Major And minor are the two main modes of music. A fret is a relationship, a combination of musical sounds that are united by a fundamental tone or chord. Let's return to major and minor. These two modes are the absolute opposite of each other. Thus, music written in a minor mode sounds sad, melancholy, and mournful. And major music is distinguished by its joyful character, light sound, and bright musical colors.
What is the difference between major and minor?
If you remember how a triad (a chord of three sounds) is built, you will easily understand the difference between a minor and a major. A minor triad is constructed as follows: major third + minor third. If you take this chord on an instrument, let's say you build a chord from the note "C". It turns out that the chord will look like this: “Do / Mi / Sol”. By pressing these three keys, we will hear a major triad. The chord will be light, joyful and bright.
A minor triad consists of the following intervals: minor third + major third. On the keyboard of the instrument, press the notes “C / E flat / G”. This chord sounds sad, dreary, dark.
What is the musical mode for?
The musical mode serves to express the character of the music. If a composer wants to show feelings, anxiety, sadness, or cry, he uses the minor scale. Joyful, bright, playful moods are conveyed in a major mode. A change in the nature of the music is always accompanied by a change in mode. Large works consisting of several movements contain both major and minor parts.
Our next issue dedicated to such a phenomenon as harmony. We will try to answer the following questions: what is a mode in music, how can this concept be defined, and what types of musical modes are there?
So what is fret? Remember what this word means outside of music? In life, they sometimes say about people that they get along with each other, that is, they are friends, understand each other and provide mutual assistance. In music, sounds must also get along with each other, be in harmony, otherwise the result will not be a song, but one continuous cacophony. It turns out that harmony in music is sounds that are friendly with each other.
Fret Basics
There are a lot of sounds in the song and they are different. There are sounds that are stable - supporting, and there are sounds that are unstable - mobile. In order to make music, both are needed, and they must alternate with each other and help each other.
The structure of music can be likened to the construction of a brick wall. Just as a wall is made of bricks and cement between them, so a song is born only when there are sounds that are stable and unstable.
Sustained sounds bring peace to music, they slow down active movement, and usually end a musical piece. Unstable sounds are needed for development; they constantly lead the development of the melody away from stable sounds and again lead to them. All unstable sounds tend to turn into stable ones, and stable ones, in turn, like magnets attract unstable ones.
Why do stable and unstable sounds work so tirelessly in harmony? In order to get some kind of song - funny or sad. That is, the sounds of a scale can also influence the mood of the music; they seem to cast the melodies in different emotional shades.
Types of mode: major and minor
So, mode is always a whole team of sounds that tirelessly work to create songs of all moods. There are a lot of modes in music, but there are two most important. They are called major and minor.
The major mode or simply major is the mode of light and fun. It is suitable for creating joyful, cheerful and cheerful music. The minor scale, or simply minor, is a master of sad and pensive music.
The major mode is bright sun and clean blue sky, and the minor mode is a scarlet sunset and darkening peaks beneath it spruce forest. The major mode is the bright green spring grass on the lawn, which the gray goat feasts on with great pleasure. Minor mode is watching from the window in the evening how they fall autumn leaves and autumn crystalline rain drips. Beauty comes in different forms, and major and minor are two artists who are ready to paint any picture with their sounds.
ADVICE. If you work with children, it will be useful to work with pictures. Show your child a series of pictures, let him imagine how they might sound - major or minor? You can download the finished selection from us. As creative assignment The child can be invited to create his own gallery of major and minor images. This will awaken his creative imagination.
SELECTION OF PICTURES “MAJOR AND MINOR” –
Such famous songs as “A Christmas Tree was Born in the Forest,” the solemn Anthem, were composed in the major mode. Russian Federation, sunny “Smile”. The songs “A grasshopper sat in the grass” and “There was a birch tree in the field” were composed in a minor mode.
QUIZ. Listen to two pieces of music. These are two dances from the “Children's Album” by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. One dance is called “waltz”, the other is called “mazurka”. Which one do you think is written in major and which in minor?
Fragment No. 1 “Waltz”
Fragment No. 2 “Mazurka”
Correct answers: “Waltz” is major music, and “Mazurka” is minor.
Tonality and scale
Major and minor modes can be built from any musical sound– from to, from re, from mi, etc. This one is the first, the most main sound will be called the tonic in harmony. And the altitude position of the fret, its connection to some kind of tonic is denoted by the word “key”.
Each key must be called something. A person has a first and last name, and a key has the name of the tonic and mode, which can also be combined into one name. For example, C major (the note C is the tonic, that is, the main sound, the captain of the team, the scale is built from it, and the scale is major). Or another example: D minor is a minor scale from the note RE. Other examples: E major, F major, G minor, A minor, etc.
