- Hi,
and welcome to this circle of fifths quiz.
Now, if you don't know what
the circle of fifths is,
you perhaps need to look at
one of our other free videos
out there on YouTube,
which explains the whole
thing and what it's all about.
But I think the circle
of fifths is wonderful,
because it really is literally the key
to the whole musical system,
when it comes to talking about keys.
So, quick reminder on what
the circle of fifths is about,
and then we're going
to have a little quiz.
So, if you want to know more about
the detailed construction,
have a look at the other video first,
but let me quickly run through it.
Three circles on the board,
and I'm not the best artist in the world,
so if it's not quite
circles, please forgive me.
More sort of oval-ish really, isn't it,
but there we are.
And we start with major
keys in this middle ring.
So those that are put in
black are the major keys.
The minor keys that
relate to those major keys
are in the inner circle,
and I've put those in green
in brackets.
Don't worry about the
brackets or the colours,
it's just one way of doing it
just to make sure you don't
get the circles muddled up.
And in the outer circle, in the red,
we're given the key signatures
for each of these keys.
So in other words, if I'm in C major,
I've got no sharps no flats.
If I'm in G major I need F-sharp.
If I'm in D major I need
F-sharp and C-sharp,
and so on.
And these things here are
called the relative minors,
because for example, E
minor is related to G major.
Or F minor is related to A-flat major.
They're related because they
share the same key signature.
So in other words, A-flat
major uses B-flat, E-flat,
A-flat, and D-flat in the key signature,
but so does F minor.
So, that's just a quick recap
on how the circle of fifths works,
and to construct it and know
all the ins and outs as I say,
it's on the other video
that we've got out there,
which is just about explaining
the circle of fifths,
how to construct it, what it all does.
But this is a quiz, that you
might find it rather fun to do,
just to see if you've really grasped
how the circle of fifths can help you.
So I've got ten questions.
And it's ten points a question,
and then you can see what your
final percentage result is.
Question one, which major
key has four sharps?
So which major key has four
sharps in its key signature?
You might want to just write
these down somewhere for now.
Question two, which minor
key has three flats?
Which minor key has three flats?
Question three, which key is
the relative minor of A major?
Which key is the relative
minor of A major?
Question four,
which key is the relative
major of B-flat minor?
Which key is the relative
major of B-flat minor?
Question five, what is the
key signature of A-flat major,
in the order in which you would expect
to see the key signature written?
So in other words, don't just
put the flats or the sharps
in any old order.
Put them in the correct order.
What is the key signature of A-flat major,
in the order that you
would expect to see it
in the key signature?
Question six, why is F-sharp
minor on the circle of fifths,
which is over here,
why is it F-sharp minor, and not F minor?
You know, that was A
minor, E minor, B minor.
Why not F minor?
Why is it F-sharp minor?
Question seven, how do you
calculate relative minor keys
from each major key?
How do you calculate relative minor keys
from each major key?
Question eight, which degree of the scale,
which note of the scale, the
first, second, third, fourth,
fifth and so on, do we sharpen
for each new sharp major key?
Alright, so when we're
constructing this outer circle,
and we want to put the new
sharp for the next key,
which degree of the scale,
which note of the scale
do we sharpen in order
to find that new sharp
for each major key?
Question nine, which degree
of the scale do we flatten
to find the new flat for each major key?
So when we're looking
for these flats out here,
which degree of the
major scale do we flatten
to find the new flat
for the next major key?
Finally, question ten, and
then I'll reveal the answers.
Question ten, why does
the circle of fifths stop
at C-sharp major and C-flat major?
Because if you're constructing
a circle of fifths,
you could carry on in
fifths, couldn't you?
So why do we stop at C-sharp
major and C-flat major
at the bottom there?
If you want to rewind that,
you could have another go
at any questions that
caused you to ponder there.
When you think you've got the
best answers you can provide,
well, plug back in, and I'm
going to reveal the answers
to those questions.
So remember, it's ten
points for each question.
It's a pretty straight
forward marking system.
If you get it right, you get
ten, if you get it wrong,
you get zero.
So don't think, well I sort
of nearly got it right,
so I'll call that nine and a half.
Basically, it's right or
it's wrong in this quiz.
Okay, question one, which
major key has four sharps?
The answer to that is E major.
Here's E major.
How do I know it's got four sharps?
Well here are the sharps,
one, two, three, four.
And the major key that
points to is E major.
Question two, which minor
key has three flats?
So I'm looking at minor keys
in the green inner circle now.
And we're looking for three flats.
One, two, three.
So the minor key with
three flats is C minor.
Question three, what is the
relative minor of A major?
Well where's A major?
Well the major circle
is this middle circle.
There's A major.
The relative minor key is F-sharp minor.
Okay, so the relative minor
of A major, F-sharp minor.
Okay, what's the relative
major key of B-flat minor?
So we're now at question four.
Where's B-flat minor?
Here it is in the green,
in the inner circle,
and the relative major is D-flat major.
Relative because both of those
keys have this key signature,
B-flat, E-flat, A-flat, D-flat, G-flat.
Question five, what is the
key signature of A-flat major
in the order that you would
expect to see the key signature?
Okay, well where's A-flat major?
Here it is,
it's in that middle circle
in the black, isn't it.
And so what's they key
signature going to be?
B-flat, E-flat, A-flat,
and D-flat, in that order.
This is one of the important things.
The circle of fifths gives you the order
in which to put the key signature.
So, B-flat's always first,
because it's the first flat we meet.
E-flat's always second.
A-flat's always third.
