Photo: Leah Kelley

Is B Minor The saddest key?

Historically, classical composers felt that D minor was the most melancholy of the keys, suitable for lamentations, dirges and requiems.

guitarworld.com - Is D Minor Really the Saddest of All Keys? - Guitar World

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Historically, classical composers felt that D minor was the most melancholy of the keys, suitable for lamentations, dirges and requiems. Spinal Tap’s Nigel Tufnel thought so too, choosing the key for his musical trilogy “Lick My Love Pump.” “I don’t know why,” he remarks in Rob Reiner’s 1984 film, This Is Spinal Tap, “but it makes people weep instantly.”

But do different keys really sound different?

That’s what Adam Neely wanted to know. He observed that, historically, composers have felt that the different keys convey unique emotional states. But even if they did, he conjectures, does that still hold up for modern music?

For example, he notes, 18th-century German composer Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart wrote a musical treatise on the different keys in which he said Eb minor reflected “feelings of anxiety of all the soul’s deepest distress.” In this video, Adam explores this and many other questions about keys in his search to determine whether or not they have different emotional and musical meanings. He offers a historical perspective on tuning that explains how keys have lost some of their unique characteristics over time. So, he suggests, maybe there are differences between the keys in our modern tuning system, “it’s just that the differences are a little bit more subtle and maybe not as universal as you might think.” Or maybe it just comes down to something else unique to the individual instrument.

Take a look. It’s a fascinating perspective.

Adam offers a new video every Monday, so be sure to check out his YouTube channel for more.

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What chord is B-flat major?

The B-flat major triad, more commonly called the B-flat major chord or simply the B-flat chord for short, consists of the notes B-flat, D and F.

key-notes.com - B-flat Chord - Key-Notes

B-flat Chord

The B-flat major triad, more commonly called the B-flat major chord or simply the B-flat chord for short, consists of the notes B-flat, D and F. Here it is on the treble clef staff:

… and on the bass clef staff:

Here are both of the above chords on the piano:

As B-flat major triad, the B-flat chord consists of a major third plus a minor third. The interval from B-flat to D is a major third, while the interval between D and F is a minor third.

Inversions of the B-flat Chord

If the root of the B-flat chord – B-flat – is the bass note (i.e., the bottom note), then the chord is in root position: If the third of the chord – D – is the bottom note, then the chord is in first inversion: If the fifth of the chord – F – is the bass note, then the chord is in second inversion. (F is called the fifth of the chord because the interval from the root B-flat to F is a fifth.)

B-flat Major Arpeggios

If the notes of a chord are played one after the other, the chord is said to be arpeggiated. Here are the standard fingerings for arpeggios of the B-flat chord. Make sure you learn these fingerings!

B-flat major arpeggio in root position:

B-flat major arpeggio in first inversion:

B-flat major arpeggio in second inversion:

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