Key signature key signatures showing sharps or flats on both octaves for notes which fall within the staff. An accidental is an exception to the key signature, applying only to the measure and octave in which it appears. Although a key signature may be written using any combination of sharp and flat symbols, the most common series of thirteen homogeneous key signatures—ranging from six flats to six sharps, with each successive flat or sharp placed on the note a perfect fifth below or above, respectively, the previous one—is assumed in much of this article. A piece scored using a single diatonic key
Minor scale lowered 7th degree found in the natural minor in order to avoid the augmented triad (III) that arises in the ascending form of the scale. In jazz, only the ascending form of the scale is usually used. Examples of the use of melodic minor in rock and popular music include Elton John's "Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word", which makes, "a nod to the common practice... by the use of F [the leading tone in G minor] as the penultimate note of the final cadence." In modern notation, the key signature for music in a minor key is typically