Music theory question.

[Jopke]

There's something I've never been able to understand about the Western scale system and how other systems relate to it. It's the idea of a key. To qualify as a song in the key of C major it's notes would have to fall within the C major scale. If you simply transpose everything one semitone the song is now in C# major. I don't see an aesthetic need for having this option unless maybe a certain instrument's tone sounded better when played a half step higher or lower... although I can't think of one. I guess an instrument might be easier to play in a different key for finger position reasons or something but if that's not it I don't understand the science, or art behind writing a song in a certain key. If I hear a song in C major then hear the same song in C# Major, I will comparatively notice the difference. If I were to just have heard the song in C# Major first, would it have made a difference to me? Is there a functional reason for being able to change a song from one key to the other?

[Richie Witch]

If it's a science, the closest relationship would have to be psychology. The key struture really has to do with emotion and feel, and the innate way that humans respond to sound that streches back to the beginning of time. Consider this:

It should be noted that the key of the piece ... contributes an indefinable something to the evocative quality. This is very difficult to put into concrete terms, but slow movements in A-flat major do have something in common, as do fast movements in C minor, concerto allegros in D major, etc. … It has been argued that the performer's concept of particular key is actually created by factors such as the 'feel' of the key or tonal center on the keyboard or its appearance in notation. Many musicians, however, tend toward an empirical acceptance of specific moods associated with specific keys, regardless of changes in pitch standards and other factors.
—John D. White

From my own experience, I find that as I transpose a song upward from the key I created it in, the song begins to sound brighter and more uplifting, whereas transposing down makes the song more somber and thoughtful.
But these are feelings and impressions caused by my own emotional interaction with the music itself, not something that can be mathematically calculated. If you search for various key signatures on Wikipedia, you’ll find commentaries about the sort of emotion or mood that key is thought to evoke.

For example:

Glenn Gould once said if he could be any key, he would be F minor, because "it's rather dour, halfway between complex and stable, between upright and lascivious, between gray and highly tinted...There is a certain obliqueness."

Nigel Tufnel, one of the members of the musical spoof megagroup Spinal Tap speaks of "a musical trilogy I'm working on in D minor which is the saddest of all keys, I find. People weep instantly when they hear it, and I don't know why."

[Jopke]

Thanks for the thoughtful response. With such a large part of the explanation left open to the musician's interpretation, I think you've answered my question as well as could be answered.

[Angstrom]

it's an interesting idea (that lower keys are more sombre and higher keys are more perky), but I'm extremely doubtful about the objective truth of that interpretation.
Subjectively it seems correct as you transpose down a semitone or two the song seems more moody - but that's just subjective, and relative. Imagine transposing a song in C maj down 12 semitones to C maj , is this 12 semitone drop now really moody?
Hopefully this exposes the flaw in the interpretation, You can't say that the key of C major is moodier than C major because they are the same key.

I think what is happening when we move a song is less about the key and more about our established expectations of the tone of the chords used. the triad C2 E2 G2 has a different personality that C5 E5 G5 because of the harmonic behaviour of the specific note values, not the key. So if we move a song up or down a semitone we brighten or darken harmonically, but if we revoiced our chords in the same key we might get even better results.

For example :
C Major = C3 E3 G3 = boring,
C Major = C3 G3 E4 = plangent

just guessing.

[derzai]

characteristics of musical keys.

http://biteyourownelbow.com/keychar.htm

Characteristics of Musical Keys

This document contains a selection of information from the Internet about the emotion or mood associated with musical keys. It is not complete nor does it include information found only in print sources.

Emotion and musical pitch || Color and musical pitch



Emotion and musical pitch

From http://www.music-cog.ohio-state.edu/Mus ... swers.html What is meant by a "key characteristic?"

The association of certain musical key signatures with a specific subjective quality or emotion. e.g., E major as "bright & piercing."


From http://www2.hmc.edu/~alves/justkeys.html

Many theoretical works of the eighteenth century explicitly assign certain affectations or emotional characteristics to different keys. Though these writings often contradict each other as to what these characteristics actually are, it is well known that many composers carefully chose keys for similar affectations throughout their lives. To Mattheson, for example, D major was "somewhat shrill and stubborn," while to Rousseau it was suited to "gaiety or brilliance."


