circle-of-fifths Archives

The circle of fifths is a visual tool that demonstrates the geometric relationships between the twelve distinct pitches used in western music culture. These pitches can also be classified as members of the chromatic scale.

A circle is an amazing tool to teach and to conceptualize musical ideas that would otherwise be terribly complicated. Before delving into the deeper truths about music that the circle keeps, let’s familiarize ourselves with its inner workings.

First of all, at its core, the circle of fifths is just that. A circle. In the same way, as an analogic clock does with numbers that represent time, the circle of fifths possesses 12 equally distributed pitches ordered by the interval of the perfect fifth, thus cycling through the twelve distinct pitches of the chromatic scale in twelve steps. Each of these notes carries a lot of information within it. Not only do they represent a particular note in the projection of fifths, but they represent different keys.

A musical key is essentially a definite system of relationships between musical sounds that dwells around a particular key center which is always represented by a single note, in a similar way to how the solar system works, with several different planets orbiting around the sun. Every key possesses a unique key signature which, as the name indicates, is its own individual or signature collection of notes. For example, C major contains no accidentals or altered notes, meaning it contains the seven distinct syllables used to name pitches or the total content of the diatonic system, C D E F G A B, thus its key signature contains no sharps or flats, putting on the top part of the circle. Every time we move up or down (clockwise or counterclockwise respectively) the circle, we change the tonal or key center to a new tonic and thus change the key signature. By going up, we add sharps, by going down, flats. Furthermore, each successive fifth adds a single sharp or flat to the previous collection, meaning that the first note to either side of C will contain either one sharp or one flat, the second, two, and so on.

The circle of fifths is also a great resource to explain some of the properties that arise between key centers. Namely the two main relationships, that of relative and parallel keys.

The relative relationship arises between two keys of opposite mode that share the same collection of sounds but poses a different key center or tonic. For example, C major and A minor. To represent this relationship in the circle we produce a second smaller one within the first one.

Parallel keys are those who share the same key center or tonic but poses different collections, for example, C major and C minor. This relationship has a distance of three accidentals and it is represented by using the same color.

Last but definitively not least, the circle of fifths is by far, the best method to picture the distance between keys. These distances refer to the total amount of common tones between two given key centers. The larger the number of fifths that separate two given key centers, the less common notes between them. Yet, when we cycle through the circle in any direction, we eventually return to the original key center, therefore, there must be a turning point somewhere along the circle, a point of furthest detachment from the original key in which the least possible amount of notes are shared. Curiously enough, that point seems to be the exact opposite side of the circle, the bottom key, F# major or its enharmonic equivalent G flat major, a pair of tritone-related keys which have six sharps and flats respectively. Nevertheless, since there are only twelve distinct pitches and each key should have seven, there is no way to have more than 5 different pitches between any two given keys, this is due to the enharmonic principle which declares the idea that musical sounds with a distinct name can sound the same due to the nature of sharps and flats and how they alter the seven basic syllables. For example, the equivalency between C# and D flat, or between E# and F. Therefore, although C# major has seven sharps in its key signature and C major has none, two of the notes in C# major (E# and B#) are enharmonically equivalent to some notes in C major (F and C respectively). Furthermore, both C# major (7 sharps) and C flat major (7 flats) can be simplified to key signatures which are enharmonically equivalent that contains fewer accidentals, namely, D flat major and B major, both containing five accidentals respectively.

In summary, the circle of fifths is a central pedagogical resource for music education. It can be extremely useful to understand the tonal distance between different sections of a piece, to figure out the key signature, and even to learn a thing or two about the enharmonic principle. Yet, it is not limited to the instruction of harmony and basic theory, but it can serve as a starting point for deeper and more complex dwellings into the wonderful and mysterious set of properties and characteristics of the tonal system.

If you are looking for an interactive Circle of Fifths, feel free to check out our Piano Companion for iOS, Android, macOS. Additionally, if you want to learn notes, chords, theory then you can check ChordIQ for iOS, Android.

