I know next to nothing about musical theory. Torturous, mandatory participation in musical endeavors in youth taught me how to read music and the very fundamentals.
Why does changing the number of sharps and flats in the key so dramatically change the entire sound of the piece? Why is the key so important that famous pieces of music are billed as “Such and such in G major” or whatever?
I mean I know that some of the notes will be half a step higher or lower depending on what the key falls for. But I can’t imagine why that changes so much. I’ve heard songs like The Star Spangled Banner and other famous works played in a minor key and it completely changes the entire sound. How?
In: Culture
I’m going to try to actually ELI5 here, at least more so than the other replies, which all seemed incredibly technical.
Major keys vs minor keys are kind of like happy vs sad…both are acceptable, but very different. Songs in major keys sound much happier than songs in a minor key do, so if you want a song to sound sad or serious, you want it to be played in a minor key. There are exceptions to this rule, but in most cases we hear music as major=happy and minor=sad. Culturally we use major songs to represent happy occasions and minor songs for sad ones, and that is the biggest reason I can think of to explain why we attribute emotions to songs that might not be specifically meant to be emotional.
Tempo and rhythm can also both affect the overall “feel” of a song as well, the key is not the only factor involved in how we perceive music.
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