From http://www.wmich.edu/mus-theo/courses/keys.html

From Christian Schubart's Ideen zu einer Aesthetik der Tonkunst (1806) translated by Rita Steblin in A History of Key Characteristics in the 18th and Early 19th Centuries. UMI Research Press (1983).
C major Completely pure. Its character is: innocence, simplicity, naïvety, children's talk.
C minor Declaration of love and at the same time the lament of unhappy love. All languishing, longing, sighing of the love-sick soul lies in this key.
Db major A leering key, degenerating into grief and rapture. It cannot laugh, but it can smile; it cannot howl, but it can at least grimace its crying.--Consequently only unusual characters and feelings can be brought out in this key.
D major The key of triumph, of Hallejuahs, of war-cries, of victory-rejoicing. Thus, the inviting symphonies, the marches, holiday songs and heaven-rejoicing choruses are set in this key.
D minor Melancholy womanliness, the spleen and humours brood.
D# minor Feelings of the anxiety of the soul's deepest distress, of brooding despair, of blackest depresssion, of the most gloomy condition of the soul. Every fear, every hesitation of the shuddering heart, breathes out of horrible D# minor. If ghosts could speak, their speech would approximate this key.
Eb major The key of love, of devotion, of intimate conversation with God.
E major Noisy shouts of joy, laughing pleasure and not yet complete, full delight lies in E Major.
F major Complaisance & calm.
F minor Deep depression, funereal lament, groans of misery and longing for the grave.
F# major Triumph over difficulty, free sigh of relief utered when hurdles are surmounted; echo of a soul which has fiercely struggled and finally conquered lies in all uses of this key.
F# minor A gloomy key: it tugs at passion as a dog biting a dress. Resentment and discontent are its language.
G major Everything rustic, idyllic and lyrical, every calm and satisfied passion, every tender gratitude for true friendship and faithful love,--in a word every gentle and peaceful emotion of the heart is correctly expressed by this key.
G minor Discontent, uneasiness, worry about a failed scheme; bad-tempered gnashing of teeth; in a word: resentment and dislike.
Ab major Key of the grave. Death, grave, putrefaction, judgment, eternity lie in its radius.
Ab minor Grumbler, heart squeezed until it suffocates; wailing lament, difficult struggle; in a word, the color of this key is everything struggling with difficulty.
A major This key includes declarations of innocent love, satisfaction with one's state of affairs; hope of seeing one's beloved again when parting; youthful cheerfulness and trust in God.
A minor Pious womanliness and tenderness of character.
Bb major Cheerful love, clear conscience, hope aspiration for a better world.
Bb minor A quaint creature, often dressed in the garment of night. It is somewhat surly and very seldom takes on a pleasant countenance. Mocking God and the world; discontented with itself and with everything; preparation for suicide sounds in this key.
B major Strongly coloured, announcing wild passions, composed from the most glaring coulors. Anger, rage, jealousy, fury, despair and every burden of the heart lies in its sphere.
B minor This is as it were the key of patience, of calm awaiting ones's fate and of submission to divine dispensation.

From http://www.wu-wien.ac.at/earlym-l/logfiles/em.2001-03

Key or mode descriptions from Charpentier's Regles de Composition ca. 1682

C major:
C minor:
D major:
D minor:
Eb major:
E major:
E minor:
F major:
F minor:
G major:
G minor:
A major:
A minor:
B major:
B minor:
Bb major:
Bb minor: gay and warlike
obscure and sad
joyous and very warlike
serious and pious
cruel and hard
quarrelsome and boisterous
effeminate, amorous, plaintive
furious and quick-tempered subjects
obscure and plaintive
serious and magnificent
serious and magnificent
joyful and pastoral
tender and plaintive
harsh and plaintive
solitary and melancholic
magnificent and joyful
obscure and terrible

From http://web.archive.org/web/200504191627 ... usic5.html (archived version of this site
Scroll down to the section titled Key Characteristics

Key Characteristics

"Today many musicians claim to hear the different characteristics very clearly, and associate them with the emotional quality of the music. They will tell us that music played in the "open" key of C major---with neither flats nor sharps in the key signature---sounds strong and virile; played in the key of G, with one sharp, it sounds brighter and lighter; in D, with two sharps, even more so; and so on. Every additional sharp in the key signature is supposed to add to the brightness and sparkle of the music, while every flat contributes softness, pensiveness, and even melancholy.

From the English translation of Helmholtz's Tonempfindungen:

C major:
Db major:
E major:
E minor:
F major:
F minor:
F# major:
Gb major: Pure, certain, decisive; expressive of innocence, powerful resolve, manly earnestness and deep religious feeling
Fullness of tone, sonority and euphony
Joy, magnificence, splendour; brightest and most powerful key
Grief, mournfulness, restlessness
Peace, joy, light, passing regret, religious sentiment
Harrowing, melancholy
Brilliant, very clear
Softness, richness

Color and musical pitch

http://www.harmonics.com/lucy/lsd/colors.html: Pitch, colour, Scriabian, and others by Charles E. H. Lucy
an attempt to make a "connection through mathematics and physics"
He states that in addition to Scriabin, "Berlioz, Debussy and Wagner were also interested in music and colour and Rimsky-Korsakov considered C as white."

This site includes Scribians, The Rosicrucian Order's, and Charles Fourier's color charts for musical pitches.


