Key sign language (minimal harp)

[Mudharp@xxxxxxx]

This past Monday night I was invited on very short notice to fill in for the 
regular harp player in the house band hosting the Monday jam at Buddy Guy's in 
Chicago. The regular cat had called in sick. I said yes, and 3 hours later I 
was on stage. There was a set list but I didn't know the keys to the songs. I 
asked the band leader to please be sure and let me know the keys. He asked if 
I knew "key sign language" (?????) I said "uhhhmm, no, what's key sign 
language?". He said "neutral fist for C, and one finger up for 1 sharp, 2 fingers up 
for 2 sharps, one finger down for 1 flat, 2 fingers down for 2 flats and so 
on." Feeling vaguely stupid I said, "you'd better just give it to me verbally". 
He smiled and said, OK, and the night went pretty smoothly.

I went home thinking about what exactly he meant though. Now I think I know. 
Yesterday I was hanging out with a good friend and we talked about it, and 
then it hit me! What I THINK he meant was the NUMBER OF SHARPS OR FLATS IN EACH 
KEY can represent the key itself. That number is unique to each key, right? The 
number of sharps or flats increase by 1 each time you move forward or 
backwards respecfully from C in the circle of 5ths. C has no sharps or flats so it's 
represented by a neutral fist. One finger up = 1 sharp: key of G. Two fingers 
up = 2 sharps: key of D. One finger down = one flat: key of F. Two fingers 
down = 2 flats: key of Bb......and so on. 

Is this right? It seems to make sense. Has anyone else out there used this 
method of communicating keys on stage? I feel like I learned something new. New 
to me anyway.

T. Albanese