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Why are there different keys in music?

Music for solo voice and piano is often made available in different keys to suit the voice range of different singers. You would notice if the same singer sang a song in different keys because it would lie differently within the voice range.

theguardian.com - Why do composers write music in different keys. Would many people ...

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Why do composers write music in different keys. Would many people notice if, say, a piece was transposed to a different key? Ask any amateur guitar strummer to choose between the keys of E major and E flat major, for example - very close in sound, but a world apart when it comes to fingering the chords Gerald Haigh, Bedworth, Warks. There is a good deal more to this than just the practical reasons mentioned by Gerald Haigh. Conventionally in the tonal system it is assumed the more sharps to the key the more brilliant/exciting the music; the more flats to the key the more relaxed/solemn the effect. This is not only so when within a composition the music modulates one way or the other. Somehow, subjectively, a piece of E major (four sharps) will always feel brighter than one in A flat (four flats). This may be because most people begin their musical training at the keyboard with pieces in C major, and with this key as the norm automatically "feel" sharper or flatter keys in relation to it. Certain keys have come to have certain associations: C Major is open and noble, E flat major solemn and imperial. If the "Alleluia Chorus" were performed in C rather than D Major, I think most listeners would find the result less inspiring than usual. It may also be that 300 years ago or so, the naturally bright sounding instruments such as the early transverse flute and the open clarino trumpet, being more at home in the bright key of D Major (two sharps), help promote the idea that sharps equal brightness. Harold Webb, Roade, Northants. The choice is governed partly by the sound, but there are some very cogent practicalities to do with the capabilities of the chosen instrument or voice. Ask any amateur guitar strummer to choose between the keys or E major and F flat major, for example - very close in sound, but a world apart when it comes to fingering the chords. Writing for a full orchestra, therefore, demands an encyclopaedic understanding not just of the range of notes that an instrument is capable of, but of issues such as the difficulties of fingering, and of use of the lips in brass instruments that may make a tune unplayable in one key and quite easy in another. There are instrumental effects, too - a flute can sound like two different instruments depending on whether it is playing low or high notes. The composer needs to understand where the transition occurs, and how to exploit it. Choosing whether to write a symphony, therefore, in D rather than in C should be result of considerable thought about what the many instruments of the orchestra (and the voices of the chorus if there is one) are to be asked to do. This is no mean task, and rehearsal may well throw up some overlooked problems. Gerald Haigh, Bedworth, Warks. When I was at school in the early sixties, we had three prayers at the end of Assembly each followed by a sung Amen. These were always in the key of G, the pianist sounding the note before playing the cadence. One day when I was playing for assembly, I decided to play the Amens in the key of F to see if anyone would notice. Absolutely nobody sang the first Amen, everyone realising I'd given them the wrong note. Once I'd played the two chords, though, and established the key, the girls all joined in as normal. I was fascinated by the result of my experiment, but the music teacher was not amused. Pamela Garland, Wivenhoe, Colchester. In Western music, we have, for convenience, theoretically divided an octave into twelve "equal" semitones. However, the scales we use are not actually constructed of equal intervals. For instance, in C major, the semitone between E and F is not quite the same size as the one between G and G#, although it is extremely close. Another example is the blues third, which occurs somewhere between a minor and a major third: guitarists play this by bending strings; pianists imply the blues third by moving between the major and minor thirds. This is why instruments such as the violin do not have frets: a violinist makes minute adjustments depending on the key they're playing in; they do not put their finger in exactly the same place to play the E in A minor as to play the (ostensibly identical) E in C# minor. Pianos are designed to be played in C major, and are usually tuned to play C major perfectly, with a minimum of dissonance between non-identical semitones. If you play a chord containing lots of black notes on a piano, you will get more dissonance, although it is very subtle, and we are not generally aware of it as such. Guitars are designed to be played in E or A, and most other musical instruments also have "optimum" keys. So, the relationship between the performing instrument's optimum key and the key in which it is actually played decides how much dissonance is present in the music. Sub-consciously, we pick up on that dissonance, and this gives different keys different "feels". Joe Reeves, Glasgow Pianos can be tuned to play "perfectly" in C major, but I had always understood that equal temperament tuning was more usual. I remember seeing a piano tuner's guide which tells the tuner the frequency of "beats" required when certain notes are struck simultaneously, thus ensuring an equal temperament. J.S. Bach's 48 Preludes and Fugues (The Well-Tempered Clavier) were certainly intended for an equal temperament keyboard. Music for solo voice and piano is often made available in different keys to suit the voice range of different singers. You would notice if the same singer sang a song in different keys because it would lie differently within the voice range. Pelham Barton, Birmingham, UK In response to Gerald Haigh. E major and F flat major sound similar for a good reason. They are in fact the same key exactly. There is no note that would be called F flat, however, if one were to flatten (drop one semitone) an F then the resulting note would be E. Seth, Edinburgh UK In response to Seth, Gerald Haigh actuallly mentions E major and E flat major, which are two different keys. Iain, Glasgow UK Reading Gerald Haigh's remarks concerning the timbre of musical instruments reminded me of an experiment I once heard of in which the attack and decay of recordings of several instruments had been erased. When these 'truncated' recordings were played back, it was difficult to distinguish one from another, most notably trumpet and clarinet. On the subject of overall pitch of music, it is interesting to note that tuning has undergone significant change over the years. The standard pitch for the note A is today 440Hz (it's the note we hear played on an oboe when an orchestra tunes up) but it was not always so. For example, we are used to Beethoven's 9th Symphony being in the key of D minor but if we were to hear it as performed in 1824, we would say the key was closer to C minor. Indeed, I believe it has been played in that key and hearing it thus has been described as 'disconcerting'. If anyone knows if this version has been recorded, I would be interested to know of it. It may also be of interest that many composers, from Bach to Bartók, have instructed performers, mostly string players for obvious reasons, to detune their instruments for specific effects or to make a difficult piece easier to play. An example of detunig for effect is Saint-Saens' 'Danse Macabre', in which the E string is tuned a semitone lower to E flat, making possible the playing, on open strings, the eerie interval that characterises the work. Pete Wigens, Stroud, Gloucestershire, England

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