What is a musical key?
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i appreciate good music but I am a musical illiterate
Why music is separated into bars is not clear to me
Each note is clearly defined how long the note should be played and the speed is also declared by the composer so why have bars ??
Also, is the note in the middle of the musical staff always middle C ? Can the composer declare that the notes on the staff be moved from the traditional position if he wants the piece played in all the higher or lower notes ?
The key refers to the tonal centre of a piece of music.
Something in the key of F# will almost always resolve to that pitch.
C major means you're going to resolve to the pitch 'C' using mostly the notes of a C major scale.
The pitches are set by frequency, A 440 = 440 hertz, or vibrations per second.
The consensus on what frequency pitches are have evolved over the years, but in all pop music we now use A 440.
Saying major implies using the fundamental frequency, the major third (up two full tones or 4 semi tones from the fundamental) and the perfect fifth (up three full tones and a semi tone from the fundamental).
Major scale infers the tonality of the piece, using the tonic, major second, major third, fourth, fifth, sixth and major seventh degrees of your scale as its basis, which we all know through the solfege system as 'do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti, do'.
Our present tuning system uses 12 equal divisions of the octave into 12 semitones or steps (Bach, for instance wrote on a tuning system that wasn't equal, making some keys better then others and some intervals worse or 'wolf' tones)
Something in the key of F# will almost always resolve to that pitch.
C major means you're going to resolve to the pitch 'C' using mostly the notes of a C major scale.
The pitches are set by frequency, A 440 = 440 hertz, or vibrations per second.
The consensus on what frequency pitches are have evolved over the years, but in all pop music we now use A 440.
Saying major implies using the fundamental frequency, the major third (up two full tones or 4 semi tones from the fundamental) and the perfect fifth (up three full tones and a semi tone from the fundamental).
Major scale infers the tonality of the piece, using the tonic, major second, major third, fourth, fifth, sixth and major seventh degrees of your scale as its basis, which we all know through the solfege system as 'do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti, do'.
Our present tuning system uses 12 equal divisions of the octave into 12 semitones or steps (Bach, for instance wrote on a tuning system that wasn't equal, making some keys better then others and some intervals worse or 'wolf' tones)
Ok, I think I grasp this obscure intellectual explanation you got off the net but ...
if you want to go up or down the tonal scale is that not indicated by where the notes are displayed on the staff ?
I'm certainly not a professional musician by any stretch.
But my take:
Bars help separate the music into segments. This is good if you look away from the sheet and then look back, as it provides a reference point you can quickly scan to. You could just play without them, absolutely. I've never really thought about it, but you could. If you look away from the music for a second and look back it could be hard to find your spot again cause remember you have to do it quickly!
As for musical keys: you've probably heard (maybe) about tension and resolution when it comes to music. Picture a chord progression from a song you like. You typically start with the chord that the key is in (F Sharp, or C Major from your example), you then have a couple (2 or 3) other chords and then often it comes back to the same chord as when you started. The 2 or 3 other chords add tension, which is then resolved by going back to the original chord. The key (F Sharp or C Major, from your example) indicates the root chord that you come back to in order to resolve the tension.
So what is tension? On this board, it usually means something else entirely. But it's more of a build up (again, usually means something else on here) and then when you "resolve it" it sounds pleasing to the ear. Think of it as the happy ending of chord progressions. Tension build up and then release. To the ear it just sounds right.
So why do they do all this? Shouldn't they just play random chords? You can, but it sounds horrible. It's done this way as this is what people enjoy and have for centuries. Some artists play random noise in a random way, and to me it sounds horrible. Some artists play random noises but if they stick to a key then it sounds good (Art of Noise, for example, also Skrillex).
Hope this helps. Maybe a professional has a better take on it.
Edit: the below video does a great job of explaining it too!
But my take:
Bars help separate the music into segments. This is good if you look away from the sheet and then look back, as it provides a reference point you can quickly scan to. You could just play without them, absolutely. I've never really thought about it, but you could. If you look away from the music for a second and look back it could be hard to find your spot again cause remember you have to do it quickly!
