Key Signatures

  1. Sherry Cadenhead
    Sherry Cadenhead
    How do you know if a key signature is for a major key or its relative minor?
  2. Kevin Stueve
    Kevin Stueve
    often the tune will start or finish on the root note of the key. If that doesn't tell you then how does the song sound? sad likely minor
  3. HonketyHank
    HonketyHank
    Yeah. I'm with Kevin on the sad=minor, happy=major concept. But there are exceptions. If you see a key signature of one sharp, I think you have to get a feel for the mood of the music. Maybe it's E minor if sad or maybe G Major if happy. But there are also other modes, too, so these are not hard and fast rules. Musicologists are required maybe.
  4. Louise NM
    Louise NM
    What Kevin says—look at the last note of a phrase, or of the whole piece.

    If you want to get a little more complicated, look for accidentals. In a minor key, the 7th is often augmented. So, if the key signature has one sharp, you are (usually) looking at G major or e minor. If you are seeing occasional D#s, place a bet on e minor.
  5. Kevin Stueve
    Kevin Stueve
    yea I thought about trying to explain the accidentals Louise, but heck I get confused between harmoninc and melodic minors and ascending or descending :D
  6. Sherry Cadenhead
    Sherry Cadenhead
    From Kevin: "often the tune will start or finish on the root note of the key. If that doesn't tell you then how does the song sound? sad likely minor"

    I believe the best way to answer this question is to direct you to my post "Dancing on the Light" in the Forum under Classical, Italian, Medieval, Renaissance.

    By the way, I do understand accidentals, but always want to call them incidentals. That's a sure fire way to cause my teacher to roll her eyes.

    I'm buried in taxes right now, so if you respond and I don't for a while, that's why.
  7. Kevin Stueve
    Kevin Stueve
    okay so sounds minor, phrases appear to end on long duration E notes. I vote E minor. Now the pdf sheet music I have managed to find doesn't show any accidentals on the 7th which just means it is a natural minor not a harmonic or melodic minor. Henry, while it could be Phrygian mode, in this case I feel pretty confident that it is E minor not G major Phrygian mode (phrygian is the minor sounding mode right? plus the phrases do tend to start on B ... )
  8. Kevin Stueve
    Kevin Stueve
    back to the accidentals, but don't trust me 100% on this, music theory was a long time ago. Harmonic Minors augment the 7th to produce the 1/2 step leading tone we experience in a major scale between the 7 and the octave. This however produces an awkward step and 1/2 between six and seven so melodic minors augment the 6th and 7th when ascending the scale but not when descending the scale. (Is that close Louise?)
  9. HonketyHank
    HonketyHank
    Without having seen or heard the piece in question, I would bet against phrygian unless there is a theorbo involved. Just sayin'.
  10. Sherry Cadenhead
    Sherry Cadenhead
    Have you guys thought of using spell check?
  11. Kevin Stueve
    Kevin Stueve
    speaking for myself only, those of us who lack the natural talent, love to learn all the secret words and phrases it. It makes us feel like we are also musicians.
  12. HonketyHank
    HonketyHank
    JS Bach once wrote a little ditty for his son JC's birthday. It was in the key of C but it started with an E and ended with an E. Another of his sons, CPE it was, noticed this obvious error and changed the initial and terminal notes to C. JS is irate. He scratches out CPE's "corrections" and writes in E's again.

    That's how JS Bach became known as the world's first rephrygerator.
  13. Sleet
    Sleet
    Is that a joke a la mode?
  14. HonketyHank
    HonketyHank
    Then he changed the E's to D's and became a rephrygerator dorian.
  15. Mark Gunter
    Mark Gunter
    If the key sig is G but the tune is built around the E tone (E is the tonic center of the piece) then it is E minor. That's the difference between a major key and it's relative minor key. Unless you're into avante garde, you'll be playing tonic music. The tonic center determines the key (in this case, either Gmaj or Em) ... so the song or tune will either center around "G" or "E" ... all the things Kevin, Louise NM and Henry have mentioned are merely clues as to whether the E or the G is "tonic" or "centric" ... and are all valid, and may or may not all be present. Your ear will tell you which one is the tonic in most cases.

    And yes, like Kevin, I don't play worth a hoot so I do my best to grasp the intricacies! Or, I'm a nerd or something. If I really, really like a piece, it's probably minor.
  16. Louise NM
    Louise NM
    Kevin, the step-and-a-half isn't awkward, it's gorgeous!
  17. Kevin Stueve
    Kevin Stueve
    Henry in his defense CPE said "Ionian trying to help you pop"
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