How do you memorize all the keys?
How do you learn how to memorize all the keys and the minors and majors? Is there an easy way to memorize them? Any tips would be appreciated! :D Thanks
Replies (17)
I have the circle of 5ths on my wall, and find that easier--but because I learned it on piano. Basically though, it's recognizing the patterns. They are very predictable; and, the extended relationships as well with a little brain gymnastics.
And no, I'm no mental giant.
I was just going to mention the circle of 5ths... This is an important idea to grasp as the 5ths represent the dominant, and these tonic-dominant relationships are primordial to the way tonal music functions. To add sharps to a key signature, if one starts with C, construct a new major scale on the dominant (G) by sharpening the 7th (F#) and so on (the dominant of G is D so sharpen the 7th to give C# etc.). I think this is a more foolproof way to memorise the order, in fact Emily has inverted the order of two sharps - it should be A# then E#. For flats go the other way ie. go down from C a fifth to F and flatten the 4th to give B-flat and so on, or harmonically this is constructing a new scale on the sub-dominant by flattening the 4th.
I teach Music Fundamentals at a university and believe that it is easier (and more helpful) to learn the order of sharps and flats first, then to apply that knowledge to figuring out the keys. (On the off chance that one of my fundies students decides to try to play a scale someday...)
I taught them the sharps in order, F#, C#, G#, D#, A#, E#, and B#. Then, since they knew their scale degrees, I taught them that, going left to right, if they stopped on any sharp, it was the leading tone of its corresponding major scale. So, they stop on 2 sharps, that C# is the leading tone of D major. For flats, they just start at the end of the row and make them all flats--Bb, Eb, Ab, Db, Gb, Cb, Fb. The key is one flat less than the one they stop on. (They just memorized that one flat was the key of F Major.)
Once they learned the mnemonic device, which I taught them as "Fat Cats Go Down Alleys Eating Birds" they could figure out any key. Later on in the semester they also learned how to find the relative minors of all the keys.
So, on one exam I gave them a fill-in-the-blank line asking them to write out the mnemonic device that enabled them to remember their order of sharps/flats. Here's the best one I got:
Fifty Cowboys Got Drunk At Ed's Bar!
I love my fundies students! :-D
Kristin- Fifty Cowboys Got Drunk At Ed's Bar lol!!!!!! That one fit's here in Laramie, Wyoming!!!! Ha Ha!!!
One of my teachers taught us, Fat College Girls Don't Always Eat Bacon. She said it, not me!
Mine is unprintable.
Ray,
I tried that once. These days my knee only aches when it rains.
Cheers,
Buri
Mine isn't nearly as funny, but it reads forward and backward:
Father Charles Goes Down And Ends Battle
Battle Ends And Down Goes Charles' Father
Two great phrases for the price of one! Works hard on both sharps and flats so you don't have to!
never mind--it's copyright material and illegal to share freely. And also, if you don't use it you 'L'ose it.
It's fun to have students think up their own mnemonic sentences. One of my favorites (not from a student of mine) went like this:
for sharps:
Father Christmas Gave Dad An Electric Blanket
for flats:
Blanket Exploded And Dad Got Cold Feet
p.s. Emily, that's great!
Kevin,
Perhaps boring, but so very easy —
The violin, viola and cello are tuned in 5ths so start with the 5 open strings and go up the strings for the sharp keys — C is all naturals then GDAE — the next 5th up is B (that skinny invisible string above the E:-). If you drop the B 2-8vas to the G-string, your “high” 2’s are B F# and C#.
For the flat keys use “low” 1’s on the strings descending from the E-string — F Bb Eb Ab Db Gb Cb. (From Eb down, they are just flatted strings.)
For Minors in the sharp and flat keys also relate your strings and fingers across the fingerboard in 5ths. We have the perfect instrument for 5ths — it’s a piece of cake.
Minors:
Officially the Minor Keys begin on the Major 6th of the Major Key. It is initially easier to think down a minor 3rd, but make sure it is down a half-step and a whole-step — this way you remain accurate to the Key Signature. So in C Major the Relative Minor is A Minor. Play a C Major scale starting on A and ending on A — this is the “Natural” or “Pure” Minor. It has the m3rd, m6th & m7th — all figured from the Tonic A (name of scale).
