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In Western musical notation, a key signature is a set of sharp (♯), flat (♭), or rarely, natural (♮) symbols placed on the staff at the beginning of a section of music. The initial key signature in a piece is placed immediately after the clef at the beginning of the first line.
The flat symbol lowers the pitch of a note by one semitone. Sharp The sharp symbol raises the pitch of a note by one semitone. Natural A natural cancels a sharp or flat. This sharp or flat may have been indicated as an accidental or defined by the key signature. Double flat A double flat lowers the pitch of a note by two semitones. Double sharp
For example, a piece in E minor will have one sharp in its key signature because the E natural minor scale has one sharp (F ♯). Major and minor keys that share the same key signature are relative to each other. For instance, F major is the relative major of D minor since both have key signatures with one flat.
Similarly, a sharp sign raises the pitch by one semitone. For example, a sharp on the note D would raise it to D♯ while a flat would lower it to D♭. Double sharps and double flats are less common, but they are used. A double sharp is placed before a note to make it two semitones higher, a double flat - two semitones lower.
One or "a" (indefinite article), as exemplified in the following entries un poco or un peu (Fr.) A little una corda One string (i.e., in piano music, depressing the soft pedal, which alters and reduces the volume of the sound). For most notes in modern pianos, this results in the hammer striking two strings rather than three.
The sharp symbol is used in key signatures or as an accidental applied to a single note. The staff below has a key signature with three sharps (A major or its relative minor, F ♯ minor). The sharp symbol placed on the note indicates that it is an A ♯ instead of an A ♮.
Methods that establish the key for a particular piece can be complicated to explain and vary over music history. [citation needed] However, the chords most often used in a piece in a particular key are those that contain the notes in the corresponding scale, and conventional progressions of these chords, particularly cadences, orient the listener around the tonic.
When a musical key or key signature is referred to in a language other than English, that language may use the usual notation used in English (namely the letters A to G, along with translations of the words sharp, flat, major and minor in that language): languages which use the English system include Irish, Welsh, Hindi, Japanese (based on katakana in iroha order), Korean (based on hangul in ...