Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • 31 views

    How Keys Work

    Uploaded by

    Stephen Pommells
    The document discusses how keys work in Western music. It explains that in the C major scale, the half steps naturally occur between E and F, and B and C. However, to play in other keys like F or D major, notes need to be flattened or sharpened to move the half steps to between the 3rd and 4th notes and 7th and 1st notes, following the major scale formula. The key of F major requires flattening B to Bb, while D major requires sharpening both F and C to F# and C#. Altering notes in this way allows other major scales to fit the standard major scale pattern.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    How Keys Work

    Uploaded by

    Stephen Pommells
    31 views2 pages
    The document discusses how keys work in Western music. It explains that in the C major scale, the half steps naturally occur between E and F, and B and C. However, to play in other keys like F or D major, notes need to be flattened or sharpened to move the half steps to between the 3rd and 4th notes and 7th and 1st notes, following the major scale formula. The key of F major requires flattening B to Bb, while D major requires sharpening both F and C to F# and C#. Altering notes in this way allows other major scales to fit the standard major scale pattern.

    Original Description:

    How Keys Work — edmprod

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    The document discusses how keys work in Western music. It explains that in the C major scale, the half steps naturally occur between E and F, and B and C. However, to play in other keys like F or D major, notes need to be flattened or sharpened to move the half steps to between the 3rd and 4th notes and 7th and 1st notes, following the major scale formula. The key of F major requires flattening B to Bb, while D major requires sharpening both F and C to F# and C#. Altering notes in this way allows other major scales to fit the standard major scale pattern.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    31 views2 pages

    How Keys Work

    Uploaded by

    Stephen Pommells
    The document discusses how keys work in Western music. It explains that in the C major scale, the half steps naturally occur between E and F, and B and C. However, to play in other keys like F or D major, notes need to be flattened or sharpened to move the half steps to between the 3rd and 4th notes and 7th and 1st notes, following the major scale formula. The key of F major requires flattening B to Bb, while D major requires sharpening both F and C to F# and C#. Altering notes in this way allows other major scales to fit the standard major scale pattern.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 2

    4/27/2016

    HowKeysWorkedmprod.com

    edmprod.com

    How Keys Work


    Oct. 28, 2013 1 min read original

    In Western music, C major is the natural major scale. This means that the half-steps
    naturally occur between E and F, and B and C.
    For example: C D E^F G A B^C.
    Note that E and F are the 3rd and 4th, and B and C are the 7th and root. This follows our
    major scale formula, where half-steps are between the 3rd and 4th and 7th and root. If you
    look on a piano, the naturally occurring half-steps (where there is no black key) are
    between E and F, and B and C.
    But what if, for example, we want to play in the key of F? Without changing any notes, if we
    start and end on F, we get this pattern:
    F G A B^C D E^F
    Without changing any notes, our half-steps fall between 4 and 5 and 7 and 1. But we want
    them between 3 and 4, and 7 and 1. So, we flat the 4th note (the B) to get:
    F G A^Bb C D E^F
    Now our half-steps fall between 3 and 4, and 7 and 1. So we can say that, in the key of F
    major, we have one flat, Bb. The same happens with keys involving sharps. Lets look at the
    key of D major:
    D E^F G A B^C D
    Without changing any notes, the half-steps fall between 2 and 3 and 6 and 7. But again, we
    want them between 3 and 4, and 7 and 1. So we raise the 3rd and 7th notes:
    D E F#^G A B C#^D

    https://www.readability.com/articles/ssscslfn

    1/2

    4/27/2016

    HowKeysWorkedmprod.com

    Now our half-steps fall between 3 and 4, and 7 and 1, which is what we want. We had to
    sharp both F and C and so we can say the key of D major has two sharps, F# and C#.
    This is the idea behind keys. We have to change the quality of some notes by lowering
    them a half-step (flatting them) or raising them a half-step (sharping them) in order to
    make them fit the major scale formula.
    TL;DR: The naturally occurring half-steps in Western music are between E and F, and B
    and C. To make keys other than C major fit the major scale formula, we have to alter
    certain notes by either flatting or sharping them.

    Original URL:
    http://edmprod.com/how-keys-work/

    https://www.readability.com/articles/ssscslfn

    2/2

    You might also like

    pFad - Phonifier reborn

    Pfad - The Proxy pFad of © 2024 Garber Painting. All rights reserved.

    Note: This service is not intended for secure transactions such as banking, social media, email, or purchasing. Use at your own risk. We assume no liability whatsoever for broken pages.


    Alternative Proxies:

    Alternative Proxy

    pFad Proxy

    pFad v3 Proxy

    pFad v4 Proxy