What is the Circle of 5ths ? Part #2 How it works!

If you are just getting on this wild ride now, you may want to review the last Post, "What is the Circle of 5ths? Part #1: the Key to Flats & Sharps" for the back story and it may clarify some terminology. If you already know the Key to Flats & Sharps - as in What those words Mean ?
Rock on with your bad self and follow along here :)

This Post is going to focus on Navigating the Circle of 5ths.
So get ready to travel!
We are going to cruise around the circle of 5ths,
Create a mnemonic device to help us along and
Then draw a picture of our travels
And you thought Music Theory was stagnant and dull!


We left off saying that the Circle of 5ths was simply a tool & a pretty picture to help us learn how many sharps or flats are in a Major key.
(there are also minor keys, but let's play with them in a different post)
**Please note all references in this post refer to Major keys**

Some of the many reasons why we want to know this include….
This helps us to transpose music quickly when we play, modulate keys easily when we write, immediately understand how many sharps or flats are in a given key when we jam, etc, etc ….

Here is your lovely picture of the Circle of 5ths



**picture courtesy of Folkblues.net

We call it a circle of 5ths because
Each key in the circle is 5 steps away from the previous key
Note that
We Move Clockwise for Sharps
We Move Counter-Clockwise for Flats

“Let’s start at the very beginning, the very best place to place to start…. When you read you begin with A,B,C”
There are 8 basic notes in the musical alphabet and they repeat over and over again.
A, B, C, D, E, F, G - after G we GO back to A
(the G in Go is our reminder to GO back to A!)

Going Clockwise from C we are adding Sharps and moving Upwards in our scale (sharp objects make you jump up and say Ow!)
Going Counter Clockwise we are adding Flats and moving Backwards in our scale (when things fall down they get kinda crazy!)


C Lives at the top of our circle. (see illustration)
He lives alone. No roommates.
He C's things in a simple way and usually avoids both Sharp objects & falling Flat from Tequila.
Why am I telling you this?
C MAJOR IS THE ONLY MAJOR KEY WITH NO SHARPS OR FLATS ☺
Commit That One Little Fact to Memory
C MAJOR IS THE ONLY MAJOR KEY WITH NO SHARPS OR FLATS ☺
C MAJOR IS THE ONLY MAJOR KEY WITH NO SHARPS OR FLATS ☺
C MAJOR IS THE ONLY MAJOR KEY WITH NO SHARPS OR FLATS ☺
Done!



But sometimes …..
His friend Sharp comes by and they will go out for a night on the town.
They always travel Clockwise
There are 5 steps between each stop they make
At each place they pick up a new friend

How does this relate to our Circle of 5ths?
The SHARP keys are listed as we move clockwise around the circle
Each Key is 5 notes away from the one before it
As we travel, we pick up a new sharp for each new key


How do we find OUR way around the circle?

1. Let us use the Musical Alphabet as our Map
Remember?
A B C D E F G (GO back to A)

2. Remember we are talking 5ths!
So we start with C and count up 5 notes because as we add sharps each key is 5 steps away from the previous key

3. Directions?
Let your fingers serve as your a high-tech GPS device
(I am serious here!) Start by counting on your fingers & you won’t get lost!


So, thumb on C,
Pointer finger on D,
Middle finger on E,
Ring finger on F
Pinky on G
VOILA! you have now determined your next key which is the key of G!
C * D * E * F *G The Key of G
G is the key with ONE Sharp

Back to your fingers
So, thumb on G
Pointer finger on A
Middle finger on B
Ring finger on C
Pinky on D

G * A * B * C * D The Key of D
D is the key with Two Sharps
I'll leave the GPS to you and just continue ...

D * E * F * G * A
A is the key with Three Sharps
A * B * C * D * E
E is the Key with Four Sharps
E * F * G * A * B
B is the Key with Five Sharps
B * C * D * E * F
F# is the Key with Six Sharps (I'll explain the Sharp / # in the next post)

So, we now know
G, D, A, E, B, F# are the keys in the world of sharps
As we progress in the circle, we add a new sharp

How do we remember the order of the keys?
By making this even more fun - Mnemonic Device here we come!

