Sing the Spots - Video training in Sight-Singing for the non-musician

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Skill: Finding the Home note from the key signature, multiple flats

Near the beginning of the staff, just after the clef sign, there is typically a grouping of little sharp or flat signs. The sharps look like little tic-tac-toe signs, and the flats look like little 'b's. This grouping is called the key signature, and it's something that we need to pay special attention to on each song we sing. The key signature tells us which scale the song is based on, or more significantly, which note is the Home note, or note #1 of that scale. In every scale there is a note, note #1, that feels stable and at rest. I'm going to call it the Home note, and almost all songs end on that note for a sense of completion. We need to identify that note before we sing the song, because it is the note that we will compare all the other notes to in order to find them.

If the key signature has two or more flats, it's easy to find the home note. The flat signs are in a particular pattern from left to right. If you find the second flat from the right, the line or space which that flat sign is on is the same line or space that the home note is on. That's also the note that the pitch pipe will blow. When the pitch pipe blows, you should hum that pitch and identify it with the home note according to the key signature. Then look and see how the first note of the song relates to it.

For the first few exercises, the first note will be the home note, but that's not usually the case. The home note, however, is always where we start mentally.

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