with something simple such as a children’s song or a melody that you’re very familiar with. If that seems too difficult, please visit my earlier post, 3. Beats, Tempo and Timing, which has some simple timing exercises that might provide a good starting point.

For more, see 7. Rest Values, How To Count Rests. In upcoming posts I hope to provide more information on note length, time signatures and rhythm.

The movie is taken from Music Theory De-mystified, my upcoming music theory e-book, due to be released in 2023.

NEXT LESSON: 6. Time Signatures 1 – Simple Time

PART 1 CONTENTS: Basic Music Theory Course Contents

4. Bars, How To Count In Bars And Beats

Structure

When we listen to music, we can generally “follow the music”: we have a sense of where we are within the piece. This is because, other than ambient music, much of what we recognise as music has a structure. Let’s zoom in on a piece from the outside…

Most pieces are made up of sections. In a popular work a typical section might be a verse, chorus or bridge. A classical work might have large-scale sections called movements as well as smaller sections within a movement such as exposition, development and recapitulation.

Within each section, the music is made up of phrases. In the language of music, phrases are the equivalent of phrases in speech. Question marks, full stops and commas all have their musical equivalent.

In music, each phrase is typically made up of a number of bars. Bars provide a way of dividing a phrase up into manageable chunks that we can see and hear.

In Western music culture we seem to be attracted to the number 4. Phrases in many genres are often 4 bars long. In a typical 4-bar phrase, we can feel the phrase get started in the first bar and arrive at a note or chord in the 4th bar. Please note that this is a very general statement for illustration purposes: music is certainly not restricted to phrases of 4 bars, or even of a whole number of bars. Overall, though, many melodies are made up of 4-bar phrases.

Bars

Each bar is made up of a number of beats. Usually all the bars in a section have the same number of beats (but again this isn’t always the case). The boundary between one bar and the next is marked by a vertical line through the stave called a barline. Barlines are convenient markers to help navigate through the notes. Without barlines it would be easy to get lost when trying to read music.

The following example has bars which are 4 beats long:

Bars aren’t just visual: they form part of the structure of the music. Not only can we count the number of bars in a phrase, but we can count the number of beats in a bar. The beats are a reference for where we are in a bar, just as bars are a reference for where we are in a phrase.

A bar can be any number of beats in length but if a bar is too long we feel the need to mentally divide it into smaller chunks. Bars are easiest to feel when they have a small number of beats. Most typically, bars are made up of 2, 3 or 4 beats.

The first beat of a bar has an implied emphasis. This can be articulated in the music by making the note on the first beat of each bar stronger/louder. Even when the music is intended to be played smoothly and evenly, musicians tend to “play” that emphasis in their mind as they count.

Counting in bars and beats

Being able to count or tap to the music in beats and bars is an essential skill for the aspiring musician. In the previous post, 3. Beats, Tempo and Timing, we looked at some basic counting exercises. There we counted to 2, so there were 2 beats in each bar.

Try This…

As a quick exercise, listen to a piece of music you enjoy and tap where you feel the beats might go. Once you settle into the tempo, try counting “1,2”, then “1,2,3” then “1,2,3,4” and see which of these seems to fit the structure of the phrases. As you count, emphasise “1” a little.

If the piece has a rhythmic accompaniment, beat 1 might be emphasised by one or more of the accompanying instruments. For instance, in a typical rock song, the bass drum plays the first beat of the bar. Even without such accompaniment, the right number of beats per bar will “make sense” and fit the phrases, whereas the wrong number will, at times, feel out of step.

As 4 is two lots of 2, the difference between counting to 2 and to 4 isn’t always obvious, but counting to 3 feels quite different than 2 or 4.

Example

Below is the audio only for two simple melodies. One has 2 beats per bar, the other has 3. Listen to both and count “1,2” or “1,2,3”. See if you can tell which is which… (the answer is at the end of this post).

NOTE: Both melodies are at a medium-fast tempo but the tempo is slightly different for each. For each melody, listen first and tap along to the tempo. Only start counting when you feel that you’ve settled in to the tempo.

This post is one of a growing series of free basic music theory lessons on my blog, musictheoryde-mystified.com. You can see the complete list here.

Parts of this post, including the movie above, are taken from Music Theory De-mystified, my upcoming music theory e-book, due to be released late 2023.

NEXT LESSON: 5. How Long Is A Note? Note Values 1

PART 1 CONTENTS: Basic Music Theory Course Contents

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Answer: The first melody has 3 beats per bar, the second melody has 2 beats per bar.