G D A E B F#
Girls Don't Always E-mail Boys First
Gin Definitely Awakens Every Bad Flirt
Greedy Dogs Always Eat Bones Fast
OR Invent your Own!


Now for the Flat portion of the evening
Usually C and Sharp don’t invite him to join them for 3 reasons

1. He likes to stop at different places. In other words?
The Key names are different for flats

2. He travels backwards around town.
In other words?
The Flats are listed as we move Counter-Clockwise around the circle.

3. He Jumps around a lot and can be downer to follow.
In other words?
We can actually travel in 2 directions to determine our next Flat key
More on that in a minute

Why am I gossiping about Flat?
In the circle of 5ths, the Flats are listed on the left side moving Counter-Clockwise from C
We can calculate them by moving a Fourth UP OR a Fifth DOWN
(told ya, that flat guy can be a downer….)
SO, When we travel with Flat we have TWO Choices
Because? A FIFTH GOING DOWN IS THE SAME DISTANCE AS A FOURTH GOING UP
Check it out

Choice #1
YOU Can Count FOUR Notes UP from C
C D E F G A B
Same as did when counting our Sharps But for Flats we count Four UP!
Flat drank Four tequilas straight UP!

Back to Your Fingers
Thumb on C
Pointer on D
Middle Finger on E
Ring Finger on F
C * D * E * F
F is your key with one flat

Back to Your Fingers
Thumb on F
Pointer on G
Middle Finger on A
Ring Finger on B

From here on out when you are counting you add a flat / b to the key name (stick with me)
F * G * A * Bb
Bb is your key with 2 flats
Bb * C * D * Eb
Eb is your key with 3 flats
Eb * F * G * Ab
Ab is your key with 4 flats
Ab * Bb * C * Db
Db is your key with 5 flats
Db * Eb * F * Gb
Gb is your key with 6 flats


Choice #2
When things fall flat often life begins to feel backwards....
Start by counting backwards from C

Let's think of our musical alphabet as going down
(down, flat out, he's free falling from the tequila)
C B A G F E D
(D? DON'T forget to go back to C)

So, thumb on C, Pointer finger on B, Middle finger on A, Ring finger on G and Pinky on F
VOILA! you have now determined your next key which is the key of F!
C * B * A * G * F
F is the key with ONE Flat

Thumb on F, Pointer finger on E, Middle finger on D, Ring finger on C and Pinky on B
VOILA! You have now determined your next key which is the key of Bb!
REMEMBER: From here on out when you are counting you add a flat / b to the key name (stick with me)
F * E * D * C * Bb
Bb is your key with 2 flats


From here on, use your own GPS aka fingers….
Bb * A * G * F * Eb
Eb is your key with 3 flats
Eb * D * C * Bb * Ab
Ab is your key with 4 flats
Ab * G * F * Eb * Db
Db is your key with 5 flats
Db * C * Bb * Ab * Gb
Gb is your key with 6 flats




Now it’s time for our mnuemonic devices!
F Bb Eb Ab Db Gb

Fred Buys Expensive Armani Designer Glasses (or G-strings?)
Funky Baboons Eat Almond Date Granola
Four Bad Elephants Are Dangerously Gambling
Funny Blue Elves Adore Dandelion Gardening
OR invent your own!


So we figured out why we call it a circle of 5ths
Each key in the circle is 5 steps away from the previous key
5 steps higher for sharps
And
5 steps lower for flats which is the same note as 4 steps higher



Next Post will explain WHICH sharps and flats exist in each key

So, even in my world that's a lot of information! We will continue in the next posts with which Sharps / Flats live in each key
Here is a tip to learn
1. Take 5 minutes NOW to draw out the circle yourself
(use your GPS aka fingers and then compare it to the picture)
2. Hang it on the bathroom mirror and stare at it for a few minutes a day as you brush your teeth
3. Make some notes on it that might help YOU remember it more easily, my mnemonic devices, 4 letter words, your favorite things... JUST DO IT.
I promise if you hang it up and read thru it twice a day as you brush your teeth In less than a week, you will have it memorized asap!
(As long as you do brush at least twice a day -lol!)

