Circle of Fifths Major

Circle of Fifths

Major Keys

Nikolay Diletsky

Russian composer and theorist created it in the late 1960's as a guide to composition. It has since been expanded and improved upon to the diagram we are used to seeing today.

1st Step

• Using the circle of fifths to recall the name of the major keys and how many sharps or flats are in each key

Clock

• The circle of fifths is set up just like a clock

C

• C Major is at 12 O'Clock

• There are no sharps or flats

How to find the next key?

• Using the C major scale find it's fifth scale degree.

• C =1

• D=2

• E=3

• F=4

• G=5

G Major

• The next key becomes G Major

• This is placed in the 1 o'clock position

Continue around the circle

• To find the next key, now use the G major scale

• Find the 5th scale degree of G major

D Major

• Place D in the 2 o'clock position

• Use the D major scale and find the fifth scale degree

• See where the circle gets its name?

A Major

• Place A in the 3 o'clock position

• Use the A major scale and find the next key

E Major

• Place E in the 4 o'clock position

• Find the next key

B Major

• Place B in the 5 o'clock position

• Use the B major scale to find the next key

• What is the 5th scale degree of B Major?

Is it F or F#?

• Remember we are using the B major scale to find the next key

• In the B major scale the 5th scale degree is F sharp

• Therefore the name of the next key is F#

F# Major

• Place F# in the 6 o'clock position

• Now use the scale of F# to find the last key

C# Major

• Just like with the previous key, in the scale of F# major, the fifth scale degree is C#

• Place C# in the 7 o'clock position

What have we learned

• The circle of fifths is a clock

• Each key is based off of the previous key

• To find the next key use the fifth scale degree of the previous key

The Flats

Let's go back to the C major scale, only this time we are going to go up to the fourth scale degree.

F Major

• Place the F in the 11 o'clock position

• We are going to work our way around the left side of the circle

• Using the scale of F Major find the 4th scale degree.

Bb Major

• Place Bb in the 10 o'clock position

• Just like with the sharps, the fourth scale degree of F major is Bb

• Now using the Bb major scale, find the fourth scale degree

Eb Major

• Place Eb in the 9 o'clock position

• Keep going!

Ab Major

• Place Ab in the 8 o'clock position

• Keep going!

Db Major

• Ooops, all the spots are filled

• Db will share the 7 o'clock spot with C#

• What do we notice about Db and C#?

• Enharmonic equivalents

• Keep going!

Gb Major

• Place Gb Major in the 6 o'clock position

• This will share the spot with F#

• One more!

Cb Major

• This will go in the 5 o'clock position and share a spot with B Major

• Our circle is complete

• There are 3 enharmonic key signatures

Mnemonic Device

• Remember Father Charles Goes Down And Ends Battle

• We can also just take this and place it around the circle starting at 11o'clock

• Then starting at 10 o'clock go backwards (counter clockwise) using Battle Ends And Down Goes Father Charles

• Then just remember to add the appropriate flats and sharps

2nd Step

Now that we have named all the keys how is this helpful?

Number of accidentals

• The clock helps us to identify the number of accidentals within each key

• For example, let's look at the G major scale

• Notice there is 1 sharp

Position

• Notice the position of G major

• It is at 1 o'clock

• It contains 1 sharp

D Major

• Now look at the D major sclae

• It contains 2 sharps

D Major

• 2 sharps

• 2 o'clock

• Are we seeing a pattern?

Fill in the Blank

How many sharps are in the key of A Major?

Flats

• It is the same idea for the flats only think of the 11 o'clock spot as 1

• Therefore, F major has 1 flat

• Bb Major has 2 Flats etc.

Fill in the Blank

How many flats does Eb major have?

What are they?

Now that we know how many sharps or flats are in each key how do we know which sharps or flats belong to each key?

Mnemonic Device

• Remember our order of sharps

• F, C, G, D, A, E, B

• If G Major has one sharp then that is the first one in our order of sharps

• Therefore the 1 sharp in G Major is F#

G Major

• The First sharp is placed on the staff

• To create D Major there are 2 sharps

• Carry down the F#, then place the second sharp

D Major

• 2 sharps

• Father Charles

• F#, C#

• Carry down the F# and C# for the next key and add the new sharp

A Major

• Father Charles Goes

• F#, C#, G#

• This continues around the circle for the sharps

Flats

• Follow the same pattern for flats with the saying

• B E A D Greatest Common Factor

Test Your Knowledge

Answer some questions based on what you just learned.

Fill in the Blank

How many sharps are in the key of B Major?

Multiple Choice

What is the correct order of sharps for B Major?

• F, G, C, A, D

• F, C, G, A, D

• F, C, G, D, A

• F, A, G, D, C

Fill in the Blank

How many sharps are in the key of F# major?

Multiple Choice

What is the correct order of sharps in the key of F# major?

• F, C, G, D, A, B

• G, D, A, E, B, F

• F, C, D, A, G, B

• F, C, G, D, A, E

Fill in the Blank

How many flats are in the key of Db Major?

Multiple Choice

What is the correct order of flats for the key of Db major?

• B, E, A, D, G

• G, C, F, B, E, A, D

• F, B, E, A, D

• B, E, A, D, C

Fill in the Blank

How many flats are in the key of Cb Major?

Multiple Choice

What is the correct order for the flats in Cb major

• B, E, A, D, G, C

• B, E, A, D, G, C, F

• F, B, E, A, D, C,

• G, C, F, B, E, A, D