Comments on: Key Signature Chart

By: phil

phil — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 04:48:36 +0000

very good worksheet design

just wanna share another idea given by my students:

Sharps’ sequence:
Father Charles Goes Down And Ends Battle

Flats’ sequence:
Battle Ends And Down Goes Charles’ Father

By: Amanda

Amanda — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 00:37:49 +0000

It’s funny to see everyone else’s acronyms… I always grew up with Fat Cats Go Down Alleys Eating Bugs. I really like yours though, Natalie, because you just say it backwards for the flats and it still makes sense!

By: joanne

joanne — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 07:32:55 +0000

These charts are brilliant! I work with the same system with my students, so these will be invaluable. Thanks!

By: natalie

natalie — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 00:43:13 +0000

Oops! Don’t know how that happened, Sharon. The link should now open a blank chart that has both flats and sharps. Thanks for letting me know about the missing flats!

By: Sharon MacDermid

Sharon MacDermid — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 20:25:32 +0000

Is there a “blank” for the “flats”? I only saw the “sharps”.

By: Dean

Dean — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 14:09:38 +0000

We always used Father Charles Goes Downtown After Eating Breakfast. Same kind of idea just took the military out of it.

By: William

William — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 14:02:26 +0000

Here are two acronyms for the key signatures:

Sharps: Go Down And Enter By F#or C#harlie
1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Flats: Flat Bears Eat Apple Dumplings
1 2 3 4 5

Greedily
6

Students memorize these two lines and then just count the number of flats or sharps and the first letter of each word is the answer! The last two sharp keys must include the sharp in the name (F# and C#) and all the flats include a flat in the key name except the first one.

This method works very well. Often, students who struggle with difficult concepts ace this exercise.

Example: What key has 3 sharps?

Answer: Go Down And. The word “And” is the third word and therefore the answer is A major because “A” is the first letter of “And”. Easy!

By: Mike

Mike — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 22:56:47 +0000

What a fantastic gem! Also, I never learned those saying for sharps. For flats I always learned BEAD Good Clean Fun. Thanks for this!

By: natalie

natalie — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 04:21:35 +0000

I haven’t heard that one. The one I heard and have used with my students is: Father Charles Goes Down And Ends Battle. The flats, of course, are reversed: Battle Ends And Down Goes Charles Father.
They get a kick out of it!

By: Stengel99

Stengel99 — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 13:56:53 +0000

Are you familiar with the acronym for remembering the order of sharps: “Ford Cards Go Dead At Every Bump?” 3 sharps in the key signature? Ford Cars Go – F#, C#, G#.

Using that has been helpful for my students. In particular, young trumpet players have a hard time identifying the G# in key signatures because they aren’t used to reading notes that high.