As for musical keys: you've probably heard (maybe) about tension and resolution when it comes to music. Picture a chord progression from a song you like. You typically start with the chord that the key is in (F Sharp, or C Major from your example), you then have a couple (2 or 3) other chords and then often it comes back to the same chord as when you started. The 2 or 3 other chords add tension, which is then resolved by going back to the original chord. The key (F Sharp or C Major, from your example) indicates the root chord that you come back to in order to resolve the tension.
So what is tension? On this board, it usually means something else entirely. But it's more of a build up (again, usually means something else on here) and then when you "resolve it" it sounds pleasing to the ear. Think of it as the happy ending of chord progressions. Tension build up and then release. To the ear it just sounds right.
So why do they do all this? Shouldn't they just play random chords? You can, but it sounds horrible. It's done this way as this is what people enjoy and have for centuries. Some artists play random noise in a random way, and to me it sounds horrible. Some artists play random noises but if they stick to a key then it sounds good (Art of Noise, for example, also Skrillex).
Hope this helps. Maybe a professional has a better take on it.
Edit: the below video does a great job of explaining it too!
Bars and keys were developed during the Baroque Era to simplify the composing of music. Vivaldi and JS Bach were among the first to use the system with an proliferation of musical composition following in it's wake.
Instead of explaining it, watch the clip:
Instead of explaining it, watch the clip:
On Bars.
Bars are segmented for sure. Each bar is the length of the time signature. Meaning if the time signature is 7/4 time. 7 beats make up one full bar. Or as in most popular music, 4/4 time counted as 1 2 3 4, next bar 1 2 3 4 etc...The music is GENERALLY arranged along those lines as well, and you can along with a riff in a song, repaying over and over 1-4.
After all that heavy theory, it's easier to understand how they work together with a great piece of music. The progression that JS Bach uses in this piece is almost idiotically simple, yet absolutely unforgettable.
OK thx for the non intellectual explanation but why is C major chord called C major? I assume the F Sharp chord is called F Sharp because the F note is played a half tone higher (F Sharp)
Sorry I'm too intellectual for the folks here.
I'll give it another try.
C is the name of the single note that you return to, your home note.
Major means its got a major third, the happy chord.
Minor means it uses the minor third (the sad chord)
The chords in the music you probably listen to are mostly made up of
Root
Third
Fifth
Only the third changes, major = happy, minor = sad
thx for trying but back to my question
calling something Major or minor means the 7 notes of the do re me scale change to some of the notes being played in sharp or flat, correct?
There are actually 13 (?) notes if you take into account all the sharps and flats but out of those twelve only 7 are traditionally played to prevent musical chaos
and the key tells you which 7, I think
There is a huge amount of information about music theory available on the internet, but here is a quick and simple explanation. In western music, we have octaves and scales.The "standard" pitch has the C note in the middle of a piano keyboard with a frequency of 523.2 Hertz (Hz, or cycles per second) and the A note just below it has a frequency of 440 Hz. An octave is any interval between one note and the note with twice its frequency. Both notes are given the same letter designation, followed by a number indicating its position on a standard 88 key piano. So the reference A at 440 Hz is called A4 and the next A an octave higher at 880 Hz is A5. Every octave is divided into 13 notes (counting the first and the last), and so 12 intervals. These intervals are equally spaced into semi-tones, but because the frequency separation in different octaves is not linear, the exact mathematical relationship between the individual frequencies requires an understanding of logarithms, which I will not go into here. For a major scale, there are 8 notes, the spacing between them is tone (equals two semi-tones), tone, semi-tone, tone, tone, tone, tone, semi-tone. Why? Because to our culturally conditioned ears it sounds right. The notes in all scales are usually numbered (or often roman numeralled) 1, 2, 3, ... 7, 8 or I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII and VIII.
Find a picture of a piano keyboard. The piano keys and associated strings are tuned so that the musical interval between each key is a semi-tone. Starting with Middle C (C5) the keys are: C (white), C# or D- (black), D (white), D# or E- (black), E (white), F (white), F# or G- (black), G (white), G# or A- (black), A (white), A# or B- (black), B (white) and then C again (white) an octave above where we started. Note that notes like B- are called B flat, the proper symbol is like a pointy little lower case "b".
