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4 - Relative Keys

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381 views

4 - Relative Keys

Uploaded by

api-238556135
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Relative Keys

The Circle of Fifths is more than just a pretty diagram


Did you know that: Is a reference tool to help find chords and scales. Musical chords played in a series are known as chord progressions. A key signature tells you how many flats or sharps are in a scale. Major and minor chords can determine the mood of a song. Perfect fifths are used to navigate the Circle of Fifths.

A Reference Tool for Musical Creation


In music theory, the circle of fifths (or circle of fourths) is a visual representation of the relationships among the 12 tones of the chromatic scale, their corresponding key signatures, and the associated major and minor keys. More specifically, it is a geometrical representation of relationships among the 12 pitch classes of the chromatic scale in pitch class space. The circle of fifths is a sequence of pitches or key tonalities, represented as a circle, in which the next pitch is found seven semitones higher than the last. Musicians and composers use the circle of fifths to understand and describe the musical relationships among some selection of those pitches. The circle's design is helpful in composing and harmonizing melodies, building chords, and modulating to different keys within a composition. The circle is commonly used to represent the relationship between diatonic scales.

Finding Relative Major and Minor Keys


Each major key has a minor key with the same key signature. This minor key is called the relative minor. It is easy to find the relative minor for any major key. This is because the note name of every relative minor key is ALWAYS a major 6th above (or minor 3rd below) the letter name of the relative major key. For example, in the illustration below, the relative minor of E-flat Major is C Minor because 6 musical scale degrees above E-flat major is C Minor.

Relative Keys
The Circle of Fifths is more than just a pretty diagram The Progression of Chords
A chord progression is a series of chords put together in a pattern. In the beginning of the video, I play a chord progression in the key of F. That progression is F, B flat, C, B Flat, and back to F. Chord progressions are based around piano scales, so when I say the song is in the key of F, I mean that its chords are based on the F major scale. F is the root of the scale, B flat is the fourth note of the scale and C is the fifth note of the chord. Because of this we can say that F is the I chord, B flat is the IV chord, and C is the V chord. These three chords are the most popular chords in modern music. A lot of the songs you hear on the radio are written with just those three chords, although in a variety of keys. Play around with the chords on your keyboard. You can put them in any order you like. For variety you can pick out individual notes of the chord instead of playing the whole thing at once. You can also play around with the pattern in which you play those individual notes of the chords, or play around with different inversions.

Subtle Complexities of Key Signatures


In musical notation, a key signature is a set of sharp or flat symbols placed together on the staff. Key signatures are generally written immediately after the treble clef at the beginning of a line of musical notation (right image). Although, they can appear in other parts of a musical composition. A key signature designates notes that are to be played higher or lower than the corresponding natural notes and applies through to the end of the piece or up to the next key signature. A sharp symbol on a line or space in the key signature raises the notes on that line or space one semitone above the natural, and a flat lowers such notes one semitone.

Mood and Emotions of Major and Minor Chords


Major and minor chords are often described in terms of feelings or mood. The ear tends to perceive major and minor as having contrasting personalities; a contrast that is most obvious when the two are played back to back. The hallmark that distinguishes major keys from minor is whether the third scale degree (3rd) is major or minor. The crucial difference is that in the major scale there is only a half-step between the third and fourth notes as compared to the minor scale where the difference between third and fourth notes is a whole step because the 3rd note is lowered one half-step. This alteration in the third degree "greatly changes" the mood of the music. The psychological effects of the major and minor chords, and their respective tonalities can be understood as the emotional corollaries of these underlying ideas. The major triad revolves around the ideas and the concomitant emotions of happiness, contentment, joy, devotion, bliss, and pleasure. The minor triad revolves around the ideas and the concomitant emotions of sadness, depression, sacrifice, grief, and melancholy.

Relative Keys
The Circle of Fifths is more than just a pretty diagram Perfect Fifths
A perfect fifth is simply the interval between two notes a fifth apart. So that would be from C to the G above it, D to the A above it and so on. If you are looking at a piano keyboard, to find a perfect fifth all you need to do is go up seven half-steps (seven consecutive notes, white and black) from your starting note and the note you reach is a perfect fifth higher than the one you started on. In the illustration below, the G note would be the perfect fifth up (seven half-steps) from the C note. Within the Circle of Fifths, G Major would be the next key up from C Major because of its perfect fifth position on the keyboard.

The circle of fifths is built on intervals. Going clockwise around the circle, every note is a perfect fifth above the previous one. C has no flats or sharps. G, on the other hand, has one sharp and is consequently a perfect fifth above C. Moving around the circle, D is exactly a perfect fifth above G and has 2 sharps. At the quarter mark, A is a perfect fifth above D and has three sharps, and so on.

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