In other words, whenever you come across those specific notes that are listed in the key signature, you’ll play them sharp or flat as the key signature dictates. I’ll cover more on the alphabetic representation of notes in just a moment. So, what does a key signature actually do? It tells us throughout the music whether one or more of the alphabetic notes in music are to be raised or lowered (depending whether there are sharps or flats in the key signature). The reason for not doing so is just a matter maintaining consistency in your understanding of music and avoiding confusion when communicating with other musicians. It’s either specificallysharps or specifically flats period.Īs a side note, it’s very important to understand that you never mix sharps or flats as it refers to a key of music. They never contain a mix of sharps and flats. Regardless of whether they contain sharps or flats, they’re always in the same order and maintain the exact same sharps or flats always without exception. Especially in the context of reading a simple lead sheet as many professional musicians do.Ī key signature is a specific sequence of sharps or flats placed on a musical staff to the very right of the treble clef. So what exactly does this mean in terms of musical information in respect to a specific key? It wouldn’t be very useful without a key signature. One semi-tone is also referred to as a half step. To sharp a note means to raise it higher in pitch by one semi-tone. But for our purposes, it’s simply referred to as a sharp. This can mean an accidental or a very small musical interval. Sharps are known in western music as a “diesis” a Greek term which means difference in music. Let’s talk about how to learn the order of sharps in music.

Flats sharps order