What does key mean in music

Good luck with your endeavors. A jazz tune in C can be ambiguous between several modes like, say, parallel major and minor, or parallel mixolydian, dorian and natural minor, or all of these , with the common denominator being the root note of C. This root note sets the "tonality" of the music.

Similarly, blues in C does not necessarily mean major or minor. The tune could make parallel use of the minor and major pentatonic scales as well as the tritone. The "key of C major" is somewhat more restrictive than just the tonality. It suggests that the music is probably organized around traditional concepts of harmony rooted in the European classical tradition.

An empty key signature, by the way, does not imply the key of C major; it could be A minor, of course. If harmonic or melodic minor occurs, the F and G appear as incidentals. The key or tonality might apply to just the opening bars of the music. Music which modulates to another tonal centre is still usually identified by the starting tonality. Often, composers return the music to the original tonality, but not always. For example, in Baroque music, the common two-part form often goes from I to V in the first part, and the second part returns from V to I.

The overall piece is identified as just being in I major or minor. The excursions into other keys are not acknowledged in the basic identification.

So such and such a composer's "sonata in such and such minor key" can easily go through all twelve major and minor keys. It's possible for a multi-part work to be identified in C major as a whole, but to have entire movements that are not in C major.

An example of this is Vivaldi's "Concerto per Flautino" in C major. RV The opening and closing movements are major at least in their beginning and ending. The slow middle movement is in A minor. Furthermore, a piece identified as C major could stay in C, but make small "parenthetical" modulations, such as the use of applied a. This is a harmonic device whereby the composer pretends that a target note or chord which is within the key is actually the tonic note of its own key.

The composer then writes a cadence which resolves to that note. The cadence could just be a V-I where the I is not the surrounding key, but the target note , or something somewhat more extended like a II-V-I.

For example, you can definitely work an A7 chord into C major music. It can create tension which resolves to Dm.

The A7 is just bit of "color" that is outside of the scale, but not a full-blown modulation. Identifying your music as being in the key of C major does not preclude the use of some sharps and flats which are not key changes. I think it goes a bit stranger than a notion "of what chords you can use" and still be in a particular key, although of course that is an indicator. Then the main riff begins on a Cmaj.. I think it's more about where the song "feels" like it wants to home back to Cadence?

Which key is it in? I don't know :- I guess at that point you have to just go with the first played chord which is Emaj. That's for popular rock- classical music gets more complicated but I guess the notion of a feeling of a "home key" ie chord still works. For example, C G7 in C major, or c minor G7 in c minor. Even this is not completely representative of the full potential of key-based thinking, and most of it lies far beyond what we will accomplish in this article series.

Our goal will be to establish a core understanding of keys, rather than to go through all the nitty-gritty details. We want to understand how a knowledge of keys can make our music-learning easier, and how we do it without having to slog through years of college music theory. As is the case with any musical training, the most important ally you have is a strong familiarity with the fundamentals of musical structure and expression.

We will reintroduce and reinforce our knowledge of chords and scales to help us, and we will go about learning as much as we can using examples from real music to show how these concepts are actually applied. To accomplish all of this, we will present six articles that break down keys into a number of components, starting with some basic fundamentals, and then moving onto looking at how we can apply those fundamentals to our understanding of keys.

The articles are linked in order below:. Consider this article series the vista view of keys. Our musical journeys will be long and full of enriching travels, so any chance we can get to survey the landscape before we dive into it should be taken.

In these articles, we will survey the landscape of learning about keys so we are more prepared to walk down those paths and benefit from what they have to show us. Your email address will not be published. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. In the Key of So how do we learn? So, what are those basic musical devices you ask?

Look at all those 16th notes… Give it a listen here. Summing it Up Whew. It looks something like this: A musician with a knowledge of keys is much more easily able to identify chords , scales , their relationships with one another, and their relationship with the piece as a whole.

Recognize it? The articles are linked in order below: What are Keys? The tonic chord is also thought of as the home chord, and the song usually feels most normal when this chord or note is played. They both have the same key signature — one sharp — but one is in a major key and the other in a minor key. This one is in G Major, and you can notice right from the beginning because it starts after the pickup with a G note at the beginning of the first full bar.

This next one is in E minor, and it starts immediately with an E minor arpeggio E — G — B — E in the bass clef to let you know that E is the tonic.

One flat means either the key of F Major or D minor, so which piece is in the key of F Maj and which is in the key of D min? The first one is a Bach piano sonata in D minor. You can tell because the first notes played are a D minor chord — D, F, A.

The right hand melody starts by playing F — A — C, which makes an F Major chord, and the left hand accompanies it with the same notes. To figure it out for a song that you are listening to on the radio or are learning to play, first check the key signature, and then try to find the tonic note or chord. Continuing the gravity analogy, music momentarily defies gravity, but then comes back down.

When music has this centered sound to it, it is said to be tonal pronounced TOE-nul , or possessing tonality. Almost all music to which we listen is tonal. When a piece of music lacks a tonal center it is said to be atonal pronounced AY-toe-nul. Most people don't like the sound of atonal music. As you listen to music, try to pay attention to these concepts of tonality and resolution.

Although points of resolution occur all throughout a song, you will most noticeably hear it at the end of a song. Most songs finish on the tonic of the key to make the song sound complete or finished. When the end of a song goes unresolved it often has a comical effect. There are a couple of audio examples of the sense of tonality. Notes not in the scale are considered to be outside of the key. Outside notes occur in most styles of music to some degree.

You will hear the use of outside notes heavily in many jazz solos.