Who knew I'd also be promoting good dental hygiene!?!?
So, That's all for today my darlings!
Til next time, (be sure to floss too)
XO and sweet dreams

What is the Circle of 5ths? Part #1: the Key to Flats & Sharps

"You spin me Right Round baby, Right Round Like...."
THE CIRCLE OF 5THS!
I am so happy this question came in this week! "What is the Circle of 5ths? And Why is it useful?"
Thanks CK in Nyc :) Why am I excited? Well, because it is one of the most frequently asked questions. Keep reading and I"ll explain.... Also, I want to note that this is sort of an in depth topic and may take a few posts.

The Circle is 5ths is essentially a music term and a cute little diagram for a technique that helps us figure out how many flats or sharps are in a key of music.
(Specifically, what we call a Major key - there are also minor keys, but that's a whole different house!)

WHY is it important? Once we know this handy tool, we have the ability to instantly figure out the notes we are supposed to play in a song, scale & what's going on if someone calls out, "Blues in the key of A!"

Sharp? Flat? Key?
I am going to back up here and begin with some basics of what the heck THOSE mean! A lot of you may already know, but I want to make sure we are all on the same page (of music, of course!) before I continue.

What does Sharp mean? ah.... like scissors, um "an object that has a cutting edge or fine point used for cutting or piercing" That's what dear Mirriam Webster has to say about it and we all know THAT!
But in music terminology it is a symbol that looks like this # (number sign)
Why it is important? It takes a note and RAISES the tone by half a step. That's it!
I think of it this way: if someone takes a sharp object & gently pokes you with it - Ow!! and You are bound to jump UP
Similarly a Sharp jumps our note Up a tiny bit and raises the pitch; ie: A to A#

What does Flat mean? ah..... remember the last time you drank too much tequila and ended up Flat on the floor? Yeah, people tend to fall down when that happens or they are stuck Flat out in bed for the next day (or several....)
The flat symbol looks like a lower case b (in a written music it's angled a tiny bit to the left)
If you drink too much tequila you end up down and out! And it will knock ya down a tiny bit Flat.
In contrast to a Sharp, a Flat LOWERS a given note by half a step. That's it! ie: A to Ab

Now that's out of the way ....
What does one mean when they say a KEY of music ?
There are 12 Major Scales
There are 12 keys of music
Why ? They correspond to the 12 major scales.

Each scale has a different number of flats or sharps
The KEY you are in playing corresponds to the SCALE of the SAME name.
Ex: Key of A Major equals the A Major scale meaning the Key of A major will have the same notes as the A Major scale
Ah.... The KEY opens up the door to the house where the song lives by showing us how many sharps or flats
reside there. Cool!
In essence, The word Key is simply music terminology to let us know in One Letter what specific flats or sharps to play in the given piece of music. The Letter? is simply the name of the scale!

Ok, Now that we have clarified Sharps, Flats and Keys
Question: Why did the the Music Note go to the bar ?
Answer: Because someone poked him with a Sharp object & after jumping Up out of his skin, his nerves were frazzled and he needed to calm down. Unfortunately? He then he drank too much tequila and fell Flat on the floor.
It is important to remember to get Flats keys when he drinks too much Tequila so that he doesn't drive home. So
you can call his friend, The Circle of 5ths!
Then IF we actually expect Mr, Flat to find the keys to his apt after all of that tequila perhaps a Mnemonic Device will help.... (more on that in a sec)

Seriously?
How does all of this nonsense relate to our his dear friend, the Circle of 5ths?
Quite simply the Circle of 5ths is THE TOOL or METHOD that helps us quickly determine what specific sharps or flats are in a given key.
We can even make our own Mnemonic Device to help us remember it!

