A-flat major
Major key with four flats; relative major of F minor.
What it means
A-flat major is the major key built on the tonic A♭, a major third below C. Its scale consists of the notes A♭, B♭, C, D♭, E♭, F, G, A♭, and carries four flats as its key signature: B♭, E♭, A♭, and D♭. On the circle of fifths, A-flat major lies four steps into the flat side from C major.
The relative minor of A-flat major, sharing the same four flats, is F minor. Enharmonically, A-flat major corresponds to G-sharp major, which would require eight sharps and is therefore rarely used in practice.
In the notation
The key signature of A-flat major consists of four flats in the order B♭, E♭, A♭, D♭, placed at fixed positions on the staff depending on the clef. On keyboard instruments, three of the scale's four altered tones fall on the black keys, giving the scale a hand position that many pianists find comfortable and resonant.
Musical use
Since the 18th and 19th centuries, A-flat major has often been described, in various key-character traditions, as a key of particular warmth and solemnity; such characterizations rest on historical tuning systems and subjective impressions rather than on any physical property of the key itself. It appears frequently in slow movements and lyrical piano pieces, for instance by Beethoven, Chopin, and Schubert.
A-flat major is distinguished from its relative minor, F minor, which shares the same pitch collection but centers on F as its tonic, and from its enharmonic equivalent, G-sharp major, which is rarely used in practice.
Performance practice
Practice the A-flat major scale slowly, paying deliberate attention to all four flats, before bringing it up to tempo; the D♭ in particular is easy to overlook when reading. On piano, it helps to use the black keys A♭, D♭, and E♭ as landmarks for finger placement.