Music theory - Key identification - 07/06/22 03:21 PM
We have had a thread about starting a Music Theory Study Group. There were a couple of members who were interested, but this group never got started. One of the problems is, I think, who wants to start at the very beginning and discuss staff, grand staff, treble clef and bass clef, notes and ledger lines, note durations, rests, measures, dotted notes, ties and slurs? Probably nobody.
So instead, I just start somewhere and write some lines about a subject and if there are a couple of people who like this, I might start some more threads about a subject within music theory. And maybe others also start a thread about something within music theory that they are studying! That would be so nice. You are all of course, very welcome to comment critically, if you don't agree with anything that I have written, or if you would like to add something.
So here it comes, my first, and hopefully not my last, text.
Key identification
When looking at an excerpt of music, it can be good to know how to identify which key you are in. This is how to proceed.
* Check the accidentals, and identify the possible major or minor key.
* The note that most strongly defines the key you are in, is the leading note. It points towards the tonic note. See if you can find the leading note close to the tonic both of the major and the minor key. This process is done with harmonic and melodic versions of the minor key, because they have a raised leading tone. This raised leading tone close to the tonic is a strong indication that the excerpt is in a minor key and not in a major one. And of course, the absence of this raised leading tone indicates that the excerpt is in a major key.
* In melodic minor, the 6th and 7th tones are raised. Thus, any time you see two accidentals one tone away from each other, your excerpt could be in a melodic minor key. For instance, A minor melodic has f# and g#.
* If you are still unsure, you can check the possible tonic notes in the melody. The melody needs to centre on the tonic, and definitely end on the tonic.
* However, you can also get confused by an accidental in the excerpt that can act as a passing tone, which is a melodic embellishment (typically a non-chord tone) that occurs between two stable tones (typically chord tones), creating stepwise motion. The typical figure is chord tone – passing tone – chord tone, filling in a third, but two adjacent passing tones can also be used to fill in the space between two chord tones a fourth apart. A passing tone can be either accented or unaccented.
So instead, I just start somewhere and write some lines about a subject and if there are a couple of people who like this, I might start some more threads about a subject within music theory. And maybe others also start a thread about something within music theory that they are studying! That would be so nice. You are all of course, very welcome to comment critically, if you don't agree with anything that I have written, or if you would like to add something.
So here it comes, my first, and hopefully not my last, text.
Key identification
When looking at an excerpt of music, it can be good to know how to identify which key you are in. This is how to proceed.
* Check the accidentals, and identify the possible major or minor key.
* The note that most strongly defines the key you are in, is the leading note. It points towards the tonic note. See if you can find the leading note close to the tonic both of the major and the minor key. This process is done with harmonic and melodic versions of the minor key, because they have a raised leading tone. This raised leading tone close to the tonic is a strong indication that the excerpt is in a minor key and not in a major one. And of course, the absence of this raised leading tone indicates that the excerpt is in a major key.
* In melodic minor, the 6th and 7th tones are raised. Thus, any time you see two accidentals one tone away from each other, your excerpt could be in a melodic minor key. For instance, A minor melodic has f# and g#.
* If you are still unsure, you can check the possible tonic notes in the melody. The melody needs to centre on the tonic, and definitely end on the tonic.
* However, you can also get confused by an accidental in the excerpt that can act as a passing tone, which is a melodic embellishment (typically a non-chord tone) that occurs between two stable tones (typically chord tones), creating stepwise motion. The typical figure is chord tone – passing tone – chord tone, filling in a third, but two adjacent passing tones can also be used to fill in the space between two chord tones a fourth apart. A passing tone can be either accented or unaccented.