(I swar it's harder to spell the word Mnemonic than it is to write this post!!!) An example of a Mnemonic device is...
Roy. G. Biv (which coincidentally is a song on my last CD!) represents the colors of the rainbow
Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo & Violet. (coincidentally it also represents the colors of our chakras in ascending order from the base of the spine to the top of the head) And you thought Music Theory was No Fun!?!?

I'm going to end this post here for now. Next post will be all about the fun of playing with Mnemonic devices to understand the Circle of 5ths so that we can play the correct flats and sharps.
OH, why is this useful to know? Once you learn the circle of 5ths? You have the ability to know Immediately which sharps or flats to play in a piece of music or if somebody calls out a key in a jam session, or if you see a chart in a specific key
Wow!

A Pitch By The Same Name, Might Not Sound the Same...

Well, the actual question was "Ok, so explain A 440?" asked by a dear yoga colleague, I think she was just trying to be sassy (she's a Berklee grad!), but nonetheless, it's sort of an interesting story.....

A 440 is the frequency & pitch of the note A. More specifically it's the tone our ears hear when an instrument plays the note A above Middle C. (we can get to middle C later, just know that if you look at a piano this very special A is located 6 white keys above the middle C)

There was actually a time when if I played an A in Vienna (so Bach of me) it would vary slightly in pitch to the same A in Florence! This variation could even happen in the same city because people had no Standard Reference for determining the Exact pitch of a note. So eventually we decided upon the idea of a Standard Tuning and assigned the specific frequency of 440 Hz to the note A.
And It wasn't until the 20th century that people Standardized Pitch! ie: agreed on the frequency that made the A on one instrument sound exactly like the A on another instrument.
(certain instruments are tuned differently but that's a whole other story)

*Note that prior to this A 440 business, ensembles would choose one instrument (usually the organ) in the group for the reference pitch so that everyone could play happily in harmony.

Standard Pitch is also known as Concert Pitch. That pretty note the Orchestra plays before they perform? You are hearing them tune to the note A 440! And it's now also pretty much standardized in the making of instruments. Ah -it sounds oh so lovely.


BUT WHAT DOES 440 MEAN?
440 refers to the oscillations per second. In other words each note we play has a certain vibration aka frequency -
Every sound wave vibrates at a specific number of cycles per second. We have standardized A to vibrate at 440 cycles per second. You will often see Hz after 440. The Hz is short for Hertz which is an international unit (like meters or kilos) that means the frequency or oscillations/ cycles per second of the sound wave.

WHO DECIDED THAT A WOULD EQUAL 440?
Well, we now know why we had to standardize pitch and what the 440 is all about
A brief history as to Whom is responsible for this ingenuity.....

Between the years 1495-1812 historians can prove as many as THIRTEEN different Hz for that little note A. Some say there were even more - Things were getting a little crazy! (the ranges varied from 394 - 489 - yikes!)

Somewhere in there, 1711, to be exact, the tuning fork was invented, still no one really cared. As long as the ensemble was in tune with each other, everyone was happy

It wasn't until 1834 when someone said, "Can we just make A = 440" and be done with this?
The A 440 was chosen based on the scientific research of some smart physicists in Germany

But still, most of the concert halls and opera houses were using a higher pitch standard. Then? the singers started to complain (maybe that's why they get a bad rap...) because having the note A at a slightly higher frequency was reportedly creating vocal strain. So, France & Vienna they agreed upon A 435. yay!
But wait you said 440?
In addition to the physicists research, 440Hz was also based upon the tuning of A to the organ at the Queens Hall in Britain around 1896.
The actual tuning was at 439, but they rounded it to 440 to make life easier; ie: a more round number
In 1939 an international conference made an official recommendation for everyone to agree on A 440
Finally A 440 was deemed officially official in 1955 by the International Organization for Standardization and re-affirmed by all in 1975.

THANKS for your question K. H. - hope that answers it!

Does that answer your question? Got Another?
CLICK HERE

Calling all Rock Stars, Savvy Songwriters, Jazz Cats, Folky Fingers, CountryMen, Blues Divas, Classical Kids and Favorite Fans.....

