KVR Audio

Wavves · Post by **Wavves** » Tue Apr 12, 2011 2:56 am

I'm doing some theory here and there, and thought this was interesting.
http://www.biteyourownelbow.com/keychar.htm links to a website basically summarizing the feeling portrayed by each musical key. Wouldn't be surprised if some of you have seen this or something similar already just thought I'd share it.

Also I was wondering if anyone could tell me what key this song is in its one of my favorites, and I want to know which of the keys resonates with me the most. Very Happy

Ogg Vorbis · Post by **Ogg Vorbis** » Tue Apr 12, 2011 3:31 am

Wavves wrote:I'm doing some theory here and there, and thought this was interesting.
http://www.biteyourownelbow.com/keychar.htm links to a website basically summarizing the feeling portrayed by each musical key. Wouldn't be surprised if some of you have seen this or something similar already just thought I'd share it.

Also I was wondering if anyone could tell me what key this song is in its one of my favorites, and I want to know which of the keys resonates with me the most. Very Happy

F# minor A gloomy key: it tugs at passion as a dog biting a dress.

That's EXACTLY what I think of when I hear this key! Makes me want to chew a frock.

Wavves · Post by **Wavves** » Tue Apr 12, 2011 4:05 am

Ogg Vorbis wrote:
Wavves wrote:I'm doing some theory here and there, and thought this was interesting.
http://www.biteyourownelbow.com/keychar.htm links to a website basically summarizing the feeling portrayed by each musical key. Wouldn't be surprised if some of you have seen this or something similar already just thought I'd share it.

Also I was wondering if anyone could tell me what key this song is in its one of my favorites, and I want to know which of the keys resonates with me the most. Very Happy

F# minor A gloomy key: it tugs at passion as a dog biting a dress.

That's EXACTLY what I think of when I hear this key! Makes me want to chew a frock.

F# minor you say

Interesting

Melkor · Post by **Melkor** » Tue Apr 12, 2011 4:23 am

Everyone knows that Dm is the saddest key ...

Ogg Vorbis · Post by **Ogg Vorbis** » Tue Apr 12, 2011 2:46 pm

Here's another one from the link...

A minor Pious womanliness and tenderness of character.

Isn't Stairway to Heaven in A minor? "There's a lady who's sure all that glitters is gold..." Coincidence? We thinketh not.

jlocri · Post by **jlocri** » Wed Apr 13, 2011 8:25 am

Since equal temperament became the standard, all the keys sound the same. They all have the same harmonic ratios, they all have the same dissonances and consonances. The only difference is that some keys are marginally higher or lower than other keys (naturally).

Just saying, don't let this stop your conversation.

Uh, actually, ignore me entirely.

ttw · Post by **ttw** » Wed Apr 13, 2011 12:03 pm

Many composers have felt that various keys are suited to various moods. They do disagree on which key belongs to which mood. There are differences in ease of performance for strings and wind instruments.

wrench45us · Post by **wrench45us** » Wed Apr 13, 2011 1:22 pm

There are differences in ease of performance for strings and wind instruments.

and even keyboards
but mostly singers
Most key changes are to accomodate a singer's range. There is some thinking that higher ranges have higher energy -- this is certainly true whan those sax players go up into their squeaky range.
but I have never really noticed that a song changes mood when it's key is adjusted for a singer's range -- which speaks to the modern equal temperament, but sure carry on.

herodotus · Post by **herodotus** » Wed Apr 13, 2011 1:41 pm

jlocri wrote:
Uh, actually, ignore me entirely.

But you are absolutely correct!

The belief in different moods corresponding to different keys is a vestige of the doctrine of affections, which happened to historically coincide with the use of meantone tuning, which did in fact contain differences between it's various different keys.

But today, all of this has been lost within the homogeneity of 12 tone equal temperament, though it is quite true that instruments with adjustable tuning (e.g. violins, the human voice) might break out of strict equal temperament.

Of course, any instrument that reads scala files can break out of equal temperament as well, so who knows what the future holds.

tapper mike · Post by **tapper mike** » Wed Apr 13, 2011 3:33 pm

Perhaps if your Irving Berlin and you can get away with a copyright artist working for you to correct you daily and trying to educate you while doing 90's of the work and getting zero percent of the credit.

Different instruments have different treatments (even chromatic instruments) The reason guitarists use capo's is not because they don't know how to play barre chords it's to sweeten the tone. Bb and Eb are the romatic keys of the 30's 40's and 50's

The rock keys EADG could take one very far in the 60's and 70's, Don't believe me ask Keith Richards. He surmizes it based on the open chords guitarists study.

Learning in different keys forces one to take on new perspectives something that isn't done when learning only one or a few keys.

Sendy · Post by **Sendy** » Thu Apr 14, 2011 2:10 am

As has already been pointed out, we live in an age of equal temparament as standard, so sadly every interval and chord contains the same ratio in all keys. It's ironic that ET was created so that keyboard instruments could modulate to any key freely, yet at the same time removed one of the biggest reasons to *want* to change key - for a shift of mood.

Inside ET, the question of mood should really be, what *mode* are you playing in.

robogone · Post by **robogone** » Thu Apr 14, 2011 2:16 am

Melkor wrote:Everyone knows that Dm is the saddest key ...

"It's called Suck My Love Pump"

Lost_Highway · Post by **Lost_Highway** » Thu Apr 14, 2011 12:04 pm

robojam wrote:
Melkor wrote:Everyone knows that Dm is the saddest key ...
"It's called Suck My Love Pump"

Is that the follow-up single to "Lick My Love Pump"? [/pedant]

Audiosprite wrote:Pitch hasn't shifted that much since the 17th century. Smile We're just a fraction of a semitone sharper.

I thought a semitone flatter was once fairly common - is that not the case?

Being into prog rock, I tell people that I use baroque tuning, A = 415 Hz, as it sounds way more pretentious than just saying I drop tune a semitone

I do that for the simple reason that it makes bending easier and I don't mind playing in flat keys on keyboards.

robogone · Post by **robogone** » Thu Apr 14, 2011 1:52 pm

Lost_Highway wrote:
robojam wrote:
Melkor wrote:Everyone knows that Dm is the saddest key ...
"It's called Suck My Love Pump"
Is that the follow-up single to "Lick My Love Pump"? [/pedant]

It is indeed. What did you think I meant...?

Lost_Highway · Post by **Lost_Highway** » Fri Apr 15, 2011 11:39 am

robojam wrote:
Lost_Highway wrote:
robojam wrote:
Melkor wrote:Everyone knows that Dm is the saddest key ...
"It's called Suck My Love Pump"
Is that the follow-up single to "Lick My Love Pump"? [/pedant]
It is indeed. What did you think I meant...?

Characteristics/feelings of musical keys