At this point it is safe to say that we now know most of the mathematics behind the major scale. As we have seen, the C major scale (or key of C) has no sharps or flats. The G Major Scale (or key of G) has one sharp, F#. Logically the next major scale (or key) should have two sharps. Since it does, it is necessary for us to find out what that next key is and all the subsequent keys thereafter. In order to do so, we will use …
The Cycle of Fifths
Lets go back to the key of C which has no sharps or flats and count up 5 natural notes including C.
C D E F G
Our 5th note is G. As we know, the key of G has one sharp. Now let’s count up five natural notes from G including G.
G A B C D
Our 5th note is D, it’s key has two sharps.
This is the D major scale ( key of D )
Now lets go back again to the key of C. The key of C has no sharps no flats. The key of G has one Sharp F. The key of D has two sharps F, C. The next key will have three sharps F, C, and _ ? Can you guess? You won’t have to after you’ve memorized the following order.
The Order of Sharps
Father Charles Goes Down And Ends Battle
The first letter of each word represents the order of Sharps.
The diagram below spells out all the sharp keys.
|
Key of |
Number of sharps |
Order & name of sharps |
|
| 1 |
C |
0 |
|
| 2 |
G |
1 |
F |
| 3 |
D |
2 |
F C |
| 4 |
A |
3 |
F C G |
| 5 |
E |
4 |
F C G D |
| 6 |
B |
5 |
F C G D A |
| 7 |
F# |
6 |
F C G D A E |
| 8 |
C# |
7 |
F C G D A E B |
As we use the Cycle of Fifths, we see that the fifth note we count represents the first note in the next major scale. It also represents the name of the key in which that major scale belongs. You might be wondering why the 7th key is F# and not F and why the 8th key is C# and not C. We’ll start with F#. The order of sharps dictates which notes MUST be sharp in any given key. When we counted 5 notes up from B (the 6th key) we arrived at F. Since the order of sharps for that key contains an F#, we must call that first note F# and not F. Therefore, the major scale will start on an F# and can only be called an F# Major Scale or the key of F#.
Notice also the E# in the 7th key. There is no such note in our musical alphabet. E# is actually the note F. However, in order to keep our alphabetical order we had to call that note E#.
The key of C# should be quite clear now if you have understood the key of F#. The key of C# has an E# and B#. Again this is necessary in order to maintain alphabetical order in the major scale.
It would be very beneficial for you to write out in diagram form ( like the D major illustration above ) all of these scales. It will help you to get a better handle on this lesson.
© 1999, Synaptic Systems Inc.
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