Sharps or flats?

ShiroKuro

I have always preferred, in terms of finding it easier to read, sharps than flats. I don’t know why. At two or three sharps or flats, I don’t really notice the difference, but anything with four or more, I always do much better sightreading, and in the early stages of getting the music into my fingers, when it’s sharps rather than flats. I don’t know why. And for some reason, when there are five in the key signature, I often have a hard time playing Gb correctly when sightreading a new piece. But I never have the same problem sightreading A# in a new piece.

One time I was working on a piece with my piano teacher with five flats, and I think I maybe said something about how I hate reading Gb, and he said with sort of surprise “you prefer sharps? I prefer flats.” That started a discussion about people’s preferences and there doesn’t seem to be any logical reason for it.

I thought maybe I prefer sharps because you read to the right in the score, and you move the note up to the right for sharps. That seems like it might make it easier to read, to me. But since other people find flats easier to read, I think maybe that’s not the actual reason.

It’s probably something more mundane, like maybe early on in my piano learning, I maybe learned a few pieces in a row that all had sharps and that made me more comfortable with sharps than flats, and that preference just stayed. I have no memory if that, it’s just a guess.

At this point, I am comfortable in all keys (which is fortunate, because some of my favorite composers tend to write a lot of music with five flats or five sharps, so I find myself switching around in these keys a lot with the pieces I play).

Edited to add: I want to stress that this isn’t about a preference for how any key sounds, I don’t know if I have a favorite key in that regard, although there are pieces where I’m very aware of liking the key that it’s in, if that makes sense. But this post is really about the experience of reading in different keys, and especially sightreading new music.

So do you have a preference for sharps or flats? Do you know why?

JB_PT

ShiroKuro So do you have a preference for sharps or flats? Do you know why?

Definitely flats. Clarinet is my primary instrument and it's a lot more common to play band music with flats than sharps, so I assume that's why.

On piano, I've been very comfortable with up to 5 flats for a long time. 3-4 sharps were OK, but double sharps derail me quicker than double flats (although they both do to a degree). I've been trying to improve this over the past year or so by purposely working on (or sightreading) pieces in the keys that are more difficult for me. I'm good with 6 flats now and 5 sharps don't phase me too much, so I'm happy with that progress. I have not tried to find anything with 6 sharps yet...not looking forward to that. 😏

rogerch

ShiroKuro And for some reason, when there are five in the key signature, I often have a hard time playing Gb correctly when sightreading a new piece.

Miracles as transcribed by @Rubens has five flats, and when I read through it the first time I had exactly the same problem! I mostly got it right but played several Gs instead of Gbs.

I don't have preferences for reading music. For improvising, I'm fickle! I improvise in all the keys, but I go through phases of having a favorite key. I went through a long D phase, then Bb, then A. I had a long Ab phase, and currently I'm into G and F. While I haven't gone through an F# phase I like the pattern that scale makes. Since F# is also Gb it seems I like the sharp and flat scales equally!

navindra

ShiroKuro Sharps forever!

The first scale I learnt was the C# scale. That's an awesome scale for learners to start with, in my opinion.

I think it's easier than the C scale that most beginners are introduced to, as the fingers fall on the keys quite naturally and the relationship between the notes is more intuitive, visually. Whole, Whole. Half. Whole, Whole, Whole. Half. Maps perfectly to the 2-3 black key groups.

It would be quite silly to call it a Db scale in my opinion. That's like going Re Mi Fa instead of Do Re Mi. #️⃣

On the flip side, if I had started with the B scale, then perhaps b would have won out. 🐝

TC3

On piano, no preference.
When I used to play upright bass in orchestra, sharps. You get to use the open strings more that way.
When I used to play saxophone, flats. That was just experience: a lot more band material (esp. jazz band) was in flat keys, because it made transposing for various instruments easier.

thepianoplayer416

I played violin in school. I've learned to play Christmas tunes by ear to match people's singing. Playing in a specific key is not an issue.

Piano playing it's the matter to playing more or fewer black keys. Every key can have a different name like C is a B-sharp, D# is an E-flat sort of thing. The key of Bb with 2 flats is as simple as you can get. If you change it to A#, you end up with 4 sharps and 3 double-sharps which is not desirable for reading.

Bellyman

I don't really like reading anything. If I had to pick, I think I'd lean towards rather reading flats, especially as the number of them increased. F & G, pretty similar, about as comfortable as anything. Bb & D, I like 'em both, about the same. Eb & A, definitely prefer Eb, not crazy about how A falls under the hands. Ab and E, much prefer Ab, do not like playing in E, will if I have to but would rather be in either Eb or F. Db and B, Db all day long. B is pretty, but I don't do enough in that key to feel comfortable playing it let alone reading it. And Gb & F#... I would prefer reading neither of them. LOL!! In all honesty, though, I play in Gb / F# way more than I play in either E, A, or B... by ear. Pretty key and lots of black key stuff that's easy to play. 🙂

keff

I used to like sharps best but nowadays have no preference. One of my piano teachers advised that one should always make an effort just to remember the last flat or sharp in the key signature and the others would fall into place.

keystring

I'm stronger in sharps and have been working to turn that around. The first time I had lessons it was violin, and it's an instrument that favours sharps. I understand that wind instruments favour flats.

