In lesson 3, starting with the key of C, we used the Cycle of Fifths to work our way through all of the subsequent keys that use sharps. We learned that there is a specific order of sharps that can be remembered with the sentence Father Charles Goes Down And Ends Battle.
To work our way through the flat keys we will use ..
The Cycle of Fourths.
Again, lets go back to the key of C which has no sharps or flats and this time count up 4 natural notes including C.
C D E F
Our 4th note is F. Lets have a look at the F major scale or key of F:
This is the F major scale ( key of F )
In order to conform with our rules of major scale construction, we needed to add the flat, Bb.
It turns out that the order of flats is exactly the same as the order of sharps with one exception. It is backwards.
The Order of Flats
Battle Ends And Down Goes Charlies Father
The first letter of each word represents the order of flats.
Using this order and the Cycle of Fourths, you can work out all of the flat keys as shown below.
The diagram below spells out all the flat keys.
| |
Key of |
Number of flats |
Order & name of flats |
| 1 |
C |
0 |
|
| 2 |
F |
1 |
B |
| 3 |
Bb |
2 |
B E |
| 4 |
Eb |
3 |
B E A |
| 5 |
Ab |
4 |
B E A D |
| 6 |
Db |
5 |
B E A D G |
| 7 |
Gb |
6 |
B E A D G C |
| 8 |
Cb |
7 |
B E A D G C F |
As we use the Cycle of Fourths, we see that the Fourth 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. As we saw with the sharp keys, if the name of the note we counted to has a flat in its order, then we MUST add that flat to the name. For example, when we count up 4 from F, we arrive at B. Since B has a Bb in its order of flats, it is called the key of Bb.
Notice also the Cb in the 7th key. There is no such note in our musical alphabet. Cb is actually the note B. However, in order to keep our alphabetical order we had to call that note Cb.
The last key, Cb should be quite clear now if you have understood the key of Gb. The key of Cb has a Cb and Fb. 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 F 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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