So the If we start in the key of C, meaning our octave begins with a C note, then the notes in the C-major scale are: C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C. Notice how the key of C has no sharps or flats (the black keys, more or less)
Suppose that we play an A-major scale, the notes then are A, B, C#, D, E, F#,G#, A. Here we need three of the black keys to play the major scale.
That is the basics, to learn more start looking up musical theory, as I say there is a wealth of information out there. For instance, a major chord in any scale is the triad of three notes, I-III-V or 1-3-5. Thus a C-major chord has C-E-G and an A-major chord has A-C#-E. To play a minor chord (in a major scale) you drop the middle note down a semi-tone, so an A-minor chord (in the scale of A-major) is A-C-E.
Find a picture of a piano keyboard. The piano keys and associated strings are tuned so that the musical interval between each key is a semi-tone. Starting with Middle C (C5) the keys are: C (white), C# or D- (black), D (white), D# or E- (black), E (white), F (white), F# or G- (black), G (white), G# or A- (black), A (white), A# or B- (black), B (white) and then C again (white) an octave above where we started. Note that notes like B- are called B flat, the proper symbol is like a pointy little lower case "b".
So the If we start in the key of C, meaning our octave begins with a C note, then the notes in the C-major scale are: C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C. Notice how the key of C has no sharps or flats (the black keys, more or less)
Suppose that we play an A-major scale, the notes then are A, B, C#, D, E, F#,G#, A. Here we need three of the black keys to play the major scale.
That is the basics, to learn more start looking up musical theory, as I say there is a wealth of information out there. For instance, a major chord in any scale is the triad of three notes, I-III-V or 1-3-5. Thus a C-major chord has C-E-G and an A-major chord has A-C#-E. To play a minor chord (in a major scale) you drop the middle note down a semi-tone, so an A-minor chord (in the scale of A-major) is A-C-E.
Not really, it really only means the three pitches that usually make up the final chord.
fifth
third
root
The scale can go all over the place, depending on the music. Major can have a flat second, flat seven (typical in Eastern European Roma music) or a sharpened fourth (typical in modern jazz) and still be called Major. A lot of tunes stick to just the standard Major scale (white notes on the piano in the key of C).
So the Major scale typically looks like
Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Ti Do
but could be
Do re Mi Fa Sol la ti Do
(using capitals for major interval and small letters for minor).
The important part is really
Do Mi Sol or root third fifth
Nope, 12 notes in our system
7 notes in diatonic scales in western music.
Chinese, Japanese, Mongolian music traditionally uses 5 notes, though their modern pop is all western in keys.
Indonesian Gamelan uses a 5 or 7 note system with different tunings.
Indian music uses a more complicated pitch organization system, where they use 'raags' that are like scales but include rules on what direction you can go from different steps
Arabic music traditionally uses the diatonic system but in their scales, or 'maqam's they also use quarter tones or comma's, which are smaller steps then there are on the piano.
I know, too much information.
Can't help myself.
Here's a simple ( hopefully not overly simple) explanation:
The key of a song is a group of notes, from which the composer selects. Like previously stated, the key of C is cdefgabc. In purely tonal songs where the music stays in one key (c) only, only these notes are played. Most western music is tonal, one key music. Babbage black sheep in C major is ccggaagffeeddcggffeedggffeedccggqagffeeddc.
Happy birthday is ggagcbggagdcgg(g)ecbaffecdc.
Hope this helps, P
The key of a song is a group of notes, from which the composer selects. Like previously stated, the key of C is cdefgabc. In purely tonal songs where the music stays in one key (c) only, only these notes are played. Most western music is tonal, one key music. Babbage black sheep in C major is ccggaagffeeddcggffeedggffeedccggqagffeeddc.
Happy birthday is ggagcbggagdcgg(g)ecbaffecdc.
Hope this helps, P
You forgot one: diminished = villain twirls his moustache as maiden is tied to the railroad tracks
And now a joke for the musicians in the crowd...
Q. How can you tell if a singer is at your door?
A. He can't find the right key and doesn't know when to come in.
True, but diminished chords hardly ever happen in modern pop music.
This was the simplified description, after all, I already was told I was too intellectual.
another joke.
What's the difference between a musician and a Canada savings bond?
The bond eventually matures and generates an income.
