sightsing.com Common key signatures

Common key signatures

In the last set of exercises, you sang simple tunes made up of the notes of the scale of C major only: click to hear this scale:
If we want to make the same scale starting on a different note, we need a key signature. Here is the same scale starting on D (the note above): click to hear this scale:
- The key signature is always immediately after the clef, and specifies accidentals which apply throughout the music.
- For the purposes of sight-singing, the key signature simply tells us what the key note is.
- The scale of D major sounds exactly the same as the scale of C major, but slightly higher:
  - Listen to both the scales above, then try singing with each in turn;
  - The second one (D major) may feel "sharper", but it is simply a little higher.
So why would a piece of music be written in a different key and therefore use a key signature?
- The primary reason is so that the highest and lowest notes of the piece lie within the range of the voice or instrument it is intended for;
- It is also claimed that different keys can have different qualities, perhaps "tone colour", although this is often debated;
- As mentioned above, the scale of D major may feel "sharper" than C, but is this only because it is higher?
The table below shows the most common key signature and what major key they specify:
- I haven't given you the major scale for each key - they are very simple:
- Given a key signature, a major scale in that key is simply the key note, followed by the next consecutive seven notes upwards on the stave.
Key signature Major key/
key note Key signature Major key/
key note Key signature Major key/
key note
C
G D A
F Bb Eb
So to sight-read a piece a music, one of the first things you should look at is the key signature:
- This tells you what the key of the piece is, and hence the key note.
- You must then relate the first few notes of the piece to this key note.
We can now try sight-singing some simple tunes that have four beats in a bar, and also have one of the common key signatures:
- This should be no harder than the previous exercises except that the scale you are working with starts on a different place on the stave.
- Listen to the scale first, then try singing the piece.
hear the scale hear the piece
hear the scale hear the piece
This final one has three beats in a bar, and does not start on the key note: hear the scale followed by the starting note
hear the piece

More details on key signatures can be found in a later section, including an explanation of why key signatures are necessary.

Major key/ key note	Major key/ key note	Major key/ key note
	C
G	D	A
F	Bb	Eb