Keys and Colors: Is There a Connection? by Gail Smith
Includes Amy Beach's list of key colors


From http://rhythmiclight.com/archives/ideas ... shade.html

From Frank Popper, Origins and Development of Kinetic Art, 1968:
p. 157-8: Scriabin held that each mode corresponded to a particular shade of colour, and each modulation to a nuance of this shade.


From Tom Douglas Jones, The Art of Light & Color, 1972:
p. 102: Beethoven is said to have called B minor the black key. Schubert likened E minor "unto a maiden robed in white with a rose-red bow on her breast." One Russion composer said, "Rimsky-Korsakoff and many of us in Russia have felt the connection between colors and sonorities. Surely for everybody sunlight is C major and cold colors are minors. And F-sharp is decidedly strawberry red!" Of his subtle compositions Debussy wrote: "I realized that music is very delicate, and it takes, therefore, the soul at its softest fluttering to catch these violet rays of emotion."

p. 103: Dr. D.S. Myers, a psychologist who talked with Scriabin, said, “Sriabin’s attention was first seriously drawn to his colored hearing owing to an experience at a concert in Paris, where sitting next to his fellow countryman and composer Rimsky-Korsakoff, he remarked that the piece to which they were listening (in D major) seemed to him yellow; whereupon his neighbor replied that to him, too, the color seemed golden. Scriabin has since compared with his compatriot and with other musicians the color effects of other keys, especially B, C major, and F-sharp major, and believes a general agreement to exist in this respect. He admits, however, that whereas to him the key of F-sharp major appears violet, to Rimsky-Korsakoff it appears green; but this derivation he attributed to an accidental association with the color of leaves and grass arising from the frequent use of this key for pastoral music. He allows that there is some disagreement as to the color effect of the key of G major. Nevertheless, as is so universally the case with the subjects of synesthesia, he believes that the particular colors which he obtains must be shared by all endowed with colored hearing."


From http://www.thereminvox.com/story/28?page=5

Athanasius Kircher system of correspondences between musical intervals and colors
octave: green
seventh: blue-violet
major: sixth fire red
minor: sixth red-violet
augmented fifth: dark brown
fifth: gold
diminished fifth: blue
fourth: brown-yellow
major third: bright red
minor third: gold
major wholetone: black
minor second: white
minor wholetone: grey
(See this website for more systems like this)

Scriabin's system of colored musical keys:
C# -- Purple
F# -- Bright Blue/Violet
B -- Blue
E -- Sky Blue
A -- Green
D -- Yellow
G -- Orange
C -- Red
F -- Deep Red
Bb -- Rose/Steel
Eb -- Flesh
Ab -- Violet
Db -- Purple (same as C#)
Gb -- Bright Blue/Violet (same as F#)


From http://www.composersdatebook.org/archives/090400.shtml (this link no longer works 05/28/09)

Two Russian composers were fascinated with the idea of linking certain musical keys to particular colors - but came up with completely different associations. According to Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, the key of C Major was "white," while Alexander Scriabin said it was "red." The two composers did agree, however, that the key of D major was "yellow" and that Eb Major was either "bluish-grey" or "steely."

Here's a list of other key signatures, with Rimsky-Korsakov's color choice given first, then Scriabin's color association:
G Major (Brownish-gold/Orange-rose)
A Major (Rosy/Green)
E Major (SapphireBlue/Bluish-white)
B Major (Dark Blue/Bluish-white)
F# Major (Grayish-green/Bright blue)
Db Major (Dusky/Violet)
Ab Major (Grayish-violet/Purple-violet)
E Major (Green/Red)



From http://glenngould.org/f_minor/msg08707.html

"... descriptions of keys from various writings ... (quoted from a book by Rita Steblin):
C Major:
"Completely pure" (Schubart, 1784)
"Cheerful and pure" (Knecht, 1792)
"State of nature, virginal chastity and purity, lovely innocence of youth" (Heinse, 1795)
"Naturalness and nobility" (Gervasoni, 1812)
"Cheerful and pure; innocence and simplicity" (Weikert, 1827)
"Simple, unadorned" (Schumann, 1835)
"Concerning the physical expression of this key, it appears to be completely pure" (Schilling, 1835)
C-sharp minor:
"Penitential lamentation, intimate conversation with God" (Schubart, 1784)
"Despair" (Knecht, 1792; Schrader, 1827; Weikert, 1827; Ebhardt, 1830)
D major:
"Gay things and grandeur" (Rousseau, 1691)
"Joyful and very militant" (Charpentier, 1692)
"Pleasant, joyful, bright, songs of victory" (Masson, 1697)
"Songs of mirth and rejoicing; grandeur and magnificence" (Rameau, 1722)
"Martial ardour" (Hawkins, 1776)
"The key of triumph, of Hallelujahs, of war-cries, of victory-rejoicing" (Gathy, 1835)
Eb minor:
"Horrible, frightful" (Charpentier, 1692)
"Feelings of the anxiety of the soul's deepest distress, of brooding despair, of blackest depression, of the most gloomy condition of the soul. Every fear, every hesitation of the shuddering heart, breathes out of horrible Eb minor. If ghosts could speak, their speech would approximate this key" (Schubart, 1784)
E major:
"Uplifting" (Junker, 1777)
"Bright" (Gretry, 1797)
Bb minor:
"Gloomy and terrible" (Charpentier, 1692)
"Mournful songs" (Rameau, 1722)
"Preparation for suicide sounds in this key" (Schubart, 1784)
comments
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Last revised 10/14/09

