If a piece is played in e.g. 'B major' what does that mean?

Quite simply, its the key that the music is played in. A lot of rock/pop music are commonly written in keys such as D, A, G or C.
A Major key sounds a bit more bright, up, energetic, whereas a minor key sounds more mellow, soulful/mournful, for want of a better phrase. The difference between a major & a minor key is that the 3rd note of the scale is flattened by a semi-tone.
eg if you have a picture of a piano keyboard handy, the chord of C (major) has the notes of C/E/G, whereas the C minor chords notes are C/ Eflat/G.
Composers use a variety of keys to help convey the emotion &/or energy they want to portray in the piece.
Mike &/or George will I'm sure be along to further explain these ideas.
Matt.

it means that the point of departure for the piece is in b major (5 sharps). So the initial statement of the primary theme will usually be in b major, and the development of the theme or themes will resolve back to b major, no matter how many keys you moved through in the interim.

Jon,

I found these for "the great Gig in the sky"...

Lesson 1

Lesson 2

The Real Thing with Rick Wright

Mike can you explain how the "keys" work in this song, thanks?

Denis

quote:

Originally posted by DenisA:
Jon,

I found these for "the great Gig in the sky"...

Lesson 1

Lesson 2

The Real Thing with Rick Wright

Mike can you explain how the "keys" work in this song, thanks?

Denis

it will have to wait till i get home tonight.

will post back tonight, tomorrow.

Mike,

Thanks, look forward to your reply.

i listened to lesson 1 and 2 and it seems like the guy is telling you everything you have to know.

in lesson one he starts in b minor. that would have the same key signature as d major, which has F# and C#. in lesson one, he plays a C natural, which i hear as a "passing" note, that is a melodic note not in the key signature.

i think the key table at this web entry might help you :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_signature


are you trying to learn to play this on the piano?

if so, watch his hands :-)

Dm is of course the saddest key.

quote:

Originally posted by manicatel:
A lot of rock/pop music are commonly written in keys such as D, A, G or C.

Matt.

Not Status Quo - they are still in search of the fourth chord.

Yeah . . . .but ONE is the loneliest number that you'll ever do!

. . . . sorry people.

quote:

Originally posted by mikeeschman:
i listened to lesson 1 and 2 and it seems like the guy is telling you everything you have to know.

in lesson one he starts in b minor. that would have the same key signature as d major, which has F# and C#. in lesson one, he plays a C natural, which i hear as a "passing" note, that is a melodic note not in the key signature.

i think the key table at this web entry might help you :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_signature


are you trying to learn to play this on the piano?

if so, watch his hands :-)

Mike,

I do have an electric piano, but can only dream at playing this piece. I wanted to have a piece of music demonstrated that I could see when you explained which key signature was being played.

I am a great listener and have enjoyed fantastic concerts by Alfred Brendel, Stephen Bishop Kovacevich and the amazing Evgeny Kissin.

you have an electric piano, so you can play these examples :

1- starting from middle C on the piano, play all the notes up to the next c - it's all white keys.
That is a C Major scale.

It is composed of C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C.

The key of C is related to other keys that have the same tonality, that is, they sound alike in character, but go higher and lower, so that each is in its own tonal register. (This is a useful over-generalization for a beginner.)

The relationship is based on something called the circle of fifths. Here's how the circle of fifths works :

The C major scale is C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C.

The fifth note of the C major scale is G.

so the G major scale has one sharp. That is F#.

note the G major scale :

G-A-B-C-D-E-F#-G.

(note that the 7th note has the most recently added sharp :-)

The fifth note of G major is D. So the key of D major has 2 sharps, the F# and C#.

D Major :

D-E-F#-G-A-B-C#-D.


you can keep going on your own, after you read that wikipedia entry.

here's how flats work :

in C Major the fourth is F, so the F major scale has one flat, and it is Bb. Note that Bb is the fourth in the F major scale:

F-G-A-Bb-C-D-E-F.

So how do you think the flats progress?

Post some scales in this thread so i can see if you understand. we can work out any mistakes.

now minors, they have the same key signature (sharps and flats) as the major a minor third above them.

after an hour's study of the wikipedia entry in this thread, we can have a much more fruitful discussion :-)

note : a sharp is one half-step higher in pitch
a flat is one-half step lower ...