Sophia

I started out preferring sharps, because I had played a bit of classical guitar in the past. And the piano method book started with sharps too before it included flats. Now I don't really mind - although of course at this stage they have only presented pieces with up to three of each - and deep down inside I still prefer none ^_^

Bellyman

Sophia - and deep down inside I still prefer none

C is a nice key. 🙂

One thing about jazz, though, keys are all over the place. Quite a few of the songs will modulate between multiple keys, sometimes rather quickly. "Pick Yourself Up" starts out in F, then into G, then into Ab... before you even get to the B section and the B section will have a brief stint in Am before heading back to F. There are times when I feel bad for people trying to transcribe some of the jazz tunes out there. The actual playing is way less complicated than the printed out music.

Adagiette

Definitely flats for me. Probably influenced by my days as a woodwind player. But in the case of doubles, I would prefer double sharps to double flats. Go figure. 🤷‍♀️

BartK

Funny coincidence just yesterday I was sight reading a Schubert dance in A-flat minor of all keys (7 flats) and it had all the elements that trip me up the most: C-flat and F-flat, double flats, and big chords with accidentals.

Normally, I would say that flat is slightly easier to read because in typical tonal music raised scale degrees are more common than lowered ones (because of the harmonic minor leading tone) and when you raise a sharp scale degree you end up with double sharps, whereas raising a flat scale degree ends up with a natural. But of course just as I wanted to write this I stumbled upon this dance that had a bunch double flats. 😄

ShiroKuro

@rogerch yep, I definitely don’t like reading that Gb in Miracles. OTOH September Song (also by Alexis Ffrench) has five sharps, and I never found that hard to sightread.

I should add that my comments are completely related to reading music, not to playing or having your fingers on the black keys.

On the topic of the key of C, it is easier to read, but it can sometimes be harder to play IMO. I find that a few black keys actually is easier to read and play, esp. while keeping my eyes on the score, bc playing a black key here and there can be quite orienting.

Sgisela

I just started working on one of Lecuona’s Danzas Afrocubanas, and it’s in G flat major. The most famous piece in the set, La Comparsa, has an F Sharp major section in the second half (first half is f sharp minor). I hadn’t made the g flat major/f sharp major connection until my dad was listening to me practice and asked if the two were in the same key… I started to say no, and then revised my answer.
I’ve never really thought about flats/sharps being easier or harder to digest, but when I’m starting a piece, I realize I need to spend some time thinking about the key signature and being mindful of it. I think this has become more and more natural/internalized over time, though.

Josephine

I have this habit (for a few years now) of playing a scale in the key of the piece before I start practicing it. I look at the flats or sharps and focus on what it would have been if it was written in C and what it is now. So, for A I now play A flat for instance. And then I start practicing the piece. When I started doing that I had to play the scale up and down the keyboard for a while, and for a the first 2 or 3 days before each practice session, but now it goes a lot faster. I think I'm just playing one octave up and down one or two times the first time I practice the piece, this one is flat, that one is flat and that one. And then I know it. This way it doesn't matter if it's flat or sharp, or how many flats and sharps. You already know, so you don't have to think about it anymore while reading the piece. I think, (or hope 😆 ) since it goes much faster now, that one day I don't have to do this anymore at all because I have practiced every key a multiple times. But nobody told me that this is a good idea, so maybe it's not.

ShiroKuro

Josephine I have this habit (for a few years now) of playing a scale in the key of the piece before I start practicing it.

This is very, very helpful! I had this recommended to me by one of my early teachers, so I used to do it all the time. But got out of the habit years ago... Maybe I should start doing it again, especially for pieces with four or more flats, if nothing else, it would be good to reduce my misreading/misplaying of Gb!

BTW another benefit of playing scales before in that key before practicing the piece is that it helps you 1) be better at choosing good fingerings, and 2) I found that it reduced my need to write in lots of fingerings. Which isn't to say there's something wrong with writing in fingerings, I think it's a good thing actually. It's just that it can be time consuming, so for me, anything that reduces the amount of time I spend on choosing and writing in fingerings is always good.

MRC

I'm equally happy with either. I must admit, though, that a piece written with lots of sharps feels different from the same piece written with flats. Take "C" by Poulenc. He wrote it in Ab minor. He could have written it in G# minor: you'd be playing the same notes on the piano. But somehow all those flats and double flats seem right for the melancholy, nostalgic mood of the poem. In G# minor it would have a load of double sharps, which to me give a completely different feeling.

Sgisela

I know this is a little bit different from the question that was posed, but I find that pieces that are played largely on black keys feel very nice, and there is a way in which my hand feels a little larger over the black keys than over the white keys—some large intervals/chords are easier for me over black keys.

ShiroKuro

Sgisela my hand feels a little larger over the black keys

Yep, I notice the same thing!

Sophia

True story: one of the pieces that got me interested in learning the piano was Music Box Dancer by Frank Mills. It was original written in C sharp major... which is probably the worst key I could imagine ^_^ When he was asked why, he said that he taught himself to play by playing along with vinyl records, but it so happens that it turned a little too fast which means he learned to play most things half a key higher than they should be played. By then he was so used to playing all those black keys that it became second nature to him.

I still plan to learn that piece someday, but thankfully most sheet music has transposed it to C these days 😃

rogerch

Sophia I love Music Box Dancer! I recently spent some time trying to learn it by ear. I learned it in Db. Same notes, easier (for me) to manage. 🙂

Rob

Sophia Thank you for reminding me of this. i haven't heard it in years.

And sorry, but I couldn't resist........
I wrote a piece back in 2006 after coming across my late mother's musical box.
It inspired thoughts of a ballerina trapped forever, only to come alive at midnight to dance freely once more, before returning to the box before daylight.
(link below)

Midnight Ballerina