Keys with 6 sharps or flats.

When transposing to the major key of Gb/F#, please use F# major instead of Gb.

The first reason for this request has to do the BiaB feature which simplifies chord roots starting on Cb, E#, double sharps, or double flats to their enharmonic equivalents starting on naturals. In either Gb major or in F# there are some trade-offs because these keys have 6 flats or 6 sharps while there are only 5 “black keys”. BiaB won’t write chords starting on Cb or E#, but simplifies them to B and F. Since the extra flat in Gb major occurs on the very important IV degree of the scale, Cb, which BiaB will always writes as a B (a sharp chord in the middle of a flat key) that is a major disadvantage for Gb major.

The trade-off with F# is that the extra sharp in F# major is E#, which BiaB will always write as an F. However, since the chord on this scale degree the vii of the key, and since vii chords are much less common than IV chords are, it would be much better to use F# major than to use Gb major when transposing to this key.

The second reason to use F# major instead of Gb major has to do with a major audience for the transposing feature. While any musician or composer may transpose songs occasionally, players of transposing instruments are constantly transposing the notation of songs to compensate for the pitch of their instruments. Most transposing instruments are in flat keys, and to compensate for our instruments in Bb and Eb we are always removing two or three flats from flat keys, and adding two or three flats to sharp keys. Consequently, this makes us much less used to playing in keys with many flats, and much more familiar with playing in keys with many sharps.

Please continue to use the key of Eb minor instead of D# minor for six flats or sharps because more of the notes and chords can be spelled correctly in Eb minor when you consider the raised seventh.
- In D# minor the #7 is C##, which will get simplified to D in BiaB. The D is spelled correctly in Eb minor as the root of the Ddim chord and as the third of the V chord, Bb7.
- In D# minor the ii is E#, which will get simplified to F in BiaB. The F is spelled correctly as the root of the important ii chord in Eb minor.
- In Eb minor, the note that BiaB will simplify is Cb, the bVI chord, which is less important than the ii, V, and vii, so the key of Eb minor wins out over D# minor.