B minor with a flattened ninth
B Db Eb E Gb Ab Bb B Db Eb E Gb etc
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
So in the ninth position you have Db which if flattened becomes the C note you mention.

quote:

Originally posted by mikeeschman:
i listened to lesson 1 and 2 and it seems like the guy is telling you everything you have to know.

in lesson one he starts in b minor. that would have the same key signature as d major, which has F# and C#. in lesson one, he plays a C natural, which i hear as a "passing" note, that is a melodic note not in the key signature.

i think the key table at this web entry might help you :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_signature


are you trying to learn to play this on the piano?

if so, watch his hands :-)

quote:

Originally posted by Trilobyte:
B minor with a flattened ninth
B Db Eb E Gb Ab Bb B Db Eb E Gb etc
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

how did you derive this minor scale?

i found you a lesson on minor keys :

http://www.musictheory.halifax.../12minor_scales.html

quote:

Originally posted by mikeeschman:

quote:

Originally posted by Trilobyte:
B minor with a flattened ninth
B Db Eb E Gb Ab Bb B Db Eb E Gb etc
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

how did you derive this minor scale?

Mike, I know you already know this, but obviously it's not a minor scale, it's a major scale, albeit misspelled: if it is intended to be a B major scale, it should be B C# D# E F# G# A# B. If an enharmonic scale (same pitches, different names) is desired, it would be spelled Cb Db Eb Fb Gb Ab Bb Cb ... seven flats in the Cb scale. And although technically correct, I tell my composition students that I never want to see a Cb major scale in practical use ... it's a horrible freak of nature! Just use a B major scale and be done with it.

Anyway, all major scales consist of this pattern: whole step, whole step, half step, whole step, whole step, whole step, half step ... where a half step is the distance from any one piano key to the very next key, whether it's white or black, and a whole step is, obviously, the distance of two consecutive half steps.

Best,
Fred

quote:

Originally posted by fred simon:
Mike, I know you already know this, but obviously it's not a minor scale, it's a major scale, albeit misspelled:

the b minor with a flatted ninth comment threw me ....

Mornington Crescent!

quote:

Originally posted by Chris Kelly:
Mornington Crescent!

so "i haven't got a clue" and the rules are never fully explained.

what's the point?

Sorry, Mike. Just kidding. I regret that I have no musical education so I read this thread with interest but it makes as much sense to my ignorance as Mornington Crescent. I really enjoy your contributions to the forum so please don't take umbrage.

quote:

Originally posted by Chris Kelly:
please don't take umbrage.

not at all. i'm still not sure what the original poster was after.

i'm "in-between" music at the moment. i thought i was on to something, but it fell out my ear.

normally, when in this condition, i would have a smoke and mull it over. but smokes are sadly part of my past now.

Has anyone here posted the rules around major and monir scales around how the major and minor scales are constructed?

Andy C - learning his grade 5 scales = 12 major and 12 minor ones, three octaves similar motion! ,

and grade 4 pieces

PS - its good when you know what scale a piece of music is in....

Impossible to play properly unless you do know the key!

ATB

quote:

Originally posted by andy c:
Has anyone here posted the rules around major and monir scales around how the major and minor scales are constructed?

i posted that info earlier in the thread, and supplemented it with some links.

Sorry, I haven't made myself very clear. The scale I have written is a B major scale and I have used flats rather than sharps because I have no hash key. I couldn't find a hash key on my keyboard and C sharp is the same as Db(flat). If a Natural minor scale is played then the 3, 6,7 notes of the major scale are flattened by a semitone. The B minor chord is then derived from the 1, 3 and 5 notes of this new scale. If you play the C note in conjunction with these three notes you form an extended chord where the C happens to be a b9 in this new scale, hence B min b9.

quote:

Originally posted by mikeeschman:

quote:

Originally posted by Trilobyte:
B minor with a flattened ninth
B Db Eb E Gb Ab Bb B Db Eb E Gb etc
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

how did you derive this minor scale?

quote:

Originally posted by Trilobyte:

I couldn't find a hash key on my keyboard and C sharp is the same as Db(flat).

Hash sign should be shift-3 ... I've never seen a keyboard without one.

Best,
Fred