What is the key to music?

[LDT]

I need help....how do I know a piece of music is a certain key? Or to put it another way how do you know what key tunes are in? And what makes it that key? (honestly I don't even quite know what a key is its just and ethereal label as far as I'm concerned).

 

Yes I know posted this on melnet too...just wanted largest coverage for most answers.

[Theo]

So do the answers to the same question on melodeon.net still leave you totally in the dark?

[LDT]

What about the exception that prooves the rule..is there any of those key-wise?

 

Oh and if something is written in one key and you want to play it in another...how do you do that without sitting down and spending ages working it out?

[LDT]

I'm trying to think of a way of phrasing this question so it makes sense...here it goes:

If I play a note and its in lets say the C row does that mean the tune is in the key of C?

And what deferentiates one key from another is it coz its higher or lower pitch?

[Dave Rogers]

Oh and if something is written in one key and you want to play it in another...how do you do that without sitting down and spending ages working it out?

 

The easiest option is to use a concertina capo.

[LDT]

Oh and if something is written in one key and you want to play it in another...how do you do that without sitting down and spending ages working it out?

 

The easiest option is to use a concertina capo.

where do I get one of those from?

[tombilly]

Theo is right - your query is well addressed in the melodeon link. When you can figure whether a tune is in G major or D major, then you can figure out the rest. Otherwise you'll tie yourself in knots. the easiest way to transpose is by ear.

[Roger Gawley]

Oh and if something is written in one key and you want to play it in another...how do you do that without sitting down and spending ages working it out?

 

Rather depends on what the keys are and what you are used to.

 

On an English concertina going up or down a fifth (taking a tune from G to D or C for example) is relatively easy. You start in a different place and remember the extra sharp or flat. Other changes, such as G to A, are harder!

 

What you can do is to take a tune that you know well and work it out in a different key. First time you do this will be slow. Like most other activities, its gets easier with practice. So I am told anyway.

 

If you really want to play lots of tunes in lots of different keys, buy a Hayden duet.

Edited April 1, 2009 by Roger Gawley

[LDT]

Theo is right - your query is well addressed in the melodeon link. When you can figure whether a tune is in G major or D major, then you can figure out the rest. Otherwise you'll tie yourself in knots. the easiest way to transpose is by ear.

What I'm trying to find out is where I went wrong....If I'm given written music in the key of G how I came to chose completely different buttons to everyone else.

Am I stupid or just....mental?

Is it coz I tend to cross-row in order to use the buttons I can reach easily?

 

This is why I took art rather than music at school

Edited April 1, 2009 by LDT

[LDT]

So do the answers to the same question on melodeon.net still leave you totally in the dark?

Didn't want to show favoritism to one forum over another...ok?

[Theo]

So do the answers to the same question on melodeon.net still leave you totally in the dark?

Didn't want to show favoritism to one forum over another...ok?

 

As you are discovering there is a big overlap in membership between the two forums. Perhaps your cross post here would have been better received if you had reworded it to take account of any helpful replies in the other forum?

[Mike Pierceall]

I need help....how do I know a piece of music is a certain key? Or to put it another way how do you know what key tunes are in? And what makes it that key? (honestly I don't even quite know what a key is its just and ethereal label as far as I'm concerned).

 

Yes I know posted this on melnet too...just wanted largest coverage for most answers.

The key describes how the notes in the scale are to be played throughout the piece - sharp, flat, or natural.

[JimLucas]

Am I stupid or just....mental?

Probably not. ... Though a little of the latter might help.

I'll try to give you a more serious and helpful answer when I get a little time. By "helpful", I mean that I hope to address the problem you are having in relating to the concepts involved, rather than just reiterating those concepts that already make sense to me, when your question already makes it clear that they don't (yet?) make sense to you. E.g., a quick glance at the melodeon.net link shows some others' explanations using terms like "tonic" (which I'll bet is meaningless to you) and "white keys vs. black keys" (are you already thinking of music in terms of a piano keyboard? doesn't sound like it, to me).

 

But don't hold your breath until I do post such an attempt; it won't be soon enough for you to survive that.

[Samantha]

... What I'm trying to find out is where I went wrong....If I'm given written music in the key of G how I came to chose completely different buttons to everyone else.

I do this sometimes, too. It is particularly possible (or even likely) for tunes in the key of G because not only are all the notes in that key found on the G row of your concertina, but they are all but one available on the C row as well (the F# is not available on the C row).

 

...

Is it coz I tend to cross-row in order to use the buttons I can reach easily?

That's why I do it . Using different buttons for the same note can make a difference to the way the music feels (more flowing, or more jerky/rhythmic, for example), which people often refer to as "phrasing". I like to experiment, sometimes to play the same tune using different buttons the second time around for variety of phrasing.

 

This is why I took art rather than music at school

 

IMHO just as in art there is no"right" way to draw a tree, in playing the concertina there is no "right" way to play a certain tune in G. Allow yourself to play it your way!

