Talk:C-sharp major

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Are key signatures with double sharps unheard-of-as-of-2004?? Georgia guy 20:38, 9 Jun 2005 (UTC)

I'm sure they've been heard of, it's just that they have no practical value. Single flats and sharps can be confusing enough when you're trying to sight read a piece. Anton Mravcek 19:39, 10 Jun 2005 (UTC)

C# Maj scale discrepancy ----

I'm wondering if anyone can indulge a quick question from someone in the midst of teaching themselves basic music theory with the help of wikipedia and a text book. In an effort to grasp the concept of scale composition and tetrachords, I am constructing the major scales using the basic formula for their foundation and then checking my answers here. But with this particular scale, I ran into a brief problem it seems. My original idea was that to follow the Tone-Tone-Semitone-Tone-Tone-Tone-Semitone pattern, C# Maj would need to look like this:

C# - D# - F - F# - G# - A# - C - C#

But in the article, my F and C are replaced by E# and B# respectively, which I was under the impression did not comprise the 12 semitones of an octave. (A/A#, B, C/C#, D/D#, E, F/F#, G/G#) Now if I understand these concepts correctly, aren't F and C enharmonically similar to E# and B#? If this is the case, wouldn't my initial "guess" be correct as well as the scale as listed here? If not, which weird quirks have I failed to take account for?

Yes, your guess (C# - D# - F - F# ...) is correct, at least in theory. If you try to apply it to practical situations, you might run into trouble, however.

Suppose you write a piece in C# major (can't imagine why, though). Your piece begins with a scale run upwards, notated C# - D# - F - F# - G# - A# - C - C#. A harpist tells you she'd like to play your piece but could you please transpose it C major? No problem, just flat every note. The scale run upwards with which your piece begins would become C - D - Fb - F - G - A - Cb - C. If instead you had notated it C# - D# - E# - F# - G# - A# - B# - C#, you might be able to achieve the transposition by merely deleting the key signature, your scale run becomes C - D - E - F - G - A - B - C. Anton Mravcek 21:20, 31 January 2006 (UTC)Reply

If you write a piece in C# major, the most frequently used pitches will be the seven notes of the scale, though of course chromatic pitches may occur. If you write them as C#, D#, E#, F#, G#, A# and B# then you just need to write a key signature of seven sharps. If you write E# as F and B# as C then you have to write natural signs before every note, and sharp signs when you want F# and C#. Much more tedious to write and much more confusing to read. 91.107.151.155 (talk) 22:44, 26 September 2010 (UTC)Reply

I deleted this line: Béla Bartók's String Quartet No. 3 is one of the few in C sharp major. I've been trying to figure out this quartet, and while I can't claim to understand it very well I can say it definitely isn't in C#. There's no key signatures at all, and the harmony seems to be polymodal at best, and more in C than C# if anything.

Also, the line: Although most composers prefer to use the enharmonic equivalent D-flat major because it has just five flats as opposed to the seven sharps of C-sharp major, Johann Sebastian Bach actually chose C sharp major for Prelude and Fugue No. 3 in both books of the Well-Tempered Clavier. --this seems a bit misleading since Bach was working in Well temperament, in which D-flat major and C-sharp major are not enharmonic equivalents as far as I know. Given the form of the work and the tuning used, it should be not surprise that Bach used C-sharp major. This sentence gives the impression that it is surprising. If I get more time I'll see if I can phrase it better. Pfly 22:03, 9 November 2007 (UTC)Reply

I plan on deleting any unsourced entries from this in a few weeks. (Listening to a piece and trying to figure out the key is not a source, and is also WP:OR.) Torc2 (talk) 08:26, 11 January 2008 (UTC)Reply