The Circle Of Fifths is one of the most fundamental of music theory concepts that is necessary to understand as a musician. That being said, it is infamous for being confusing and difficult to understand for beginner musicians. Here is a quick explanation to help you get a better grasp on the circle of fifths. The Circle Of Fifths is used to help us, as musicians, understand what notes to group together into keys, and how each of those keys relate to each other. On the outside of the circle, we write major keys, and on the inside of the circle, are the relative minor keys. The first key, which is always written at the top of the circle, is C. The key of C major has no sharps or flats in its key signature. This means that all the notes in the C major scale are natural notes. Then, as you go around the right side of the circle, you add new keys in fifths. This means you start at the previous note, and count 5 notes up. This makes the next key to the right, G major. You can continue adding keys this way until you get to the bottom of the circle. When adding keys to the left side of the circle, you have to count in fourths, instead of fifths. This makes the first key on the left side of the circle, F major. Once you've written all they keys in the circle, you can start to think about the key signatures in each key. We already know that the key of C has no sharps or flats. As you go clockwise around the circle, each new key to the right of C has one new sharp added, and as you go counterclockwise, a new flat is added to each key. You can use the mnemonic "Fat Cows Go Down And Eat Breakfast" to remember the order of the sharps (FCGDAEB), and the order of the flats is "BEADGCF", which is the order of the sharps backwards. So, as you add sharps or flats to the keys around the Circle Of Fifths, you should always add them in the sequence I mentioned before. For example, the first sharp key is G major. Since it's the first key after C, we know that it only has one sharp. Since it only has one sharp, it must be the first sharp in the series, which is F#. The next key on the sharps side is D major. Since it's the second key after C on the circle, it has two sharps. Those two sharps have to be the first two sharps in the order, so they are F# and C#. The flats work the same way, but with the order of that flats, which is BEADGCF. The only other thing left is to discuss are the minor keys. On the inside of the circle, you can put minor keys adjacent to their relative major key. Relative minor keys have the same key signature, but start on a different note from their relative major key. The relative minor of C major is A minor. You can continue adding minor keys around the inside of the circle in the same way you added them to the outside: in fifths on the right side of the circle, and in fourths on the left side of the circle. This can be a confusing topic at first, and it's normal to take a little bit of time to really get the hang of. Once you really start to understand how this works, it will open up your knowledge of music theory, and then directly help you improve as a musician.
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Alani SugarAlani Sugar is a young fiddle and mandolin player from Maryland. She has been involved in the region's music scene since she was 15 years old, and has the attention of musicians and music lovers alike in the area. She currently works as a professional musician and teaches fiddle and mandolin lessons online via Skype Archives
January 2024
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