Key (music)
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In music theory, 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. 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. A key may be major or minor; music in the Dorian, Phrygian, and so on are usually considered to be in a mode rather than a key. When a particular key is not being described in the English language, different key naming systems may be used.
Although many musicians confuse key with scale, a scale is an ordered set of notes typically used in a key, while key is the center of gravity, established by particular chord progressions.
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. 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. 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.
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.
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 the Baroque it was common to repeat an entire phrase of music, called a ritornello, in each key once it was established. In Classical sonata form, the second key was typically marked with a contrasting theme. Another key may be treated as a temporary tonic, called tonicization.
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. 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.
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. Instruments which do not play in the key of C are known as transposing instruments. The most common kind of clarinet, for example, is said to play in the key of B flat. 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. Likewise, the French horn, normally in the key of F, plays notes a perfect fifth lower than written.
Similarly, some instruments may be said to be built in a certain key. A brass instrument built in, say, 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, slides or otherwise altering the length of the vibrating column of air. 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).
A key can also refer to a lever used as part of the process of playing a musical instrument: e.g. for covering or uncovering holes on a wind instrument, or striking the strings of a piano.
Affects
Different keys are often associated, especially by composers and sometimes by listeners, with different vague emotions. Any number of lists of such associations have been written througout the centuries, often contradicting one another. See Doctrine of affections.
External links
- Tutorial on modulation (http://www.lovemusiclovedance.com/modulation.htm)
- A simple, but accurate, explanation of the function of "keys" in music (http://ask.metafilter.com/mefi/6444#132028)