In music theory, the term key is used in many different and sometimes contradictory ways. Music theory is the field of study that deals with the Mechanics of music and how Music works A common use is to speak of music as being "in" a certain key, such as in the key of C or in the key of F-sharp. Sometimes the terms "major" or "minor" are appended, as in the key of A minor or in the key of B-flat major, and so on. Although the concept of musical key can be a complicated subject when examined closely, broadly speaking the phrase in key of C means that C is music's harmonic center or tonic. In Western music, harmony is the use of different pitches simultaneously and chords actual or implied in Music. The tonic is the first note of a musical scale in the tonal method of Musical composition. Note that the letter-name "C" does not indicate a single specific pitch but rather all pitches with the letter name C (sometimes called a pitch class). Pitch represents the perceived Fundamental frequency of a sound In Music, letter notation is a system of representing a set of pitches for example the notes of a scale, by letters In Music, a pitch class is a set of all pitches that are a whole number of Octaves apart e The terms "major" and "minor" further imply the use of a major scale or a minor scale. In Music theory, the major scale or Ionian scale is one of the diatonic scales It is made up of seven distinct Notes plus an eighth Minor Scale was a test conducted by the United States Defense Nuclear Agency (now part of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency) involving the detonation Thus the phrase in key of E major implies a piece of music harmonically centered on the note E and making use of a major scale whose first note, or tonic, is E. Although the term "key" is commonly used this way, actual music can rarely be described so simply. This overview of the term also makes many assumptions and may not hold true for all forms of music.
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Keys and tonality
The key identifies the tonic triad, the chord, major or minor, which represents the final point of rest for a piece, or the focal point of a section. Tonality is a system of Music in which specific hierarchical pitch relationships are based on a key "center" or tonic. This article describes musical chords in traditional Western styles Although the key of a piece may be named in the title (e. g. Symphony in C), or inferred from the key signature, the establishment of key is brought about via functional harmony, a sequence of chords leading to one or more cadences. In Musical notation, a key signature is a series of sharp or flat symbols placed on the staff, designating notes that are to be consistently A diatonic function, in tonal Music theory, is the specific recognized Roles of Notes or chords in relation to the key. In Western Musical theory, a harmonic cadence (Latin cadentia, "a falling" is a formula of two chords that conclude A key may be major or minor; music can be described as being in the Dorian mode, or Phrygian, et cetera, and as such are usually considered to be in a specific mode rather than a key. Due to historical confusion Dorian mode or Doric mode can refer to two very different Musical modes or Diatonic scales Greek The Phrygian mode can refer to two different Musical modes or Diatonic scales the ancient Greek Phrygian mode and the Mediaeval Phrygian mode In Music, a scale is an ordered series of Musical intervals which along with the key or tonic, define the pitches However mode When a particular key is not being described in the English language, different key naming systems may be used. English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States When a particular musical key or Key signature is not described in the English Language, there are two main systems that are used instead
Although many musicians confuse key with scale, a scale is an ordered set of notes typically used in a key, while the key is the center of gravity, established by particular chord progressions. In Music, a scale is a group of musical notes collected in ascending and descending order that provides material for or is used to conveniently represent part or all A chord progression (also chord sequence and harmonic progression or sequence) is a series of chords played in order
The chords used within a key are generally drawn from the major or minor scale associated with the tonic triad, but may also include borrowed chords, altered chords, secondary dominants, and the like. In Music theory, the major scale or Ionian scale is one of the diatonic scales It is made up of seven distinct Notes plus an eighth Minor Scale was a test conducted by the United States Defense Nuclear Agency (now part of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency) involving the detonation A borrowed chord is a chord borrowed from the Parallel key. If the root of the borrowed chord is not in the original key then they are named by the In Music, an altered chord, an example of Alteration, is a chord with one or more Diatonic notes replaced by or altered to a neighboring pitch in the Secondary dominant (also applied dominant) is a type of chord used in musical Harmony. All of these chords, however, are used in conventional patterns which serve to establish the primacy of the tonic triad.
