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
When you play a piece normally in a major key in a minor key instead, it completely changes the melody. You are changing *some* of the notes played, but not others. This results in a very different sound.
You can also *transpose* a piece – that is, shift *every* note up or down by the same amount. An example would be playing a piece in C major in F major instead. This *might or might not* change the sound significantly, and the reason is tuning.
Tuning is the relationship from one note to the next. Prior to the 20th century, many different kinds of tuning were in use. The distance from C to C# was *not* the same as the distance from F to F#. Thus, if you played a piece in C major in F major instead, you would once again be changing the melody because the relationships between the notes would be different.
In the early 20th century, *equal temperament tuning* became almost universally used. This is a tuning where the ratio from one note to the next is always the same, no matter where in the scale those notes are. Thus, transposing from C major to F major would not significantly change the sound of the piece, because the relationships between all notes would be the same; the piece would just be played higher.
However, playing a piece higher or lower than usual *can* change the sound a bit, because notes in a very low or very high register get perceived a little differently. A piece which is normally played around middle C would sound quite menacing if played several octaves lower, even though the notes are the same; and quite shrill and chintzy if played several octaves higher.
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