The Circle of Fifths 2.5 2002/09/26 2003/12/03 15:15:59.212 US/Central Catherine A. Schmidt-Jones casjones@soltec.net Catherine A. Schmidt-Jones casjones@soltec.net fifths key signature related keys sharps flats major keys minor keys Picturing a circle of fifths can help you identify key signatures, find related keys, and remember the order of sharps and flats in key signatures. The circle of fifths is a way to arrange keys to show how closely they are related to each other.

Circle of Fifths Major keys are red, minor keys blue. Key signatures are green. In theory, one could continue around the circle adding flats or sharps (so that B major is also C flat major, with seven flats, E major is also F flat major, with 6 flats and a double flat, and so on), but in practice such key signatures are very rare.

Keys are not considered closely related to each other if they are near each other in the chromatic scale (or on a keyboard). What makes two keys "closely related" is having similar key signatures. So the most closely related key to C major, for example, is A minor, since they have the same key signature (no sharps and no flats). This puts them in the same "pie slice" in the circle of fifths. The next most closely related keys to C major would be G major (or E minor), with one sharp, and F major (or D minor), with only one flat. The keys that are most distant from C major, with six sharps or six flats, are on the opposite side of the circle. The circle of fifths gets its name from the fact that as you go from one pie slice to the next in the circle, you are going up or down by an interval of a perfect fifth. If you go up a perfect fifth, you get the key that has one more sharp or one less flat; if you go down a perfect fifth, you get the key that has one more flat or one less sharp. The key of D major has two sharps. Using the circle of fifths, we find that the most closely related major keys (one in each direction) are G major, with only one sharp, and A major, with three sharps. The relative minors of all of these keys (B minor, E minor, and F sharp minor) are also closely related to D major. What are the keys most closely related to E flat major? To A minor? E flat major (3 flats): B flat major (2 flats) A flat major (4 flats) C minor (3 flats) G minor (2 flats) F minor (4 flats) A minor (no sharps or flats): E minor (1 sharp) D minor (1 flat) C major (no sharps or flats) G major (1 sharp) F major (1 flat) Name the major and minor keys for each key signature.

D major or B minor; B major or G sharp minor; B flat major or G minor; G flat major or E flat minor.

If you do not know the order of the sharps and flats, you can also use the circle of fifths to find these. The first sharp in a key signature is always F sharp; the second sharp in a key signature is always (a perfect fifth away) C sharp; the third is always G sharp, and so on, all the way to B sharp. The first flat in a key signature is always B flat (the same as the last sharp); the second is always E flat, and so on, all the way to F flat. Notice that, just as with the key signatures, you add sharps or subtract flats as you go clockwise around the circle, and add flats or subtract sharps as you go counterclockwise.

Adding Sharps and Flats to the Key Signature Each sharp and flat that is added to a key signature is also a perfect fifth away from the last sharp or flat that was added.

Figure 1 shows that D major has 2 sharps; figure 2 shows that they are F sharp and C sharp. After D major, name the next four sharp keys, and name the sharp that is added with each key. A major adds G sharp E major adds D sharp B major adds A sharp F sharp major adds E sharp

E minor is the first sharp minor key; the first sharp added in both major and minor keys is always F sharp. Name the next three sharp minor keys, and the sharp that is added in each key. B minor adds C sharp F sharp minor adds G sharp C sharp minor adds D sharp

After B flat major, name the next four flat keys, and name the flat that is added with each key. E flat major adds A flat A flat major adds D flat D flat major adds G flat G flat major adds C flat