Cadences are particularly important in the establishment of key. In Western Musical theory, a harmonic cadence (Latin cadentia, "a falling" is a formula of two chords that conclude Even cadences which do not include the tonic triad, such as half cadences and deceptive cadences, serve to establish key because those chord sequences imply a unique diatonic context. A diatonic function, in tonal Music theory, is the specific recognized Roles of Notes or chords in relation to the key.
Short pieces may stay in a single key throughout. A typical pattern for a simple song might be as follows: a phrase ends with a cadence on the tonic, a second phrase ends with a half cadence, then a final, longer, phrase ends with an authentic cadence on the tonic. A song is a Musical composition. Songs contain vocal parts that are performed 'sung' and generally feature Words ( Lyrics) commonly followed In Music a phrase ( Greek φράση, sentence expression, see also Strophe) is a section of music that is relatively
More elaborate pieces may establish the main key, then modulate to another key, or a series of keys, then back to the original key. In Music, modulation is most commonly the act or process of changing from one key ( tonic, or tonal center) to another In the Baroque it was common to repeat an entire phrase of music, called a ritornello, in each key once it was established. In Baroque music, ritornello was the word for a recurring passage for Orchestra in the first or final movement of a Solo concerto or Aria In Classical sonata form, the second key was typically marked with a contrasting theme. Sonata form is a Musical form that has been used widely since the early Classical period. Another key may be treated as a temporary tonic, called tonicization. In Music, tonicization is the treatment of a pitch other than the overall tonic as a temporary tonic in a composition.
In common practice period compositions, and most of the Western popular music of the 20th century, pieces always begin and end in the same key, even if (as in some Romantic-era music) the key is deliberately left ambiguous at first. The common practice period, in the history of European Art music (broadly called Classical music) spanning the Baroque, Classical, and Romantic Music is a Musicological term referring to a particular period theory compositional practice and canon in European music history from about 1815 to 1910 Some arrangements of popular songs, however, will shift up a half-step sometime during the song (often in a repeat of the final chorus) and thus will end in a different key. In Music, an arrangement refers either to a rewriting of a piece of existing Music with additional new material or to a fleshing-out of a compositional sketch such A refrain (from Vulgar Latin refringere, "to repeat" and later from Old French refraindre) is the Line or lines that are
Instruments in a key
Certain musical instruments are sometimes said to play in a certain key, or have their music written in a certain key. A musical instrument is a device constructed or modified for the purpose of making Music. Instruments which do not play in the key of C are known as transposing instruments. A transposing instrument is a musical instrument for which written notes are played at a pitch different from concert pitch, which a non-transpositing instrument such as a The most common kind of clarinet, for example, is said to play in the key of B flat. The clarinet is a Musical instrument in the Woodwind family The name derives from adding the suffix -et meaning little to the Italian word This means that a scale written in C major in sheet music will actually sound as a B flat major scale when played; that is, notes sound a whole tone lower than written. Sheet music is a hand-written or printed form of Musical notation; like its analogs -- books pamphlets etc A major second () also called a whole step or a whole tone, is a Musical interval that occurs between the first and second degrees of a Likewise, the horn, normally in the key of F, sounds notes a perfect fifth lower than written. The perfect fifth ( is the Musical interval between a note and the note seven Semitones above it on the musical scale
Similarly, some instruments may be said to be built in a certain key. For example, a brass instrument built in B flat will play a fundamental note of B flat, and will be able to play notes in the harmonic series starting on B flat without using valves, fingerholes, or slides or otherwise altering the length of the vibrating column of air. A brass instrument is a Musical instrument whose tone is produced by vibration of the lips as the player blows into a tubular Resonator. See Harmonic series (mathematics for the (related mathematical concept An instrument built in a certain key will often, but not always, have its music written in the same key (see trombone for an exception). The trombone is a Musical instrument in the brass family Like all brass instruments it is a lip-reed Aerophone: sound is produced when the player’s However, some instruments, such as the diatonic harmonica and the harp, are in fact designed to play only one key at a time: accidentals are difficult or impossible to play. A harmonica is a free reed Wind instrument which is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes (reed chambers or The harp is a Stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicular to the soundboard.
