Teach Key Signatures - Minor
For minor key signatures, this also worked better than the traditional method of finding the minor key signatures:
Draw the following on the board:
Imagine that one by one all the dogs bite the principal and get caught by the dog catcher.
Then write the first letter of each of these words:
All Dogs Get Caught For Biting Elementary Administrators.
A D G C F B E A
Write the letters again.
A D G C F B E A
A D G C F B E A
Put a sharp above the diagram and a flat below.
♯
A D G C F B E A
A D G C F B E A
♭
Sharp the first five on the top and flat the last three on the bottom.
♯
A♯D♯G♯C♯F♯B E A
♭
Number from seven to zero on the top and from zero to seven on the bottom.
♯
7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
A♯D♯G♯C♯F♯B E A
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
♭
Now you have all the minor key signatures. C minor has three flats. C# minor has four sharps. E minor has one sharp. Eb minor has six flats. A minor has no sharps or flats, etc.
These methods of finding key signatures are just crutches. They can help students pass key signature tests but not much else. After teaching the traditional methods of finding key signatures and these non-traditional methods, we made flash cards with the names of the keys on one side and the key signatures on the other (See next page). Time spent memorizing the key signatures counted as practice time. Some students did it. Many did not. For the tests they weren't allowed to bring any crutch with them, but if they could draw the crutch during the test they were welcome to use it (I provided scratch paper.) I figured if they could draw it, they had at least learned something.
For more information, see the Minor Key Signatures* slide show from the Slide Shows section.
*Microsoft PowerPoint required.
To download, right click on the link and select "Save target as" (Internet Explorer) or "Save link as" (Firefox / Chrome).