essential to learn playing black keys for composing?

[gsoto]

I wish all keys would be grey, and all men would be brothers and sisters.

[a]

Btw, you may alternatively check out the black keys only. Eb minor pentatonic will be your friend from then on.

All white keys for me - i like d dorian.

and i learn't classical piano for 15 years - so i could play once

[rbet]

I wish all keys would be grey, and all men would be brothers and sisters.

I don't know about you, but drag queens freak me out.

[JumpingJackFlash]

Helu

Im a white key trance music composer superstar
Do i have to learn the black keys to become a pro composer for movies and commercials?
I think a lot of film scoring sounds like me being a white key trance music composer superstar.

Cheers

Yes. Absolutely.

Unless you're a big name DJ or something, in which case you could just hum a vague tune down the phone and a very talented and extremely under-appreciated orchestrator will work out everything for you. They do the work, you get the credit, the film benefits from your "big name" attached to it.
(Believe it or not, that does actually happen).

Otherwise though, yes. Film composing is extremely competitive. People spend their whole lives studying and practising for it. To ask if you can be a professional composer using only the white notes is a bit like asking if you can be a professional novel writer using only the first 10 letters of the alphabet! To be honest, it's a little insulting.

There's always blind luck of course. It works for many, especially if you have the right contacts, but if you're serious about composition, it is a fundamental requirement to learn, not only the black notes, but a whole lot of theory and musical techniques.

(BTW, I'm afraid my busy life doesn't enable me to be on here as much as I used to. Teaching in real life is a lot more stressful than posting on KvR!)

[mike@manike]

I really was snot...

[zai]

You could play "Mary Had a Little Lamb" all with the black keys...then again, so could you using only white keys. Depending on what you mean by "composing" and "essential".

Zai

[xtp]

i find the concept rather odd that; notes played on keys of one color is seemingly easier to work with than a set of notes played on a set of keys of a different color.

[bugs]

Is this really a serious question?

[Shane Sanders]

I have to admit that I write way too much in open string keys because of idiomatic guitar issues. I do transpose them at times, though.

I loathe dots and decoration on fretboards, too, since I think it unduly influences pattern memorization and whatnot.

[Emerald Tablet]

if your figuring which notes to play before the piece exists
possibibly you don't hear the song in your mind on forehand.

I never thought up a melody and typed or played it in the grid without accidently bumping into black keys.

to me all music is fine ...... all minor all major all black keys all white keys all black and whitekeys ... to me it isn't what makes up a good harmonic or dissharmonic or partly harmonic or a-harmonic or a-dissharmonic sculpture anyway

i do think composing without a basic idea in your head or at least some sounds in mind before you play them is like throwing paint to wall to make a painting. Often it turns out to be beatifull and there is beauty in the unobvious or "random art" however ....to me rules are no limiters but expanders of my ideas.

i wouldn't even know how to avoid black keys
than again if i have to avoid black keys i'd avoid anykeys

Now can someone learn me how to avoid .... tone pitch pace
"dont press anykey"

dotdotdotdotdotdotdotdotdotdotdotdotdotdotdotdotdotdotdotdotdotdot

[petterdass]

Is this really a serious question?

Sure.
Playing white keys in keyboard is not my only musical skill.
Im also a guitarist (eminor rock star), and a sound designer.
A lot of contemporary film doesnt have big score with orchestra and stuff like it did before.
A lot of film music is just music production, like action breakbeats alla BT car chasing movie.

Produsing jingles for commercials, i dont think you need a lot of formally trained musichianship either, just make a riff to please the client. (sounds easy)

cheers

[luxth]

I loved the title of this thread.

[wrench45us]

I would think the answer would depend on how much you'll be expected to communicate with others who are more familiar with all 12 keys and possibly re: orchestration transposing to differently keyed instruments.

Nashville has this system that just uses numbers, but it comes back around as a way of being able to move from key to key without getting hung up in note/chord names. That may all be a little easier with barre chord shapes on guitar than it in on keyboard.

Almost all my 'exercise' books encourage me to play 'all of the above' through all 12 keys. Some are harder for me than others, but I figure I'm laying some groundwork for something -- like easier cycle of 5ths migration.

It all depends how far you want to go and in what direction. If you're just going to be alone in your room making music in a very narrowly defined genre, there may not be much need to learn more than the 'easy' keys.
But music is a system and the way notes relate to each other is a big part of what goes on in that system.