11/7/2022 0 Comments Types of music keysHowever, for three of these enharmonic note names (B/Cb, F#/Gb, and C#/Db), a key signature exists that has 7 or fewer sharps or flats, thus not requiring mixed symbols. Also, in these cases there is a key signature available with far fewer accidentals (A# would require double-sharping F,C, and G, but why have 4 sharps and three double-sharps, when all you need is two flats?) Double-sharping and double-flatting is generally frowned on, and is disallowed altogether in key signatures because key signatures are supposed to have only one symbol. For most of these, such as A#, you have to go more than halfway around the Circle of Fifths, and "double-sharp" or "double-flat" notes in the key signature. Now, those 12 tones don't each have unique names each flat note is the adjacent note's sharp (for F and C, their flats are the natural notes E and B) and vice versa. For my part, this is my answer it's the basis of the Circle of Fifths and thus much of Western music theory. Thus, from a purely sonic perspective, there are only twelve starting notes for a key, and with major and minor scale qualities, there are 24 tonally unique keys. There are 12 unique named tones in Western music all pitches are one of these 12 tones. Obviously the answer depends on your point of view, and there probably isn't one "right" answer. quarter-comma meantone temperament.ġ I stole the example from a joke by the Finnish orchestra Retuperän WBK. I could otherwise perhaps further have suggested, say, nine (usable) keys for e.g. In case you find that it matters I'm referring to 12 tone equal temperament. I am pretty sure I know what's considered the answer to how many keys there are, but I would like to know why and who settled for this. When asked "How many major and minor musical keys are there?", what is the generally accepted correct answer? So, is there a consensus on or a standard answer to how many keys there are? This is to say that you can invent pretty much as many keys as you please. Major and relative minor keys for each of these 21 gets you 42 keys ( indeed with a lot of double sharps of flats in twelve of them).Īlbeit seemingly ridiculous someone might amuse himself/herself with for instance "transposing" 'Also Sprach Zarathustra' from C major to A# major 1 ("A triple-sharp major" with 24 sharps in the key signature :-) or use any other super-sharp/-flat key. That isĬb C C# Db D D# Eb E E# Fb F F# Gb G G# Ab A A# Bb B B#. If you count keys while you keep adding sharps or flats, until all seven natural notes (A to G) have a sharp or a flat symbol in the key signature, you end up with 30 keys.Ĭ F Bb Eb Ab Db Gb Cb(!) G D A E B F# C#(!)Ĭounting all seven natural notes (A to G) on their own, as well as their respective flattened, and sharpened notes we get 21 note names as a basis for keys. Sticking to the idea of enharmonic notes and the 24 keys but making a difference between the note names F# and Gb since they require an equal amount of sharp and flat symbols in their major and relative minor key signatures, and in that way seem equally relevant, yields 26 keys. This would in some sense be supported by the mere idea of 24-key set compositions such as Bach's The Well Tempered Clavier and Chopin's 24 preludes (although the choice of enharmonic high-number sharps/flats key signatures vary in different composition sets). One could argue that there should be one major and one relative minor key for each of the 12 equal tempered enharmonic notes, that is for each ofĬ Db(/C#) D Eb(/D#) E F F#/Gb G Ab(/G#) A Bb(/A#) B I am wondering about how many major and minor keys there are and why.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |