How to Tell the Key of a Song
When a piece of music is written it is certainly written in a particular key, whether that be the key of Bb or maybe even E. By looking at the beginning of the score you can see what flats or sharps will be used and can determine then which scale has been used to write the song.
A key signature is included in each and every musical piece. This information is written right after the clef (shown on the staff) and is explained with symbols stating the number of flats (b) and the number of sharps (#). As you look over the beginning of the lines of music you will recognize a grouping of flats and sharps, which are not ever used simultaneously. They will appear separately on a space or on a line of the music staff and will be placed with the specific notes that will be affected by them. For example, if the music is to played using an F#, the sharp symbol, the #, will be placed on the top line of the staff. This will tell the person that is reading the music that each time an F is played, no matter if it is on top of the staff, in the first space, or below or able the staff (indicated by the ledger lines), this note should be placed as F#.
If a note that is dictated as sharp or flat by the key signature is to be played as natural, an accidental is placed before the note. For example, if an F (natural) is to be played in the key of G, an accidental has to be placed before it so it is not played as an F#.
The main purpose of the key signature is to limit the number of flats or sharps noted in the music. In other words, rather than placing a # by the note F every time it occurs in the music, it’s much easier to indicate to the musician that all Fs are to be played as F#s. Without key signatures, written music would be cluttered with sharps and flats making it very difficult to read.
The most common key signatures are listed below along with the notes that are affected by them:
Key of C: No flats or sharps
Key of G: One designated sharp (F#)
Key of D: Two designated sharps (C# and F#)
Key of A: Three designated sharps (C#, G# and F#)
Key of E: Four designated sharps (D#, F#, C# and G#)
Key of F: One designated flat (Bb)
Key of Bb: Two designated flats (Eb and Bb)
Key of Eb: Three designated flats (Ab, Bb, and Eb)
Each key also has it’s own relative minor. Though a major and its relative minor are similar in almost every way (their scales are the same though started in different places), they are thought of separately. A relative minor is named by the note that is a minor third down from the major (key). Another way to think of it is the relative minor is named by the sixth note in the major scale. For example, the note A is the six note of a C major scale, so an A minor is the relative minor to C. The use of a particular key’s relative minor is very common in music and knowing them goes a long way in understanding a song’s chord progression.
Below are some specific keys and what their relative minors (keys) are:
A minor is the relative minor for C.
B minor is the relative minor for D.
F# minor is the relative monitor for A.
G minor is the relative minor for Bb.
When a musician is experienced and plays his music in a nontraditional setting, like when they play free style with not music to read, all he really needs to know is the key that the music was written in and he will be able to play the scales or melodies and the necessary chords that will allow them to play the song freestyle.
Finally, it is not unusual for a song to be written in more than one key – to change somewhere in the middle of a song. Such key changes can be a challenge for relatively new musicians.
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