How to Tell the Key of a Song
One key or another is always assigned to each and every music piece. It may be in the key of Bb or maybe even the key of E. The beginning of the score is used to determine the key signature that will be used throughout the piece, like if there are flats or sharps that will be used and which scale it is to be played or sung in.
Each piece of music contains a key signature. This is written immediately after the clef (on the staff) and is represented by a number of sharps (#) and flats (b). If you look carefully at the beginning of each line of music, you will see a group of sharps or flats (they are never used at the same time). These are placed individually on either a line or a space of the music staff and are placed on the notes they affect. In other words, if a sharp (#) is placed on the top line of the music staff, the note F is played as an F#. And all occurrences of the note F, whether on the top of the staff, the first space of the staff, or above or below the staff (marked by ledger lines), are played as an F#.
If the music requires that the note be played in a different way, not as a flat or sharp as indicated in the key signature, there will be an accidental just in front of the note to indicate it being played as a natural note. An example of this would be if the piece has been indicated to play all F notes as sharp but in one section it is needed played as a natural, the accidental will be placed just before the note that is different.
The key signature is put in place so that the sharps and flats will be limited on the actual notes in the piece of music. Basically, by putting the # in the signature key it avoids the writer from having to put a sharp or flat by each note when the F is in the music. It lets the musician know that each and every time the F note is required that it should be played as F#. The lines of music will not be as cluttered this way and it will be much easier to be read.
Below is a list of the most common key signatures and which notes are affected by them:
Key of C: No sharps or flats
Key of G: One sharp (F#)
Key of D: Two sharps (F# and C#)
Key of A: Three sharps (F#, C# and G#)
Key of E: Four sharps (F#, C#, G# and D#)
Key of F: One flat (Bb)
Key of Bb: Two flats (Bb and Eb)
Key of Eb: Three flats (Bb, Eb, and Ab)
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.
Last of all, it is very common for a song to change keys before the end of the song. Musicians that are newer to the musical industry may find this very challenging.
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