Key signature may consist of one or more sharps combined with one or more flats (such as a signature containing both F and B). Key signatures of this kind can be found in the music of Béla Bartók, for example. The effect of a key signature continues throughout a piece or movement, unless explicitly cancelled by another key signature. For example, if a five-sharp key signature is placed at the beginning of a piece, every A in the piece in any octave will be played as A sharp, unless preceded by an accidental (for instance, the A in scale 2 illustrated –
Key signature names and translations is invariably assumed to be major. In the German notation scheme, a hyphen is added between the pitch and the alteration ("D-Dur"). Minor key signatures are written with a lower case letter ("d-Moll"). For example, to describe Bach's Mass in B minor one could use: Key signature names and translations When a musical key or key signature is referred to in a language other than English, that language may use the usual notation used in English (namely the letters A to G, along with translations of the words "sharp", "flat", "major" and "minor" in that language): languages which use the