What does 'key' mean in music?

Question

Can you explain what a key is? What does "in the key of E major" or "in the key of A minor" mean? I don't want to hear a pedantic answer that assumes I already know what a key is. Go ahead and explain it as if I were an alien, I wont be offended. Go ahead and insult me if it makes you feel better. I'v looked in some books and they all explain things as if I already have a working vocabulary of music theory. Please don't take for granted that I know anything about music. I know some stuff, but try to explain what a key is without assuming I already know what it means, just like everyone I've asked.

These answers are really great, but now that leads me to another few questions: 1)Does every scale have the same amount of notes in it and the same amount of steps? 2)If I play in the scale of A major for example, does that mean that all of the notes in that scale are available to be used in the composition and that all other notes that are not in the scale are excluded and would ruin the piece if they were there? 3) If I were to compose my own piece in a particular scale, does that mean I have to use all the notes in that scale at least once, or can I just pick a few of the notes from the scale that I want to use? 4) Does using a scale mean that I can just take whatever notes happen to be in that scale and arrange them any way I want to and they will end up sounding reasonably good?
5) Are there songs that use all the notes that exist? 6) Does the scale apply to the song as a whole, or just to individual progressions within the song? Are all the progressions in a song related?

Answer 1

Key, if I'm not mistaken is something like a set of octave range based on a chord.

Answer 2

Let's start with the C major. If you see no sharps or flats on the sheet music and the melody has happy ending, the song is written in the C major scale. A scale is a set of notes that forms the melody. It is like a team. The team C major has C, D, E, F, G, A and B notes as the regular members. You sometimes use other notes like C# and D# (black keys on the piano) but they are the reserve members. In the most basic cases, the melody ends with the C note when it is written in the C major scale. And the accompaniment usually ends with the C major chord, which means the C, E and G notes sounding together. (Please note that there are many exceptions.) In the C major scale, the C note is the anchor person. He is the captain of the team. You also say "the key note is C" or "the key is C major." Now let's go to other keys like G major. When you compose a song for the first time, you write it down in the C major key because it is the easiest way. There are no sharps or flats. But you sometimes find that it is too high or too low for your voice range. You try to adjust it. It is like adjusting your watch from one time zone to another. You finally find that it fits your voice range when the melody ends with the G note. OK, now you need the G major scale. The regular members are G, A, B, C, D, E and F# notes. In this case, you say "I wrote it in the C major key at first, but transposed it to the G major key." Lastly, a few words for minor keys. If you see no sharps or flats on the sheet music and the melody has sad ending, the song is written in the A minor scale (the A minor key). The regular members are A, B, C, D, E, F and G notes. Just the same as the C major but the captain is the A note. When a song is written in the A minor key, the melody ends with the A note and the accompaniment ends with the A minor chord (the A, C and E notes) which makes the sad ending. (This is just the most basic pattern.)

Answer 3

Hey
a key in music must be related to the instrument that is being played. the "key" which will be representing the scale on which a piece of music.like a different way a "key" is a way of octave range based on a chord.
music is a wonderfully process and keywords are high and low you sing and enjoy
take care

Answer 4

Is not that complicated. A key is the scale on which a piece of music is writteh, think of a key as the solar system... the sun being the key, and the planets are the rest of the sounds of a scale.

For example, if a song is in D major, the most important note and chord of that song would be D, all of the others sounds revolve around it.. just like the planets do around the sun. The song may wander off D.. but it will always go back to it. And at the end.. you happily arrive to that D chord.. which pleases your ears, and gives you a sense of satisfaction.

Answer 5

OK. A 'key' is a set of notes, usually 8 (an octave).

The key of C starts with the C note and progresses up:
C D E F G A B - it's by far the simplest 'key' to remember because it has no sharps or flats (notes inbetween the letters - sharp is up 1/2 tone, flat is down 1/2 tone). It is a major chord, in that it sounds upbeat... minor keys tend to sound darker or more moody. Most music lessons start out with locating/playing the C note, then the C major 'scale' -- all 8 notes from C upwards.

