A Player's Guide to Chords and Harmony Read Online Free PDF

that the music is in the key of E6 major - or possibly in the relative minor of E6 major, which is C minor. Relative minor keys are discussed in Chapter Four. When this key signature is used, an E6 major scale can be written using no accidentals, as in (a). When no key signature is used (b), the same scale has to be written using an accidental before the first occurrence of any E6, A6, or B6 in any measure.

    There are a few pieces of modern music whose key signatures include both flats and sharps, but we can safely ignore these. Note also that in some sheet music prepared by arrangers for recording sessions, the key signature is shown not at the beginning of each staff but only at the beginning of the piece. The assumption is that the people reading the sheet music will be professionals, and will be able to remember what key they're playing in.
    Whenever the composer or arranger needs to temporarily cancel one of the flats or sharps in the key signature, an accidental (a flat, sharp, or natural, or more rarely a double-sharp or double-flat) is placed before the note that is to be altered. Looking at it a slightly different way, an accidental is not the flat, sharp, or natural in the sheet music but rather a note that isn't included in the major scale indicated by the current key signature. In the key of E6, for example, an An (a white key) would be an accidental.
    Each key signature is referred to by the name of the tonic note of the major scale that can be played using that key signature without inserting any accidentals. For instance, if the key signature allows us to play a D major scale with no accidentals - that is, if it contains exactly two sharps - it's the D major key signature.
    In symphonic music, the key signature may change a number of times in the course of a single piece. This happens when the music modulates to a new key (a subject we'll have more to say about in Chapter Eight). Composers change the key signature in order to make a passage easier for the musicians to read. It's easier to read because fewer accidentals are required to notate it. On the down side, it becomes necessary to make a mental note of the current key signature at all times.
     

MAJOR KEYS, SCALES & THE CIRCLE OF FIFTHS
    Because there are 12 notes in the chromatic scale, it's possible to play a major scale in any of 12 different keys. For reference, Figure 1-14 shows all 12 of these scales. Assuming you know how to read music, you may be more used to seeing the scales written with key signatures. In Figure 1-14, however, I've notated them without key signatures, using accidentals, as this makes it easier to see how various notes are raised or lowered.
    The arrangement of keys in Figures 1-12 and 1-14 is not random or capricious: The scales are arranged in an order called the Circle of Fifths. The Circle of Fifths is so important that it deserves a brief explanation here. We'll have more to say about it in Chapter Five.
    Studying Figures 1-12 and 1-14 is a worthwhile exercise. As you examine them, you'll notice some patterns. When we add a sharp or remove a flat, for instance, the note that's affected is the note just below the tonic. As we transition from the key of A to the key of E, for instance, the note D (one step below E) changes to a D#. See if you can figure out which note of the scale is lowered by a half-step when the key signature moves the other direction, for example from the key of C to the key of F, or from F to B6. (Note also that these Figures show only the major keys. The subject of minor keys will have to wait until Chapter Four.)

    Figure 1-14. The major scales, written without key signatures. If the key signatures shown in Figure 1-12 were used, the scales here would look a lot alike: They'd all be simple rows of notes, with no accidentals. Note that the scales of F# major and G6 major contain exactly the same chromatic pitches. However, each pitch is spelled using one of two enharmonic equivalents: F# is the same