The fancy minors just play with adjustments to the 6th & 7th. Melodic Minor has them both raised a half-step to major in the ascending scale and return to minor in the descending –– mind you, the composers can a often do choose the opposite.
The Harmonic Minor has the m3rd, m6th and M7th — the latter 2 causing the strongly identifiable Augmented 2nd (an interval of 1 1/2 steps or 3 half-steps with neighboring notes/letters, i.e., F to G# in A Minor).
Hope this helps —
Drew
Author of
I use the same imagery for the beginners ,ie imagine your open strings.Then c which is not there has no sharps, g one sharp,d 2 sharps etc.For the minors I've printed my own scale manuals and unlike all the others dont concern my students with a relative major and minor but how a g major differs from a g minor.We start with the melodic which has the same ascending as the major but with a flattened 3rd and coming diwn flaten the 7th and 6thThis is a rule that apllies to all scale and thus changing a major into a minor becomes a piece of cake.When this has been learnt approach the other minors but refer to the relative major as well.
Can't remember where this came from, but when I was a kid this was circulating:
Empty Garbage Before Dad Flips
Better Empty All Dad's Garbage 'Cause [he'll] Flip
When I teach theory, I hand out two blank circle O' 5ths sheets. On the first, we fill them in as a class. I tell them to take the blank one and make a bunch of copies, then practice filling in the blanks at home in 5 minutes or less. When quiz time comes, they have 5 minutes to fill it in. Yes, it's rote memorization, but it's pretty efficient.
When I teach private students, I have them think with their fingers:
add a sharp, go straight across the fingerboard to the next string. Add a flat, go down a string.
I give the nod to the good old circle of fifths. Of course, you have to know what a fifth is, and be able to visualize that, so it isn't always highly illuminating for beginners.
The relative minors correspond to the majors - always a minor third below the major key. C-a, G-e, etc.
Again, you have to know what a minor third is, though...lol
For determining what key a given signature is, the last sharp (last being the one closest to the notes) is the leading tone of that key. (AKA 1/2 step below the key, as in G major, which has 1 sharp,(F#). F# is 1/2 step below G, the key.
Flats are easier - the next to last flat (again, going back from the one closest to the notes R-L) is the key.
ex: Bb has two flats - Bb, Eb. Go back one, and it's Bb, the key.
Another: Eb has 3 flats; Bb, Eb, Ab. Go back one flat, you have your key. See?
hope this helps.
I've thought about this some, and--a good old piano and 'all those patterns': are just so helpful. I intuit, this may have been at least one of the minor reasons many conservatories required piano with violin early on. Maybe, maybe not.
And remember F major is the only one where 1=1, without going back one....
There is also a relationship between the number of flats and sharps where one may be turned into the other an vica versa.
But most importantly, and another one of my crosses, is that when one understands the intervals and sounds of music very early, transferring those patterns --as symbols-- to music seems an obstacle rather than a tool.
So to begin with, and as an absolute minimum, learn the patterns of majors, minors, sevenths, diminished, and augmented. There's a bunch, of others.
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December 10, 2007 at 10:17 AM · If you memorize the sharps, "F#,C#,G#,D#,E#,A#,B#", the last sharp in the key signature is the 7th note of the major scale. So, if you had F#, C#, G# and D# in your key signature, D# would be the 7th note of the scale, making it E Major.
The flats go in reverse order of the sharps: "Bb, Eb, Ab, Db, Gb, Cb, Fb". You might find the flats easier to memorize because they spell out "BEAD GCF". The second to last flat (from the right) in the key signature is what key you're in.
Going from major to minor is a difference of a minor third. You start out with your major key and go down a minor third (or three half steps). So, if you were in C Major, it's relative minor would be A minor [down a minor third]. And their key signatures would be the same.
Alternatively, there is the circle of fifths, which I was taught, but didn't memorize because this was easier for me. You may find it different.
Hope this helps.