Now, here's the trick. Not all the notes are exactly a whole 'step' apart... two of them are only a half step. So... if you shift to another key, say... A... then you would start at A and progress up through G. Along the way, you would have to sharp (raise 1/2 step) or flat (lower 1/2 step) two of the other notes to make them sound 'right' and stay within that major scale progression. This is what's called a 'transposition'... taking notes written in one key and adjusting them all to play in another key.

When someone refers to a "minor" key... what they mean is that the notes have been adjusted to play that moody 'minor' scale, rather than the standard 'major' scale. You'll start at the same 'root' - C... but then might play D-flat instead of D, progress to E, then F, then G-flat, then A and B. So... when you say something is in the Key of C Minor... they're telling you that certain notes will be adjusted to fit the minor progression, instead of the major which is assumed. Listen to the "Moonlight Sonata" -- it does several shifts from minor to major and back again, and you can definitely tell when the 'key' changes even though it carries the same root for most of the piece.

Answer 6

A key is a notation which tells which notes a song will use. It can also shape the way that a song sounds. It's easiest to understand when visualizing the keyboard of a piano.
If somebody is playing a song using the white keys alone, they are playing in the "key" of either C or A minor. This is possible because on the white keys, going from C and pressing each white key until the next C produces the scale of C major. Going from A to A produces quite a different sound, and this is A minor.
The key of a piece of music is determined by the number of sharps or flats at the beginning of the staff. A major key is constructed by starting at the starting note, and then following the pattern: whole step, whole step, half step, whole step, whole step, whole step, half step. With a whole step, you skip one key, and with the half step, you press the immediate next key. You can start on any key, follow this pattern and you will construct a major scale.
Sometimes, a note is written that is not in the key of the piece. This is indicated by a sharp or flat preceeding the note. This is called an accidental.
Sometimes the music may change key and this is called a modulation.
In the end, keys are simply a tool for composers to produce a piece with a certain sound in a certain range. Music may also be switched to a different key to facilitate singing. For example, a piece written for a tenor may be transposed to let an alto sing it. This doesn't change the quality of the piece, but it moves it up or down to allow others to sing it.

Answer 7

Since you don't have a working knowledge of music theory, the easiest way to explain "key" is to call it the beginning and destination of the piece. For example a piece in "A" (whether major or minor) will end on an A chord and usually start with one. The pitch named in the key is the most important note in the piece. It will sound like a natural resting place and the melody and harmony are based on moving away from and then back to this note.
The major or minor designation is an indication of which scale notes have half steps between them. A half step is two adjacent piano keys such as F sharp (F#) and G or B and C; a whole step skips one piano key (F to G or B to C#). Basic scales have 5 whole steps and 2 half steps If you are familiar with singing syllables, a major scale starts Do, Re, Mi, . . . and a minor scale starts La, Ti, Do, . . . . An A major scale has the notes A, B, C#, D, E, F#, G#, A. An A minor scale has the notes A, B, C, D, E, F, G, A. A piece in a minor key will often have the 7th and sometimes 6th note of the scale raised (G# and F# in A minor) part of the time for a more flowing and pleasant melody and harmony.
The "key signature" of a piece refers to the number (if any) of sharps or flats at the beginning of the score. Each key signature has two keys associated with it one major and its relative minor. For example the keys of C major and A minor both have no sharps or flats. Whether the key of the piece is major or minor is determined by which note is the focal point or "tonal center".
So the key of a piece tells you which notes are sharp or flat and what note is most important.

Answer 8

its how high or low you sing something, like octave. if your a soprano you sing a higher key, if your an alto you sing a lower key

Answer 9

a scale or pitch. example in tune.

Answer 10

a key in music is the tuning of the instrument that is being played. for instance, i play guitar and keyboards, if i need to change the "key" that i am playing my guitar in to fit my voice, or another singers voice, i can either re-tune my guitar to another tuning instead of the normal "A" 440MHz, to say "G" 415 MHz, or i can put a capo around the neck of my guitar on the 3rd fret. on keyboards, all you have to do is change the chording structure. if you are playing in "G" below middle "C" and you need to play it in "Em" for instance, just transpose the notes 2 notes down. I hope this helps