EXERCISE. Try to come up with a name for the key yourself. Take any tonic and any fret and put it together. What did you get?
If you arrange all the sounds of a key in order, starting with the tonic, you get a scale. The scale begins with the tonic and ends with it. By the way, scales are called exactly the same as keys. For example, the E minor scale begins with the note MI and it also ends with the note MI, the G major scale begins with the note G and ends with the same note. Do you understand? Here's a musical example:
But where do sharps and flats come from in these scales? Let's talk about this further. It turns out that major and minor scales have their own special structure.
Structure of the major scale
To get a major scale you need to take only eight sounds and line them up. But not all sounds suit us. How to choose the right ones? You know that the distance between steps can be half a tone or whole tone. So, for a major scale it is necessary that the distance between its sounds correspond to the formula: tone-tone, semitone, tone-tone-tone, semitone.
For example, the C major scale begins with the note C and also ends with the note C. Between the sound DO and RE there is a distance of one whole tone, between RE and MI there is also a tone, and between MI and FA there is only a half tone. Next: between FA and SOL, SOL and LA, A and SI by a whole tone, between SI and the upper DO - only a semitone.
Let's look at tones and halftones
If you forgot what tones and halftones are, then let's repeat it. A semitone is the shortest interval from one sound to the next. It shows us the halftones between sounds very clearly. If we play all the keys in a row, without skipping either white or black, then when moving from one key to the next we will just cover a distance of one semitone.
As you can see, a semitone can be played by rising from a white key to the nearest black one, or descending from a black one to a white one, which is right next to it. In addition, which are formed only between “white” sounds: these are MI-FA and SI-DO.
A semitone is a half, and if you reunite two halves together, you get something whole, you get one whole tone. On a piano keyboard, whole tones can be easily found between two adjacent white keys if they are separated by a black key. That is, DO-RE is a tone, and RE-MI is also a tone, but MI-FA is not a tone, it’s a semitone: nothing separates these white keys.
To get a whole tone from the note MI in a pair, you need to take not a simple FA, but an F-Sharp, that is, add another semitone. Or you can leave FA, but then you will have to lower MI, take E-flat.
As for the black keys, they are located on the piano in groups of two or three. So, within the group, two adjacent black keys are also one tone away from each other. For example, C-Sharp and D-Sharp, as well as G-FLAT and A-FLAT are all combinations of notes that give us whole tones.
But in large spaces between groups of black “buttons,” that is, where two white keys are placed between two black keys, the distance will be already one and a half tones (three semitones). For example: from E-flat to F-sharp or from B-flat to C-sharp.
Building major scales
So, in a major scale, sounds must be lined up in such a way that between them there are first two tones, then semitones, then three tones and again a semitone. Let's build the D major scale as an example. First we make a “blank” - we write notes in a row from the lower RE sound to the upper RE. After all, in D major, the sound RE is the tonic, the scale should begin with it and it should end with it.
And now we need to “clarify the relationships” between the sounds and bring them into accordance with the formula of the major scale.
- There is a whole tone between RE and MI, everything is fine here, let’s move on.
- Between MI and FA there is a semitone, but according to the formula there should be a tone in this place. We straighten it - by raising the sound of FA, we add another semitone to the distance. We get: MI and F-Sharp - one whole tone. Now it's order!
- F SHARP and G give us a semitone, which should be in third place. It turns out that it was not in vain that we raised the note FA, this sharp was still useful to us. Let's move on.
- SOL-LA, LA-SI are whole tones, this is how it should be according to the formula, we leave them unchanged.
- The next two sounds SI and DO are a semitone. You already know how to straighten it: you need to increase the distance - put a sharp before DO. If it were necessary to reduce the distance, we would set it flat. Do you understand the principle?
- The last sounds - C-Sharp and D - are a semitone: what you need!
What did we end up with? It turns out that there are two sharps in the D major scale: F-Sharp and C-Sharp. Do you understand now where they came from?
Similarly, you can build major scales from any sounds. And there, too, either sharps or flats will appear. For example, in F major there is one flat (B flat), and in B major there are as many as five sharps (C, D, F, G and A SHARP).
You can build scales not only from “white keys”, but also from low or high sounds. Don't forget to take into account the signs you know. For example, the E-flat major scale is a scale with three flats (E-flat itself, A-flat and B-flat), and the F-sharp major scale is a scale with six sharps (all sharps except E-sharp).
The structure of the minor scale
Here the principle is almost the same as with minor scales, only the formula for the structure of the minor scale is slightly different: tone, semitone, tone-tone, semitone, tone-tone. By applying this sequence of tones and semitones, you can easily create a minor scale.
