Circle of fifths - In music theory, the circle of fifths (or circle of fourths) shows the relationships among the

12 tones of the chromatic scale, their corresponding key signatures, and the associated major and minor keys. More specifically, it is a geometrical representation of relationships among the 12 pitch classes of the chromatic scale in pitch class space. Modulation and chord progression Tonal music often modulates by moving between adjacent scales on the circle of fifths. This is because diatonic scales contain seven pitch classes that are contiguous on the circle of fifths. It follows that diatonic scales a perfect fifth apart share six of their seven notes. Furthermore, the notes not held in common differ by only a semitone. Thus modulation by perfect fifth can be accomplished in an exceptionally smooth fashion. For example, to move from the C major scale F C G D A E B to the G major scale C G D A E B F, one need only move the C major scale's "F" to "F." The circle of fifths, or fourths, may be mapped from the chromatic scale by multiplication, and vice versa. To map between the circle of fifths and the chromatic scale (in integer notation) multiply by 7 (M7), and for the circle of fourths multiply by 5 (P5). Here is a demonstration of this procedure. Start off with an ordered 12-tuple (tone row) of integers (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11) representing the notes of the chromatic scale: 0 = C, 2 = D, 4 = E, 5 = F, 7 = G, 9 = A, 11 = B, 1 = C, 3 = D, 6 = F, 8 = G, 10 = A. Now multiply the entire 12-tuple by 7: (0, 7, 14, 21, 28, 35, 42, 49, 56, 63, 70, 77) and then apply a modulo 12 reduction to each of the numbers (subtract 12 from each number as many times as necessary until the number becomes smaller than 12): (0, 7, 2, 9, 4, 11, 6, 1, 8, 3, 10, 5) which is equivalent to (C, G, D, A, E, B, F, C, G, D, A, F) which is the circle of fifths. Note that this is enharmonically equivalent to: (C, G, D, A, E, B, G, D, A, E, B, F) Enharmonics The bottom keys of the circle of fifths are often written in flats and sharps, as they are easily interchanged using enharmonics. For example, the key of B, with five sharps, is enharmonically equivalent to the key of C, with 7 flats. But the circle of fifths doesnt stop at 7 sharps (C) or 7 flats (C). Following the same pattern, one can construct a circle of fifths with all sharp keys, or all flat keys. After C comes the key of G (following the pattern of being a fifth higher, and, coincidentally, enharmonically equivalent to the key of A). The 8th sharp is placed on the F, to make it F . The key of D, with 9 sharps, has another sharp placed on the C, making it C . The same for key signatures with flats is true; The key of E (four sharps) is equivalent to the key of F (again, one fifth below the key of C, following the pattern of flat key signatures. The last flat is placed on the B, making it B .)