In a few scores, the F-sharp major key signature in the bass clef is written with the sharp for the A on the top line.
D-sharp minor
D-sharp minor is a minor scale based on D . For the harmonic minor, the C is raised to C. Its key signature has six sharps.
E-flat minor is its enharmonic equivalent. Its relative major is F-sharp major, and its parallel major is D-sharp major. This is usually replaced by E-flat major, because D-sharp major's two double sharps make it impractical to use.
Since D-sharp minor and its enharmonic equivalent both have key signatures of six accidentals, neither one is clearly used instead of the other. For example, using the melodic minor version of D-sharp minor on the harp is very difficult. The B-pedal can be set to the sharp position, but there is no double-sharp position to set the C-pedal at. In Book I of "The Well-Tempered Clavier", Bach chose to write the eighth prelude in E-flat minor but the accompanying fugue in D-sharp minor. (In Book II, Bach wrote both the eighth Prelude and Fugue in D-sharp minor.)
Music written in this key is considered very difficult to read, which means that little music was written mainly in this key in the Classical era. E-flat minor is easier for many brass instruments and woodwinds.
The most famous work in this key is Scriabin's famous Etude Op. 8, No. 12. Russian composer Lyapunov must also have liked the key because he wrote the second etude of his Op. 11 set in the key, and also fifteen years later his Variations on a Russian Theme, Op. 49. His early Piano Concerto No. 1, Op. 4 was also in the enharmonic key of E-flat minor.
In a few scores, 6-sharp key signatures in the bass clef are written with the sharp for the A on the top line. This is not done often, because it is different from the treble clef.
This key is not used often in orchestral music, but is used more in keyboard music. When arranging this piano music for orchestra, some people recommend transposing the music to D minor or E minor. If D-sharp minor must be used, B-flat wind instruments should have their parts written in F minor, rather than E-sharp minor.
A-flat minor
A-flat minor is a minor scale starting on A. Its key signature has seven flats.
Its relative major is C-flat major, and its parallel major is A-flat major. Its enharmonic equivalent is G-sharp minor.
A-flat minor is rarely used as the main key of a piece of music.
More often, pieces in a minor mode that have A as the tonic are written in the enharmonic key, G-sharp minor, because it has a simpler key signature. Because of this, there are few works in A-flat minor.
In some scores, the A minor key signature in the bass clef is written with the flat for the F on the second line from the top.
A-flat minor is also used in Frederick Loewe's score to the 1956 musical play "My Fair Lady"; the Second Servants' Chorus is set in A-flat minor.
Another example of popular music in A-flat minor is Walkin' on the Sun by Smash Mouth.
C-sharp major
C major (or C-sharp major) is a major scale based on C. Its key signature has seven sharps.
Its relative minor is A minor, and its parallel minor is C minor. Its enharmonic equivalent is D major.
When a harp is tuned to C-sharp major, it has all its pedals in the bottom position. Because all the strings are made shorter in this way, it makes it less resonant.
Most composers prefer to use the enharmonic equivalent D-flat major because it has just five flats. However, Johann Sebastian Bach actually chose C-sharp major for Prelude and Fugue No. 3 in both books of the "Well-Tempered Clavier". In Hungarian Rhapsody No. 6, Franz Liszt changes key from D-flat major to C-sharp major near the beginning of the piece. Maurice Ravel used C-sharp major as the tonic key of "Ondine" from his piano suite "Gaspard de la nuit".
Louis Vierne used C-sharp major in the final piece of Messe solennelle.
A-sharp minor
A-sharp minor or A minor is a minor scale based on A-sharp. Its key signature has seven sharps.
Its relative major is C-sharp major. Its parallel major is A-sharp major. This is usually replaced by B-flat major, because A-sharp major's three double sharps in the key signature makes it generally impractical. Exceptions include Chopin's Polonaise-Fantaisie in A-flat major, Op. 61, which has a short passage of about 6 bars actually written in A-sharp major, putting in the necessary double-sharps as accidentals. This is part of a theme in B major, which modulates to A-sharp major for a little while.
A-sharp minor has the enharmonic equivalent of B-flat minor. This is often used in most musical compositions instead of A-sharp minor, because A-sharp minor is not a useful key for compositions and is one of the least used minor keys in music. However, there were some composers in the past that have composed music in this key. Christian Heinrich Rinck wrote his Prelude No. 16 from Op. 15 in A-sharp minor.
F-flat major
F-flat major is a major scale based on F-flat. Its key signature has eight flats.
Its relative minor is D-flat minor, and its parallel minor is F-flat minor, usually replaced by E minor.
Part of Richard Strauss' "Metamorphosen" uses F flat major, which one commentator has called "a bitter enharmonic parody" of the earlier manifestations of E major in the piece.
To make reading and writing music easier, F-flat major is usually written as its enharmonic equivalent of E major.
D-flat minor
D-flat minor is a theoretical key based on the musical note D. Its key signature has seven flats and one double flat.
Because it has so many flats, D minor is usually written as its enharmonic equivalent of C minor. For example, Mahler's thematic motif "der kleine Appell" ("call to order") from his Fourth and Fifth Symphonies is written in D minor in Symphony No.4, but in his Symphony No. 5 it is in C minor. In the "Adagio" of his Symphony No. 9 a solo bassoon theme appears first in D minor, but comes back two more times notated in C minor. The "Adagio" of Bruckner's Symphony No. 8, also has phrases that are tonally in D minor but written as C minor.
G-sharp major
G-sharp major is a major scale based on the musical note G sharp. Its key signature has six sharps and one double sharp.
To make reading easier, G-sharp major is usually written as its enharmonic equivalent of A-flat major. However, it does appear as a secondary key area in several works in sharp keys, for example in the Prelude and Fugue in C sharp major from Bach's Well-Tempered Klavier, Book 1. The G sharp minor Prelude and Fugue from the same set end with a Picardy third in G sharp major.
G sharp major is used for a short time in several of Chopin's nocturnes in C sharp minor.
Flat (music)
In music, flat, or Bemolle, means "lower in pitch." In music notation, flat means "lower in pitch by a semitone (half step)," and has the symbol (). The Unicode character " (U+266D) is the flat sign. Its HTML entity is &#9837;.
Under twelve tone equal temperament, "C flat" is the same as, or enharmonically equivalent to, "B natural", and "G flat" is the same as "F sharp".
Double flats also exist, which look like and lower a note by two semitones, or a whole step. Sometimes you will encounter half or three-quarter flats. The Unicode character '𝄫' 𝄫 (U+1D12B) represents the double flat sign.
A triple flat can be found, but it is very rare. It lowers a note three semitones.
The note "A flat" is shown in musical notation in Figure 1, together with "A double flat".
In tuning, flat can also mean "slightly lower in pitch". If the same note is played on two instruments at the same time, the lower-pitched one is flat compared to the higher-pitched one.
A half flat, showing quarter tones, is sometimes shown with a flat with a slash () or a reversed flat sign. A three-quarter flat is represented by a half flat and a regular flat.
Sharp (music)
In music, sharp, or Diese, means higher in pitch. In musical notation, sharp means "higher in pitch by a semitone (half step)," and looks like this:().