i vaguely know that a key is a set of notes but do they always have to sound good together? who created these keys and what criteria do a set of notes have to have to be considered a key?
In: 3
There are a couple parts to this question, and there are both historical and mathematical reasons that keys are as they are today.
>do they always have to sound good together?
If you played all the notes in the key of C major at the same time, it wouldn’t sound good, but I think you mean “do the notes in the keys always have to work well together.” The answer is yes, because every major key is built using the same blueprint as every other major key. D major contains the same gaps between notes as F major or Bb major or E major, but it just starts on a different note. Similarly, every minor key is built using the same blueprint as every other minor key.
>who created these keys
I’m no expert on music history, so my understanding is limited in this regard, but I believe the major scale and its modes were established as organizations of pitches to be used in Gregorian chant music in the Middle Ages. Now, the more interesting question is “how did we decide on that collection of pitches” and that leads into the more mathematical side of music, which I can elaborate on if you’re interested.
> what criteria do a set of notes have to have to be considered a key?
Generally, if a set of notes form a major or minor scale, then the music written using those notes is said to be in a major or minor key respectively. However, this is only part of the picture, because you may notice that there are major and minor keys that contain the same selection of notes (like C major and A minor, for example). The other part is based on the tonal center: whether or not a song is in the key of C major or A minor depends on whether C or A “feels like home”.
Latest Answers