SongTrellis
Music and Musical Know-how For You

Author:  David Luebbert Posted:  10/31/07; 5:35:22 PM Topic:  Key of a song explained Msg#:  5359 (in response to 5358) Prev/Next:  5358/5360 Reads:  1122

Chas,

I should've said somthing about how to locate the key of a particular song. Thanks for your explanation.

Remember that the person who asked the question wasn't asking how to determine it, he wanted to know why the concept existed and what it means. I suppose he would also want to know how it helps you as a musician or a composer once you know it.

I was trying to get across the idea that the key identification describes the chord that will sound like home, the end of a journey, when you get to the end of a complex chain of harmony.

An A Major key identification tells you to expect to encounter a chord from the major family whose root is A as the home chord of your piece. An F minor identification tells you to expect to hear a chord from the family of minor chords built on the root F to be the home chord of a piece.

Knowing the key is helpful to know as an improvisor because you know that you'll probably start off playing ideas that fit with the home key, that you'll jump back to less related harmony and then keep working back towards the consonant sounds of your home key, usually with each chord in the progression leading to a close neighbor on the way back home until you're delivered right to the home chord.

If you are a composer, knowing how the game of keys works (start in the vicinity of home, jump away so you're nearly lost, then work your way back home) helps you write harmony that makes sense to the listener if you are trying to write a tonal piece of music.

If you're a performer, you'll know that you are likely to be playing the parts of the piece that provide the emotional payoff to the listener when you start to get back home. You'll probably want to be playing with your best intonation when you get to these parts of the performance.

I'll probably break that first attempt at explanation into smaller parts including examples so that the explanation is easier to follow.

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