In general string instruments tend to be tuned in sharp keys (such as C, D, A, and E); and wind instruments tend to be tuned to flat keys (such as F, B-flat, and E-flat).
In rare cases, all instruments in the choir will be in the same key, regardless of range. Prior to 2000, for example, in music for a drum and bugle corps, all brass lines were not only in the key of G but all instruments—soprano, alto, baritone, euphonium, and contrabass—were in the treble clef. This made it much easier for arrangers to switch parts around to experiment with different tone colors, but the drum corps is probably the only musical ensemble with all ranges of instrumentation in the same key and clef.
The key determines what the music is played in. It can be in major or minor.
The main concept of Keys in composition and the effects thereof In Western musical composition, the key of a song has important ramifications for its composition:
- As noted earlier, certain instruments are said to be designed for a certain key, as playing in that key can be physically easier or harder. Thus the choice of key can be an important one when composing for an orchestra, as one must take these elements into consideration.
- In the life of the professional clarinettist, for example, it is common to carry two instruments tuned a semitone apart (B-flat and A) to cope with the needs of composers: Mozart's well-known clarinet concerto is in A Major. A clarinet concerto is a Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra (or Concert band) To play it on a B-flat instrument would be difficult, and to rewrite all the orchestral parts to allow the piece to be played in B-flat major would be an enormous effort. Even so, it is not unheard of for a piece published in B-flat to include notes a semitone (or more) below the range of the common B-flat clarinet. The piece must then be played on a more exotic instrument, or transposed by hand (or at sight) for the slightly larger 'A' clarinet. There are clarinets with an extended range, with a longer bore and additional keys. As a last resort, it is also not unheard of for a player to roll up a page of the score and insert it into the end of the instrument in order to lengthen it.
- Besides this though, the timbre of almost any instrument is not exactly the same for all notes played on that instrument. In Music, timbre (ˈtæm-bər' like timber, or, from Fr timbre tɛ̃bʁ is the quality of a Musical note or sound that distinguishes different For this reason a song that might be in the key of C might sound or "feel" somewhat different (besides being in a different pitch) to an observer if it is transposed to the key of A. This effect is more pronounced on instruments like the piano, where certain notes have more strings or a thicker string associated with them. However, it is observed that some musicians overstate this element, and in fact this is a joke in the movie This Is Spinal Tap where the guitarist, in response to a question about a particular piece, says that it is "in D minor, which is the saddest of all keys, I find. This Is Spın̈al Tap (officially spelled with a non-functional umlaut over the letter 'n' and dotless 'i' is a 1984 mock Rockumentary People weep instantly when they hear it, and I don't know why. "
- In addition, since many composers often utilized the piano while composing, the key chosen can possibly have an effect over the composing. This is because the physical fingering is different for each key, which may lend itself to choosing to play and thus eventually write certain notes or chord progressions compared to others, or this may be done on purpose to make the fingering more efficient if the final piece is intended for piano. This is especially true of composers who are not piano virtuosi.
- In music that does not use equal temperament, chords played in different keys are qualitatively different. Equal temperament is a Musical temperament, or a system of tuning in which every pair of adjacent notes has an identical Frequency ratio.
See also
External links
- A simple, but accurate, explanation of the function of "keys" in music
- Christian Schubart's "Affective Key Characteristics"
- Characteristics of Musical Keys - from various sources. In Musical notation, a key signature is a series of sharp or flat symbols placed on the staff, designating notes that are to be consistently
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