Key signatures and degrees

About 2 min to read, then 6 practice questions

Key signatures

Writing a sharp in front of every F in a piece in G major would be tiring. Instead, the sharps or flats a key needs are written once, at the start of every stave, as a key signature. They apply to every note with that letter name, in every octave, all through the piece.

Key	Key signature
C major	no sharps or flats
G major	one sharp: F sharp
D major	two sharps: F sharp and C sharp
F major	one flat: B flat

The key signature of G major: F sharp, on the top line

D major in the bass clef: F sharp, then C sharp

F major: B flat, on the middle line

Tip: one sharp means G major and one flat means F major; two sharps mean D major, and a key signature with nothing in it means C major.

Degrees of the scale

Each note of a scale is a degree, numbered from the first note: the first note is the 1st degree, the next the 2nd, and so on up to the 8th, which is the first note again an octave higher.

The degrees of G major, 1st to 8th

Worked example: find a degree

Which note is the 6th degree of F major?

Write out the scale from F: F, G, A, B flat, C, D.
Count them: F is the 1st, so the 6th is D.

Tip: always start counting from the first note of the scale as 1, not 0.

Practise this: 6 questions, about 4 min

Answering from memory soon after reading is what makes it stick, so now is a good time.

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