In our first post we were talking about the names of notes, it’s placement on keyboard, Major scale construction method and how “Piano Companion” application can help you in memorising all these musical things. Today, we are going to discuss how to build a Minor scale using the same method as we used for a Major scale creation. We will also introduce a very handy tool – “Circle of Fifths”.

As you can remember from the previous post (Tutorial 1 – Note Names, Placement and Major Scale), to construct a Major scale we need to know the specific order/pattern of gaps/steps or (in musical terms) “intervals” between notes. You probably already know that these intervals are called “semitones”. The order/pattern for the Major scale is 2-2-1-2-2-2-1 and the easiest way of figuring it out – was counting gaps between white notes on keyboard from “C” to another “C” note. We can apply the same concept to create any Minor scale. We just need to find out which Minor scale has all white keys in it as well. There is a great musical feature in the application, that will help us to do that. If you open the main menu of “Piano Companion” you will see the button “Circle Of Fifths”:

When you press the button, you will be redirected to another screen, where you actually can see the “Circle of Fifths”:

Ok, you all probably have a question in you mind: “How this tool can actually help me to find the key, that I am looking for?”In our case it is A Minor scale, which has all white notes (which has no flats and has no sharps). Please have a look at the circle again:

There are 3 sections in the circle:

Purple section – It represents Major scales.
Peach section – It represents Minor scales.
White section – It represents sharps and flats that each of these key has.

Can you see that a letter “A” is underneath a letter “C”? You can also see that there is a white section underneath both letters “C” and “A”.

Basically, that means that a “C Major scale” has no sharps and flats, as well as “A Minor scale” has no sharps and flats too. This is exactly what we were looking for, isn’t? The same rule applies to other letters of the circle. According to the picture, it’s clearly seen that a “G Major scale” has 1 sharp as well as “E Minor scale” has one sharp too. A “D Major scale” has 2 sharps, whereas a “B Minor scale” has 2 sharps as well and etc. Now you can tell for sure, that a “C Major scale” and “A Minor scale” has all the same notes, only the root note/ starting point is different. These scales are called “Relatives”. So, if you ever want to find out which Minor key has the same amount of sharps or flats as your chosen Major scale (and opposite), you can always use a “Circle of Fifths” as your guide.

This is not all that a “Circle of Fifths” can assist you with. It has much more information that it may seem from the first glance, however we will talk about this handy tool deeper, a little bit later. Right now, let’s come back to the main goal we were aiming for – Minor scale construction. Please go back to your main menu of the “Piano Companion” and choose a “Piano”:

Here is our piano roll, but with note names on it, just to make the process easier:

If you press the keys from A to A, you will hear the A Minor scale. So let’s have a look at the specific order/pattern for Minor scales. We are sure that you all understand, this order/pattern is different, than the one for Major scales. How do we determine it? Once again, all you need to do is look at the keyboard and count how many gaps/steps there are in between each note of the scale. Have a look at the picture below:

Cool, now we can confidently tell that the specific note order is 2-1-2-2-1-2-2, which is the order/pattern of gaps/steps that applies to any Minor scale. With this pattern you will be able to create any Minor scale!

There is one more interesting fact about the name of a Minor scale. It has another more specific name – “Aeolian scale”. If you remember the Major scale is also called – “Ionian scale”. Don’t forget, you can always check these scales in “Scales Dictionary” of the “Piano Companion” application:

As you can see, we have emphasised some “little circles” on the picture. There are two types of them:

Fully coloured circles – represent 1 Tone/ 2 semitones
Half coloured circles – represent 1 semitone.

That means if you forgot the specific sequence of intervalic gaps for “Ionian” or “Aeolian” scales, you can always refer to this “circle pattern” because it is equal to the“numeric pattern” of “2-1-2-2-1-2-2” or “2-2-1-2-2-2-1”.

That is all for today and If you find our articles useful, just keep an eye on our blog, as this is just a beginning. New posts will be added frequently. Keep on doing music!

Tag Archives: circle-of-fifths

What’s the deal with the Circle of Fifths?

Tutorial 2 – Minor Scale Construction and Introduction to “Circle of Fifths”