Let's look at examples. Let's build a minor scale from the note SA. First, we’ll simply write out all the notes in order from G to G (from the lower tonic to its repetition at the top).
- Between SOL and A there is a whole tone, this is how it should be according to the formula.
- Next: A and SI are also a tone, but in this place a semitone is needed. What to do? We need to reduce the distance; to do this, we lower the SI sound using a flat. Here we have the first sign - B-flat.
- Next, according to the formula, we need two whole tones. Between the sounds B-flat and C, as well as C and RE, there is just the distance that should be.
- Next: RE and MI. There is a whole tone between these notes, but only a semitone is needed. Again, you already know the treatment: lower the note MI, and get a semitone between RE and E-FLAT. Here's your second sign!
- Let's check the last thing: we need two more whole tones. E-flat with the note F is a tone, and F with sol is also a tone. Everything's okay!
What did you get in the end? There are two flats in the G minor scale: B-FLAT and E-FLAT.
For training, you can build yourself or “take apart” several minor scales: for example, F-sharp minor and A minor.
How else can you get a minor scale?
Major and minor scales, built from the same tonic, differ from each other in only three sounds. Let's find out what these differences are. Let's compare the scale of C major (no signs) and C minor (three flats).
Each sound of the scale is a step. So, in the minor scale, compared to the major scale, three steps are low - the third, sixth and seventh (marked in Roman numerals - III, VI, VII). Thus, if we know the major scale, then we can easily get a minor one by changing just three sounds.
For the exercise, we will work with the key of G major. In the G major scale, one sharp is F SHARP, which is the seventh degree of the scale.
- We lower the third degree - the note SI, we get B-FLAT.
- We lower the sixth degree - the note MI, and get E-FLAT.
- We lower the seventh degree - the note F-Sharp. This sound is already raised, and in order to lower it, you just need to cancel the raising, that is, remove the sharp.
Thus, in G minor there will be only two signs - B-flat and E-flat, and F-sharp simply disappears from it without a trace. As you can see, nothing complicated.
Stable and unstable sounds in major
Both the major and minor scales have seven degrees, three of which are stable and four of which are unstable. The stable steps are the first, third and fifth (I, III, V). Unstable are all the others - the second, fourth, sixth, seventh (II, IV, VI, VII).
Stable steps, if put together, form a tonic triad, that is, a triad built from the tonic, from the first step. The word triad means a chord of three sounds. The tonic triad is abbreviated as T53 (in major) or with a small letter t53 (in minor).
In a major scale, the tonic triad is major, and in a minor scale, the tonic triad is, accordingly, minor. Thus, a triad of stable steps gives us a complete idea of the tonality - its tonic and mode. The sounds of the tonic triad are a kind of reference point for musicians; they use them to tune in to the beginning of the piece.
As an example, let's look at stable and unstable sounds in D major and C minor.
D major is a light key with two sharps (F-Sharp and C-Sharp). The stable sounds in it are D, F-sharp and A (the first, third and fifth notes of the scale), together they give us the tonic triad. The unstable ones are MI, G, SI and C-Sharp. Look at the example: unstable steps are painted over for clarity:
C minor is a scale with three flats (B-flat, E-flat and A-flat), it is minor and therefore sounds with a slight tinge of sadness. The stable degrees here are C (first), E-flat (third) and G (fifth). They give us the minor tonic triad. The unstable degrees are D, FA, A-FLAT and B-FLAT.
So, in this issue we met you with such musical concepts, like mode, tonality and scale, examined the structure of major and minor, learned to find stable and unstable steps. From the following episodes you will learn about the types of major and minor and what other modes there are in music, as well as how to quickly identify sharps and flats in any key.
The theory of harmony knows the most important phenomenon of music, the brilliant period of whose dominance has already ended, and a comprehensive scientific and theoretical justification with which all scientists would agree still does not exist. This phenomenon is major and minor.
The quality that characterizes the opposite direction specific to the relationship between major and minor is usually denoted as mood. Major as “hard” (dur), “more” (maggiore), minor as “soft” (moll), “lesser” (minore) in their contrasting combination serve as a powerful means musical expressiveness, a means of a wide and varied range of action. Major and minor are the basis of two tonal modes common during the peak period of European music beginning in the 18th century. (Bach, Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Chopin, Liszt, Wagner, Glinka, Balakirev, Borodin, Mussorgsky, Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Rachmaninov, Glazunov, Scriabin), modes that largely retain their significance and for 20th century music (Stravinsky, Messiaen, especially Prokofiev, Myaskovsky, Shostakovich, Shchedrin, etc.). Major and minor can play significant role and for the expression of other modes, outside the major-minor system. For example, Dorian and Phrygian and some others are modes of a minor basis, Mixolydian, Lydian are of a major basis (discovery of Zarlino).
