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
C-flat major C-flat major C major (or the key of C) is a major scale based on C, consisting of the pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. Its key signature has seven flats. The direct enharmonic equivalent of C major is B major, a key signature with five sharps. The C major scale is: \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \relative c' { </score> C major is the only major or minor key, other than theoretical keys, which has "flat" or "sharp" in its name, but whose tonic note is the enharmonic equivalent of a natural note (a white key