Best way to memorize key signatures?

[Scottgun]

Don't make flash cards or mnemonics. Just PLAY the darn things. Go through the circle of fourths in order. Start on C, then figure in your head what the fourth of that is, and you know that that has one flat. Play that. Figure out the fourth. Play it. Do this as many times as it takes until you can easily identify key or signature, and play it. Then, play them in random orders just to make sure, until you can instantly spit it out. It is NOT that hard, except in the beginning, but it goes much faster than you'd think.
After 7 years of playing and reading music on a regular basis, I still could never identify a key by number of flats or name until my teacher forced me to do this.

If you've done that, congratulations, you're miles ahead of the vast majority of all musicians, and well on your way to becoming someone who knows what they're doing.

And of course once you've done that with major keys, move on to minors, and mix in majors, too, to keep in practice.

+1 When I went through theory, there was the whole memorizing-the-keys thing. It ended up being useless busy work. What was useful was pulling apart intervals, chords and scales and putting them back together to see how they worked.

 

[dtiii]

For me it's best to consider key signatures as part of a greater system called the Circle of 5ths, which is made up of two subsystems called the Cycle of Ascending 5ths (sharp keys) and the Cycle of Descending 5ths (flat keys). This perspective preserves the symmetry mentioned above by viewing C/a (C major/ a minor) as the axis that joins the two subsystems. This is why you typically see the greater system shown as a diagram in the shape of a circle - sharp keys moving clockwise, flat keys moving counterclockwise. (Theoretically they keep 'spinning out' employing double, triple, etc... accidentals). The circle also reveals the overlap of the enharmonic keys - major being B/Cb, F#/Gb, and C#/Db; minor being g#/ab, d#/eb, and a#/bb.

C/a
F/d------------G/e

Bb/g----------------------D/b

Eb/c-----------------------------A/f#

Ab/f-----------------------E/c#
Db/bb----Gb/eb----Cb/ab
C#/a#----F#/d#----B/g#
​

I committed them to memory by doing the following:
1) writing them out in staff notation - Not only do you get the accidentals in the order of the system, but you also get to see that it is a progressive system that unfolds with each 'next' key.
2) playing scales/chords through the circle in each direction in order, spelling as I play
3) studying notated music

Over time you will discover the relationships and cross relationships contained within the system, which will serve to deepen your understanding. It really is a marvelous system.

 

[SurferJoe46]

Subscribed so I can find this again! Great stuff!

 

[the_hook]

Very valuable info dtiii. awesome.