Key signature sometimes called "standard key signatures". Other scales are written either with a standard key signature and use accidental as required, or with a nonstandard key signature. Examples of the latter include the E (right hand), and F and G (left hand) used for the E diminished (E octatonic) scale in Bartók's "Crossed Hands" (no. 99, vol. 4, "Mikrokosmos"), or the B, E and F used for the D Phrygian dominant scale in Frederic Rzewski's "God to a Hungry Child". The absence of a key signature does not always mean that the music is in the key of C major /
Scale (music) inflection (e.g., śruti) of that same note may be less than a semitone. Scale (music) In music theory, a scale is any set of musical notes ordered by fundamental frequency or pitch. A scale ordered by increasing pitch is an ascending scale, and a scale ordered by decreasing pitch is a descending scale. Some scales contain different pitches when ascending than when descending, for example, the melodic minor scale. Often, especially in the context of the common practice period, most or all of the melody and harmony of a musical work is built using the notes of a single scale,