the copy/paste didnt work, but have a look at the link or do a google.

[stringtapper]

As far as the colorful descriptions people have given keys in the past, that is all mostly subjective.

I say mostly because where it can have an effect is in how certain acoustic instruments sound in particular registers of their range. So if the A3 and C#4 pipes on Bach's organ were particularly resonant then he might have had a penchant for writing in A major (he didn't, I'm making that up to make a point).

As for a "functional" reason for having different keys there are two general reasons:

1. Transposition. For singers to bring a piece of music into their vocal range. It's done all the time and a whole lot of singers would never even be able to perform if this weren't possible.

2. Modulation. In pop music this is mostly relegated to the old "now play the song up a fourth" trick. In more sophisticated styles modulation through different keys is an essential musical element. The interplay between closely and distantly related keys and how the composer gets from one to another is integral to the 19th century classical/romantic style of composition.

[infernal.machine]

To qualify as a song in the key of C major it's notes would have to fall within the C major scale.

To qualify as a song in the key of C major, MOST of its notes fall within the C major scale, but there can still be accidentals. Also the root note has to be C... because a song in the key of A minor has all the same notes as C major, but has the root shifted.

If you simply transpose everything one semitone the song is now in C# major. I don't see an aesthetic need for having this option unless maybe a certain instrument's tone sounded better when played a half step higher or lower... although I can't think of one.

A good example of the difference that key makes is bass music. A low B makes your chest feel a lot different than a low F (get on a good sound system and try this out for yourself). Different frequencies resonate with your body in different ways, much like the way a wine glass can be shattered only at its particular resonant frequency. This carries over to your mids and highs as well, but it's a little harder to describe the difference (words like "brightness" and "moodiness" are the best we can do).

Is there a functional reason for being able to change a song from one key to the other?

As you mentioned, key changes for instrumentalists (fingering, range, etc) and for vocalists (range, comfort, etc) are very important. There's a reason so many folk singers use capos-- to get the tune in their singing range while still being able to play open shaped chords on the guitar. For DJs, changing a song from one key to the next can help with more fluid mixing between tracks and other creative ideas.

[Machinesworking]

I think octave and timbre affects emotional response in a much larger way than pitch.

IE distortion makes things sound rough and 'male' VS a more sine wave type timbre in mid or high registers sounding less like that.
A good amount of this is based on cultural identifiers more than music theory though. We as a culture associate noise and distortion with cities, muscle, machines etc. and say a flute with effeminate qualities and sophistication.

In the same vein scales in my opinion have more to do with tension/release in music than anything else. Some les tonal scales add a lot of tension, while minor scales are notoriously moody etc. Mostly I think of key as an important thing to keep in mind as a writer, because if every song you do is in the same key, the listener will end up losing interest.

[H20nly]

*bookmark*

[cmcpress]

Also, key changes.

[stringtapper]

Also, key changes.

Thus the part of my post that talked about modulation.

[Angstrom]

Also, key changes.

Thus the part of my post that talked about modulation.

Thats the one next to the pitchbend isn't it?
yeah, I love me some modulation.

[stringtapper]

Also, key changes.

Thus the part of my post that talked about modulation.

Thats the one next to the pitchbend isn't it?
yeah, I love me some modulation.

It's funny, but I actually have to address this terminology issue in my dissertation. It's about analyzing electroacoustic music, so when using terms like "modulation" the target audience (music theorists/musicologists) is mostly going to think of the key change definition, when I will actually be talking about signal processing.

[Angstrom]

Thats the one next to the pitchbend isn't it?
yeah, I love me some modulation.

It's funny, but I actually have to address this terminology issue in my dissertation. It's about analyzing electroacoustic music, so when using terms like "modulation" the target audience (music theorists/musicologists) is mostly going to think of the key change definition, when I will actually be talking about signal processing.

If being precise I'd say "Parametric modulation"

[stringtapper]

That's a good term. I suppose even in electronic music the term has a couple of (related) meanings. The general one being like your term, the modulation of any parameter, but in audio signal processing the term is often used to specifically mean the modulation of delay lines in order to create effects like chorus (which of course still falls within the first, broader usage).