With all music, the ease with which we can take take all of the bits and pieces and make them seem bigger or less complicated is directly related to how efficiently it can be learned. Finally, the pink and purple margins show us some clear examples of the scale of the key being used musically in a way that retains its recognizable form, even though at first glance it seems that each measure uses a different scale. Eventually, we resolve back to our tonic (I), the blue. Green and orange represent the dominant (V) and pre-dominant (IV) areas, which pull us away from tonic (I) momentarily to create some harmonic instability. Blue represents the tonic area (I), the most harmonically stable area. The blue, green, and orange margins indicate areas of harmonic importance, specifically as they relate to thinking about the key we’re in. Note that it has no sharps or flats, which indicates we're in the key of C major. First and foremost, notice the key signature, which is circled by the red oval. (Don’t worry if some or all of these things are unfamiliar to you we will introduce and explain them over the course of this article series.) These colors highlight ways that advanced musicians might see and hear keys when looking at a piece of music. In this short passage, through color coordination, we can see the important devices for deciphering and visually perceiving keys. Throughout the entirety of this article series, we will use color coding such as that seen above to help us more easily visualize important points and figures. Be aware, these amendments are not meant to be taken as literal (asking a pianist about the colors of a particular passage of music will probably get them talking about something other than what you're seeing above), but as representations of the particular kinds of information someone with an experienced knowledge of keys will probably consider when studying or playing a piece. Notice that we now have several visual additions. Instead of expending any more time on written explanation, let’s do what we should be doing as musicians, let’s look at some music! So, what are those basic musical devices you ask? Along the way, you will gain a richer understanding of the more basic musical devices we will use to create that groundwork. In this article series we will establish a clear and working groundwork for what keys are and what they can do for you. To be sure, there are many kinds of music that do not rely on keys as the basis for their compositional design, however as students of Western Classical, Jazz, and Pop music, we will constantly encounter music constructed using keys. Keys themselves are derived from what many consider to be a very natural inclination within our musical minds to perceive structure and the resolution of dissonance in music. The truth is that an understanding of keys is a deeply valuable tool for learning music. Why is this? Why are keys one of the most used but least-well comprehended of musical devices amongst beginning and intermediate learners?Īs with many of music’s more dynamic technical or theoretical ways of thinking, the answer is far less about the ‘what’ than about the ‘how.’ How are keys used? How do we understand them more easily? How can they help us in the study of the music we’d like to learn? Most deeper studies of keys typically fall within the precincts of college study. Even then, many students have achieved a fair amount of competence on their instrument working under the simple impression that more accidentals in the key signature means a more complicated key. Many teachers refrain from teaching much further into the topic of keys until students are more experienced and more easily able to digest the theory and technicalities. We learn that this key signature indicates which notes will be sharped or flatted throughout the piece until its end, or until we encounter another key signature. But what does it really mean to be "in the key" of something?Īs beginners, we learn that it in some way refers to the number of sharps or flats ( accidentals ) we encounter at the beginning of a piece. Minuets in the key of G, Sonatas in the key of A, Nocturnes in the key of E minor, Fugues in the key of F#, and so on. “ In the key of… ” - we rarely get far into our musical endeavors before we find ourselves faced with this phrase.
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