Have you ever wondered what those strange symbols are at the very beginning of each line of music?

Doesn’t it seem a little bit pointless to have them at the beginning of each line? Those symbols are sharps or flats and the collection of those sharps and flats at the beginning of every line is called the key signature.
Have you ever looked a piece of music and noticed that although there are sharp notes and flat notes in nearly every piece of music, you don’t see a lot of them written? Once you get beyond the sharps and flats on the extreme left hand side of the line, they aren’t written in the music so how do musicians know to play certain notes as sharp or flat?

That’s where the key signature comes in.

Here are four rules to remember when learning about key signature:

• A key signature cannot have a mixture of sharps and flats. It has to be one or the other or none at all.

• The sharps and flats are always written in the same order.

• Just because a note is in the key signature doesn’t necessarily mean that you will find it in the actual music.

• If the key signature says that a note is sharp or flat, any note, regardless of octave, will be changed. So if the key signature shows an F#, high F’s, low F’s, or any other F is sharp.

Before we learn how to use the key signature, memorize the order of sharps and the order of flats. The order of the sharps is F,C,G,D,A,E,B. The order of flats is the order of sharps backwards: B,E,A,D,G,C,F. What is this? This is the order, left to right, that the sharps or flats will placed in the key signature.

Now that you have memorized your order of sharps or flats, look at rule #2 above. The sharps and flats are always written in the same order. Let’s say that your key signature has two sharps. You can squint your eyes and look at what lines or spaces those sharps are on or you can remember your order of sharps. If there are two sharps, look at the first two sharps in your order, F and C. This means that every time you come across an F or C in the music, you play them as F# or C#. It’s that easy.

If your key signature has 4 flats, recall the first four flats in your order of flats: B,E,A,D. All of these notes are flat if you have to play them in the music.

What if there are no flats or sharps in the key signature?

That’s not a misprint. That’s allowed as well. This means that all of the notes are natural (white keys on a piano or keyboard) in the piece of music you are about to play unless the composer adds a sharp or flat to a single note in the music.

Make sense? Next time you play a piece of music, take a look at the key signature even if you only read chord symbols or tabs. Knowing which notes are flat can help you decipher some of those complicated chord symbols.

It is very easy to locate the key of a song when there are sharps in the key signature (major keys — we’ll discuss relative minor keys later) simply by locating the last sharp to the right in the key signature in a piece of music and going up one-half step. Watch this short video and your instantly understand:

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When there are flats in the key signature, how do you locate the key of the song? It’s easy. Just count down 4 scale degrees and that is the key. Another way to say it is: the next to the last flat in the key signture IS the key. Watch this short video and you’ll understand:

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When it comes to reading piano sheet music, the first place to start is with the individual elements of the composition itself. Before you can tackle an entire piece, you must be familiar with that particular composition’s language.

The following are steps to consider in reading piano sheet music. These will help you grasp the intent and nuances of the piece quickly.

* Look over the entire composition to get a feel for its length and structure. This first run through is just to have a quick overview of the composer’s work.

* Go through the piece a second time. This second run through is more deliberate. You want to locate any unfamiliar things: notes, chords, articulations and tempo indications. Highlight any of these that you know will require research. Use a music dictionary or other resource to understand these elements.

* Next, consider the time signature of the piece. Are you familiar with it? If not, read up on the specific time signature, as it is a primary characteristic of the song.

* Consider the key signature of the composition. Are you familiar with this key or is it new? If it’s new to you, learn the key’s scale with its attendant sharps or flats to better understand the piece.

* Look for key changes within the song. Does the song remain in the same key throughout? If not, how many times does the key change and what are those new keys? Knowing the changes ahead of time makes playing the piece easier.

* Look for tempo changes in the song and highlight them. Again, familiarizing yourself with tempo changes ahead of time allows you to glide from one section to the next easier.

* Look for common passages. Does a phrase or motif repeat itself further along in the piece? Is there a variation of a basic motif somewhere else in the composition? When you familiarize yourself with the basic one, the variations will be that much easier to understand.

* Next, break the composition up into sections. Highlight difficult passages that will require more practice time.

* Write your own notes at specific places on the sheet music. Write these notes using your own unique markings. The only rule to abide by is – “whatever makes the piece easier for you to read.”

* Play through the piece once, as best you can, without stopping. Even if you have trouble at a certain point, finish the piece. This once over will give you a visual and aural snapshot of the composition.

* Play through the piece again. Stop as needed to make any additional markings in difficult areas.

* Concentrate on just the difficult passages. Look them over again a few times so their structure remains in your mind. Do this before playing them again. This sets the structure in your mind so you can concentrate on the eye-hand coordination. With your eyes familiar with the section, you can now work on your hand movements.

Playing a complete composition with piano sheet music need not be an arduous task. When you tackle its component parts one at a time, the process is much easier. When you learn the individual components and then put them all together, the result is a satisfying musical experience.