---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment We've been reading here that composers write music in specific keys for the "effect" of that key. The implication is that this is the only reason they chose a particular key. However, there are many practical reasons for a particular key for a piece: * The vocal range. The "Star Spangled Banner" has a wide melodic range. It can be sung in A-flat, A, or sometimes B-flat, but beyond that it becomes unsingable at one end of the range or another. (Actually it's a stretch in any key.) * Range for a particular part. Tenors peak on A# - B-flat. Much operatic music is written to have the song's climax on that note. La Dona e Mobile is in B because the piece climaxes in the 7th (A#). Some tenors can indeed consistently reach a B (or more) but not that many. However, if a tenor can't nail B-flat day in and day out, they're unemployed. * In instrumental writing much music is written in a key to make it doable on a particular instrument. It's one thing to write music that is difficult to play. It's quite another to write something that is simply awkward for awkward's sake. The traditional "Lord's Prayer" is published in A-flat, B-flat, C, D-flat and E-flat. Why those keys? Because the arpeggios in that piece are easiest to play in flat keys. (I once played it for a tenor who was having a bad day, in D. Not nearly as easy as it should have been!) * In instrumental and vocal music there is the matter of the melodic range. Transpose the first 8 measures of Clair 'd Lune (D-flat) up to G-flat and it sounds silly. Incidentally in this piece the modulation from D-flat to E is not a "far" modulation. The E part is more intense but in a nearer key (4 sharps rather than 5 flats). The relationship between the keys is a sub-medient relationship - a very common and musically satisfying change. There are lots of reasons why a particular key is chosen, not just for the "magic" of a key sound. dave _____________________________ David M. Porritt dporritt@mail.smu.edu Meadows School of the Arts Southern Methodist University Dallas, TX 75275 _____________________________ ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/f3/62/57/8f/attachment.htm ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment--
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