So there’s nothing wrong or confusing about saying I’m in the key of D Dorian.
Looked at it this way, a key is just the notes in the music unless otherwise stated and all of the modes you can make out of that group as well. Modes tell you how you’re using those notes. Just looking at a key signature tells you what notes are in the room. A device to open a room with specific notes inside. The way I look at it, none of the modes, and yes the major scale is just a mode…mode 1, are any more valid to use as a key as any other. We just decided as a western culture that mode 1, the major scale is the one we’d compare everything else to because you have to start somewhere. If one mode can be a key then they all can. Mode 6 if we’re counting the major scale as mode 1. If the relative minor can be a key then so can any of the other modes because that’s all the relative minor is. So calling one of the other modes, like Locrian or Lydian a KEY should not be considered confusing them. Well when you said each major key has a relative minor key, that relative minor “Key” is no different than any of the other modes. Music is a Language, therefore the same Rules apply. Although they sound alike, the words “their” and “there” have different meanings. Literacy demands that we spell words correctly for their intended meaning. This shows an example of “ Enharmonics“ one pitch with two names. Even though an A# and Bb have the same PITCH, they are NOT the same note in terms of a scale or chord. The iii chord in the Key of A Major is C# minor… not Db minor, even though those two chords sound alike.Ī C7 chord is spelled C-E-G-Bb NOT C-E-G-A#. Understand that Letter names of pitches must be listed in order in a scale and that all 7 must be used only once. Think of them as Tonalities instead of Keys. They are scales that are all based on the Major Scale. There are 7 Sharps: F#, C#, G#, D#, A#, E#, and B# which give us the Major Keys of: G, D, A, E, B, F#, and C#.Įach Major Key (the Ionian Mode) has a relative minor (the Aeolian Mode), so we need to double the Total, giving us 30 Keys.īe careful not to confuse the other modes, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian and Locrian, with Keys. There are 7 Flats: Bb, Eb, Ab, Db, Gb, Cb, Fb creating the Major Keys of F, Bb, Eb, Ab, Db, Gb and Cb. As long as you know the order of Flats and the order of Sharps, it’s very easy to understand.Ĭonsider that there is ONE key with NO Sharps nor Flats: The Key of C It’s really quite logical and uses a bit of Music Theory knowledge. A quick Google search yields a wrong answer. It is of paramount importance for the practicing musician to memorize these keys and to be able to recall them instantly.For some reason, this is a question that many Musicians and Music Educators answer incorrectly. The following tables illustrate each key signature, along with a listing of their corresponding keys. For example, B-flat major and G minor have the same key signature: the relative minor of the key of B-flat major is G minor, while B-flat major is the relative major of G minor. Each is termed the "relative" major or minor, respectively, in relation to the other. All other things being equal, though, each key signature can represent one of two musical keys: one major, and one minor. We need more than the key signature to determine the key of a passage, though - that must be decided on the basis of contextual features to be explained elsewhere in the School of Music. Since a the presence of a "key" in music is contingent on a certain pattern of accidentals, the key signature gives a partial indication of the key of a given passage of music. (For instance, in our example, if the key signature contains F-sharp but a written note F appears with a natural sign written in front of it, F-natural should be played.) In traditional notation, this influence of the new accidental applies for the duration of the measure before the key signature resumes its "dominion", or until canceled by a subsequent new accidental. An accidental immediately preceding the written note always takes precedence. Often, however, an accidental contradicting the direction of the key signature will appear immediately before the written note. (In this way it differs from a time signature, which need be written only once.) For example, if the key signature consists of only F-sharp, each written note F in the piece should be played as F-sharp, even though no sharp immediately precedes the written note.
The key signature determines the pattern of accidentals - sharps and flats - to be played, and reappears at the beginning of each staff. A key signature serves as a guide for the performer of a piece of music.
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