Welcome!
My name is Meredith Blis Sincoff – I am a pianist, songwriter, and vocalist – probably not a musical genius, but most definitely, a music theory nerd.
I decided to start this Blog Site for a few reasons

1. It gives me a chance to prattle about music theory and I like to do that. (we’ve already established that I am a nerd)

2. I have spent many years playing in, hanging out at and even booking music venues
Along the way, as you would imagine, I have met many many brilliant, talented musicians. Often the topic of music arises in conversation (imagine that!) and what I often see are people who are highly proficient on their instrument, they can play wonderfully, & some are even commercially very successful, BUT they still have some unanswered questions regarding the hows and whys certain things in music work & exist (or don't!).

3. I am awed by those gifted musicians who have never even picked up a book or studied formally!! I have seen firsthand, how one little answer can help open a completely new world of musical possibilities, increase confidence, and amplify (pardon the bad pun!) their innate musical talent.

4. I have also seen incredible musicians who are classically trained – they have a very high level of sight-reading ability and a vast knowledge of complex classical literature, however, they are unable to understand chords, charts and pop song structure.

One of my favorite stories here, is that when I was in the extension division of The Juilliard School studying composition and theory, a friend from class came to one of my live ‘pop’ performances. After the show she asked me for the music to one of the cover songs I had played. The next week in class I brought her the ‘chart’ -
(music slang for a chord chart - a piece of music that contains only chords/chord symbols listed, sometimes a chart will also have lyrics or actual music note notation for the melody, in this case it didn't, Just chords!)
She looked at me quizzically and asked “ where are the notes?”
This woman could have played rings around me any day of the week on the piano, but after 15 years at her craft, she had never seen a chord chart. We were both trained musicians, but in some areas, we spoke a different vocabulary.

It's like taking 2 chefs - one runs a chicest cafe in Soho, NYC and the other runs the most popular BBQ joint in all of Mississippi. Both Serve Fabulous Food, but they cook it up a different way

Different Skills are relevant for Different Genres (or Kitchens!)

OR maybe you're just beginning your Rock Star Journey, thinking about playing or recently started learning an instrument ?
Well, you've picked a good place to start!

No path for musicians is more correct than another -
it’s just a matter of filling in the blanks that our training & experience have left open. In an ideal world we know it all, but the important thing is to focus on the elements that will help us to grow & achieve on our own personal path. Different styles of music require different knowledge. We learn from what we use and from what we are exposed to. But sometimes we want answers, and it's important to fill in those blanks so that we can continue to excel at our craft.

That's where I come In! Yay!
My goal here is to fill in those ‘blanks,' to help other musicians excel at their craft and to debunk some myths…

Music Theory IS in everyone’s ability to learn and apply –
It is NOT some ancient secret that requires initiation, torture, struggle to learn and a lifetime journey to find the ‘Holy Grail’
The main problem that I have seen is that a lot of the available texts are very confusing, they are presented in a very intellectual manner with no practical application. Or we have encountered some scary person in our past who has made it appear that theory is so complex it is way beyond the grasp of the average human being. BULLSHORTS!

Also, lest we forget our Fans and Friends, you are often the most important members of the band :) YOU are the ones who come to shows, buy CD's & give us the courage to keep at it. So... after listening to all of our music & music career drama, might there be SOMETHING you are also curious about?.......

So, bring it on! Ask a Question and allow me (to attempt!!) to present concepts in the clearest possible format. And yes, I will purposely give credence to sophomoric tricks and anecdotes because, in my teaching experience – They Work! And there is no reason for anyone to feel that one must be on some high horse in order to learn.
The one stipulation is don't be Afraid to Click here & ASK THE QUESTION

Enjoy the bad humor along the way, because that's how I roll and it just doesn’t have to be boring! When you are finished,
my hope is that you will agree with me Music Theory is Fun. Maybe just a little bit? And it might just make you a better musician :)
Love, Meredith Blis
Click And ASK ME HERE!!!!!!!