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 /
Avoid note Avoid note In jazz theory, an avoid note is a scale degree considered especially dissonant relative to the harmony implied by the root chord, and is thus better avoided. In major-key tonality the avoid note is the fourth diatonic scale step, or 11th, which is a minor ninth above the 3rd of the chord, and thus very harsh. In melody it is usually avoided, treated as a "scale approach note" or passing note, or sharpened. It is not available in harmony. The available tensions for a dominant seventh chord are 9, 11, and 13. In minor harmony the sixth scale