Hope this helps

Samantha

[Dominic]

I need help....how do I know a piece of music is a certain key? Or to put it another way how do you know what key tunes are in? And what makes it that key? (honestly I don't even quite know what a key is its just and ethereal label as far as I'm concerned).

 

Yes I know posted this on melnet too...just wanted largest coverage for most answers.

It's quite simple.

Look at the staff on your music sheet, just after the clef.

no sharp, no flat? C major or A minor

1 sharp: G major or E minor

1 flat: Fmajor or D minor

2 sharps: D major or B minor

2 flats: Bbmajor or G minor

Usually, the last note of a tune is the key it's in.

Major sounds happy, minor sounds "melancholic".

 

You want to "transpose"? (start the tune higher or lower than it's written)

Try to sing it and find keys (buttons ) that match what you sing.

Hope that helps

Dominic

[buikligger]

Hi LDT,

 

if you want to transpose use this machine http://www.8ung.at/abctransposer/index.html from Jens Wollschläger. More questions? just ask!

this helped me anyway

 

dirk, Flanders

[Anglogeezer]

I need help....how do I know a piece of music is a certain key? Or to put it another way how do you know what key tunes are in? And what makes it that key? (honestly I don't even quite know what a key is its just and ethereal label as far as I'm concerned).

 

Yes I know posted this on melnet too...just wanted largest coverage for most answers.

What you need is a friendly native guide to show you the way! Otherwise you will only get bogged down and progress will be SLOW.

A visit to the library or Waterstones for a book may help or these sites

Theory On the Web and Music Theory

 

As Dominic said, if there are NO sharps (#) or flats ( b ) at the beginning of the stave you have the key of C. (forget minor keys for the moment)

If you have one sharp -# on the F line of the stave you are in the key of G and ALL F's are played sharp.

If you have one sharp -# on the F line and one sharp -# on the C space you are in the key of D and ALL F's AND C's are played sharp.

The need for sharps/flats when changing keys arises because the intervals between notes is NOT the same in all cases.

 

A scale in the key of C may be represented thus:-

 

C | D | E F | G | A | B C ...... where the | represents the half step between the notes, that is C# for example.

 

Note that between E/F and B/C there is only a half a tone.

 

 

In order to maintain the intervals between the notes a scale in the key of G looks like this:-

 

G | A | B C | D | E | F# G ...... the semitone interval between E & F is matched by B & C but that between B & C

requires the F to be made sharp.

 

And in the key of D :-

 

D | E | F# G | A | B | C# D ...... in this case C is forced to be sharp also.

 

End of lesson!?

 

This is the first time I've tried to explain any theory with out being face to face. I hope it hasn't made you more confused.

 

If your'e ever in Beverley, East Yorks, we have an excellent easy session on Tuesdays 8pm at the Tiger Inn Lairgate.

 

regards Jake

[Dieppe]

How to tell what key a song is in? Well, you play Anglo, so rule of thumb would be if you play a note along with a song and it sounds horrible.. it's probably not in the key your Anglo is. So try the next row. Repeat until you run outta rows!

 

Seriously though, sometimes the key a song is in will be the note it starts with, or the second or third note. Okay, a little too vague. Most trad. Irish music is in D, but sometimes in G, and a rare sometimes in C, with very rare sometimes in F.

 

If someone is playing guitar, and they're not capoed, it's unlikely they'll play in F or Bb, as I've heard that B-Major, or maybe Bb Major is a difficult chord to play. Or so I've been told.

 

I play English, with lots of sharps and flats, so I usually just play around with notes that sound right hoping for a song in C, I'll usually start with a G. A G note sounds okay in songs that are in C, D, G, and sometimes F. If G doesn't work, then there's probably more sharps or flats than I wanna play. But then I'll work my way up and down the scale, just listening to what works and what doesn't. Does F need to be F#? Then maybe it's in D or G... but if I work my way up to C, I figure out whether C needs to be C or C#, if it does and only F# and C# are the accidentals then I know it's in D!

 

If I'm having to use a Bb, then I know it's probably in F. Sometimes an Eb will show up and I'll know it's in Bb.

 

Minor chords... those are another ball of wax, but basically I'll know that the third is flat, and sometimes the 7th (I think?) There's a lot more music theory to it, but really it's a combination of knowing some music theory, having sharps and flats to play around with, and having an ear for what sounds wrong and what sounds right. With a little playing around I can usually have something going for a song I've never heard by the time the chorus comes around. (Unless it's in F# Major, or in a key with more than 2+ sharps or flats!)

 

One thing I have learned though, guitar or banjo capoing aside, is that most of the time when people are playing musical instruments---particularly folk instruments---they'll tend to be in the simple keys for that instrument. A recorder can play in C, but can add an F# or C# can be in D or G as well. So be aware of the instruments you are playing with, their limitations, and that goes a long way in figuring out the key signature. It's really only snooty composers of songs that will put it in F# Major or some other nasty key signature with 4-5 sharps or flats---they don't have to play the blasted thing!

 

 

---

Patrick