-- Posted by Rebecca li at 10:11 am on June 23, 2008 Alrighty, So I started taking Piano classes last year in school. I had never touched a piano before and this was my last year of school before college. So, My question is, How do you tell what Key a piece is in. I bought a Disney Piano book with the music for all these disney songs this weekend, but I don't know how to tell the key. I guess it was just something I missed in class, and never asked because he (my music teacher) always told us before he taught the song. Can someone help me please! Thanks a lot! -- Posted by silverpolished at 10:13 am on June 23, 2008 The sharps and flats. -- Posted by morik at 10:13 am on June 23, 2008 The key is usually, but not always, the first chords of the song. -- Posted by isobel at 10:13 am on June 23, 2008 How many #'s and b's? -- Posted by Arguia at 10:13 am on June 23, 2008 Look at the key signature. The key signature is right at the start of the piece just before the time signature and just after the clef. The number of sharps/flats will tell you the key. -- Posted by LindaRains93 at 10:13 am on June 23, 2008 their is a thing called a scale, and its placed forward and backward by sound on a piano do you have a book that tells you what each key is called by sound? and in the book that keys ur supose to press are either written in music  or have pictures with outline lol -- Posted by Just Waiting Here at 10:14 am on June 23, 2008 When you start a piece, on the farthest left hand side, you'll see a set of sharps or flats.  The number of sharps or flats will tell you what key it is in. You can probably look up 'key signatures' online and learn what key is which.  It's not too hard to learn once you notice the pattern. -- Posted by DirtyConspiracy at 10:15 am on June 23, 2008 On the bar on the left, before any notes begin, you'll see some sharps and flats. That tells you which key it's in. -- Posted by byebyebeautyful at 10:17 am on June 23, 2008 you read how many sharps or flats there are, theres a circle of the keys, you should memorize it -- Posted by Rebecca li at 10:19 am on June 23, 2008 Okay Thanks guys! -- Posted by Periwinkle at 10:47 am on June 23, 2008 The key signature doesn't always tell you the key. Just because there's no sharps or flats in the key signature doesn't mean it's in C major: it could easily be in A minor. I don't know how much you know about scales, so I'll act as if it's nothing: there's a pattern of tones and semitones that makes up major/minor scales. When you use this pattern from different notes, you end up with different flats and sharps, which is why each scale is in a different key. However, for every major scale, there is a minor in the same key: C major and A minor, F major and D minor...so the key signature only narrows it down to 2 scales, unless it's a weird piece that's been put in one key in the key signature but is actually written in another (or if you're looking at a section that modulates to a different key, then there will often be no marked key change). The way to tell is to look at the accidentals. For example, a piece written in C major will probably stick mostly to the notes of C major, but a piece in A minor will be full of accidental G sharps, even though the key signature is the same. You can also look at the first and last notes of the piece: a piece in A minor is likely to start and end on A (or sometimes the dominant, the 5th note of the scale), whereas a piece in C major is likely to start and end on C.