The Circle of Fifths: Better than chocolate.
Category: Music Theory
- Image via Wikipedia
Oh I know I’ve talked about the circle of fifths before. But my feelings are strong, and I never tire of talking about it. So I’m feeling the need to spill my guts about the circle of fifths, right here in this post. You’ve been warned.
Here is a short list of what the circle of fifths can help you with. It can:
- help you identify the 12 tones in the chromatic scale (which we have already discussed here)
- help you identify the corresponding key signatures
- help you compose music
- help you understand relationships between different key signatures
- help you build chords
- help you change your tires
- help you get the kids ready for school
OK.. not the last two things… only in my dreams…
… Getting back on track. Ahem.
As you can see, I’ve included an image from Wikipedia of the circle of fifths. There is a lot of stuff going on. Let us discuss.
Start at the top. On the outside of the circle you see the major keys. They are organized with the simplest keys at the top. That is, the key of C has no sharps or flats. As you traverse clockwise, the key of G major (which is a fifth above the key of C) has 1 sharp. As you traverse even more, the key of D major (which is a fifth above G), has 2 sharps.. And on and on it goes until you reach 7 sharps. If you need to review key signatures, you can do it here.
You may notice that it gets a bit weird once you reach 5 sharps.. You see two key signatures (one with sharps and one with flats) instead of one. This is because the same notes can be referenced by either sharp or flat notation. I wrote about this in Lesson 19.. Feel free to go back and review it if you feel like it. So, 5 sharps is the equivalent of 7 flats, 6 sharps is the equivalent of 6 flats, and so on.. You’ll notice that as you traverse clockwise, the number of flats diminishes. We start with 7 flats at the key of B major, and decrease the number of flats by one each time we go to the next key… until you reach the key of C again, which has no sharps and no flats.
The minor keys are on the inside of the circle, starting with the key of A minor. The same theory applies to this inner circle, so I’m not going to go into detail.
Well. There you go. It sounds more complicated than it is. Just wait until I try to explain to you how it helps me change my tires.
Posted on October 20th, 2010 by sharlene
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