D-flat's always fourth.
And so on.
Okay, question six, why is
F-sharp minor, F-sharp minor,
and not just F minor?
You know?
A minor, E minor, B minor, F minor.
Why is it F-sharp minor?
Well it's partly because
in the circle of fifths,
we're going up a fifth each time.
We're not going up any old fifth,
we're going up a perfect fifth.
So if you know about your intervals,
you'll know a perfect
fifth above B is F-sharp.
Another much easier way of
doing this is as follows,
from G major onwards,
we said that F is sharp.
So it's not just G major,
it's all the keys from that point onwards,
if they have an F in the,
the F will be F-sharp.
So we can't really have F minor here,
because here we said that from now on
all the F's are going to be sharp.
So it has to be F-sharp minor, doesn't it?
In the same way that this
has to be C-sharp minor,
because we had a C-sharp introduced there.
So that's why it's F-sharp
minor, and not F minor.
Okay, question seven,
how do you calculate relative minor keys
from each major key?
Well, if you look at each
major key, and then you think,
how do I get to the relative minor?
What you do is you go down three.
So C, B, A.
A minor is the relative minor of C major.
And this is true for all of them.
To be specific, if you're on
the case with your intervals,
the relative minor keys
are always a minor third
below their relative major keys.
Okay, question eight,
which degree of the scale do we sharpen
for each new sharp major key?
So in other words, when we're in G major,
which degree do we have to sharpen?
Well it's the seventh degree.
Because if you're in G major, you're going
one, two, three, four, five, six,
here comes number seven so
I'm going to sharpen it.
F-sharp, G.
And you can hear it sounds right.
If I don't sharpen the F,
doesn't sound quite right, does it?
So I'm sharpening the seventh
degree of the scale each time.
So when I come to D
major, I use the F-sharp,
and I sharpen the seventh
degree of D major.
So I get D, E, F-sharp from here,
G, A, B, here's the
seventh degree, C-sharp, D.
So you see how we're
dealing with that one.
So it's the seventh degree of the scale
that we sharpen each time.
Question nine was which
degree of the scale
do we flatten for each new flat major key?
Well the answer to that is the
fourth degree of the scale.
So let's have a look at F major.
Here's F.
So the notes are F, G, A, B, C, D, E, F
but that B sounds a bit funny, doesn't it?
So the fourth degree is
B, let's call it B-flat.
one, two, three, four,
there's the B-flat.
C, D, E, F.
And the scale works out perfectly.
And of course in the case of major scales,
this is confirming a pattern.
Every major scale goes
tone, tone, semitone,
tone, tone, tone, semitone.
So you'll find that if you
follow the circle of fifths,
it always throws up major keys
going tone, tone, semitone
tone, tone, tone, semitone.
So F major,
tone, tone, semitone,
tone, tone, tone, semitone.
Okay, and the last question, question ten,
why does the circle of
fifths stop at C-sharp major
and C-flat major?
Because you know if we're going
to go down in fifths here,
well we could keep going
couldn't we, you know,
because the next key, a
perfect fifth below C-flat,
would be F-flat major.
Well why don't we have F-flat major?
Or if we're going up in fifths here,
we could say well the
next key on the sharp side
after C-sharp major
would be G-sharp major.
Well, the simple answer to that
is that once we've got to C-sharp major,
everything is sharp, alright.
Every degree of the scale is sharp.
We've got seven sharps.
C-sharp, D-sharp,
E-sharp, F-sharp, G-sharp,
A-sharp, B-sharp, C-sharp.
So if we go beyond that,
we then get into a world of double-sharps.
Perfectly possible to do,
but actually it's sort of sensible
when you're choosing a key,
to try and keep inside
the circle of fifths
so you don't end up with a situation
where you would have to have double-sharps
in your key signature.
That would be a bit crazy, wouldn't it?
And you sort of think, well
actually if I wanted to write
something in G-sharp major,
it would be an awful
lot easier to write it
in A-flat major, wouldn't it.
Because an A-flat major, it goes,
A-flat, B-flat, C, D-flat,
E-flat, F, G, A-flat.
But in G-sharp major, you're getting into
G-sharp, A-sharp,
B-sharp, C-sharp, D-sharp,
E-sharp, F-double-sharp, G-sharp.
And you'd have to have all
that in your key signature.
So that's a bit of a nightmare,
and that's why we don't
go beyond C-sharp major.
The same is true on the flat side,
that C-flat uses every single flat.
So C-flat major is
C-flat, D-flat, E-flat,
F-flat, G-flat, A-flat,
B-flat, C-flat.
So again, if I went on,
I'd end up with a sort of
double-flat scenario before I knew it.
So that's the logic of
why it finishes there.
And interestingly, we
start with C at the top,
no sharps no flats, C-sharp at the bottom,
with everything sharp,
C-flat at the bottom with everything flat.
Well, how did you get on with
the circle of fifths quiz?
If you managed to get 100
percent on that, congratulations.
If you managed to get less than that,
well don't let it worry you,
but it might just flag up areas
of circle of fifths knowledge
that will be worth acquiring.
And I can't emphasise how
important the circle of fifths is
really to any musician.
If you really want to know your
way around all of your keys,
exactly what the key signatures are,
what the relative key is, all that stuff,
then the circle of fifths
is the thing that tells you everything.
There are shortcuts that
people use to try and memorise
the order of events, but
this is the full picture.
And so if you can score
a full house on the quiz,
you know you've got the knowledge
that is really going to empower
what you're doing musically.
So I hope that quiz has gone well for you.