For all these oppositions, the basic type of opposition is the same: major and minor, dur and minor, “hard” and “soft.”
The opposites themselves - “hard” and “soft” - have a history much older than major and minor as modes or even as chords. Back in ancient Greece there was a contrast between “hard” (or “syntonic”, that is, with a “sharp” tension of the middle strings in a tetrachord) and “soft” (with a “weak” tension) chromia (in Claudius Ptolemy). And Boethius considered diaton to be a “hard and natural” species (durius et naturalis), and chromium to be a “softened” species (mollius). Following this, the whole tone (characteristic of the diatone) was contrasted by medieval theorists with the semitone (characteristic of the chromium), as the interval “hard”, “perfect”, simple - “soft”, “imperfect”, complicated. Later (in the 16th century) this opposition was transferred to thirds - major (tertia dura) and minor (tertia mollis; by J. Cocleus).
The first “hard” and “soft” scales were historically not our major and minor scales, but medieval solmization hexachords with the structure:
(Their syllables originate from the initial syllables of the lines of the hymn “Ut queant laxis”, adapted by Guido Aretinsky for the practical development of tones and semitones of the scale.)
In the hexachord system there are three provisions hexachord depending on whether it falls into soft b(that is B-flat), or hard(“square”) (that is si-bekar), or neither one nor the other hits. Accordingly, the three hexachords were called “soft” (molle), “hard” (durum) or “natural” (naturale) (example 135).
(Even N.P. Diletsky in 1679-1681 called music in the corresponding scales “dural” - without signs and “flat” - with flats.)
In the 17th century, the concepts dur and moll began to denote the modal inclination depending on the third, major and minor (in Kepler’s genus durum = g-e-d-c-H-G, a genus molle = g-es-d-c-B-G; at the end of the 17th century, A. Werkmeister found designations in the modern sense - a-moll, e-moll).
The modern formulation of the question of major and minor includes primarily three main problems:
1) the essence of major and minor triads;
2) the essence of the classical major and minor modes (tonal-functional system);
3) major and minor inclinations of the mode in the music of the 20th century.
The third problem is not related to the content of this work. The second is dealt with mainly in the chapter on tonal functions. Here we will talk about the first problem, which, naturally, is connected with the other two.
The first scientific theory of the essence of major and minor, the connection and opposition of the two moods was proposed by the famous Italian music theorist Josephfo Zarlino in the book “Fundamentals
harmony" (or "The Doctrine of Harmony", lit. "Harmonic Instructions"; Venice, 1558). In Chapter 31 of Part 3, he gives an extremely concisely presented, but completely fully expressed idea of interpreting major and minor as aesthetic opposites based on the ancient (even Pythagorean) aesthetic theory of proportions (according to the edition: Zarlino G. Le Institutioni Harmoniche. Venetia, 1573. P. 211). Main three types "average"(arithmetic, harmonic and geometric) or three types of “division” (the same) Zarlino sets out in the first part (Chapter 35 and following). Let us explain the three types of “averages” with a diagram (cf.: Zarlino G. Le Institutioni Harmoniche. Venetia, 1573. P. 54; "super-third" proportion - a ratio when the larger number exceeds the smaller one by one third):
Table 13
Arithmetic the average is obtained with three numbers, where the difference between the first and second is equal to the difference between the second and third. For example: 4, 3, 2 or 3, 2, 1, or 6, 4, 2, or 7, 4, 1, etc.
Geometric the average is obtained with three numbers, where the ratio of the first and second is equal to the ratio of the second and third. For example: 4, 2, 1 or 9, 3, 1, or 16, 4, 1, etc.
Harmonic the average is obtained with three numbers, where the ratio of the differences of the first and second, second and third is equal to the ratio of the first and third. For example:
Other examples: 6, 3, 2 or 15, 12, 10, or 20, 15, 12, or 28, 7, 4.
Harmonic mean - inversion of arithmetic:
Arithmetic = 1, 2/1, 3/1, 4/1, 5/1, 6/1;
Harmonic = 1, l/2, 1/3, 1/4, 1/5, 1/6;
(for clarification: 1, 1/2, 1/3 = 6, 3, 2).
Zarlino associates “all the diversity and perfection of harmony” with the action of two intervals - fifths and thirds or their “replicates” (that is, intervals derived from them, for example sixths). The sounds of the fifth are unchanged, but the third (that is, the major third) can take its position inside the fifth, being placed either below,
either at the top, thereby dividing number of fifths (3:2) in various ways. Since one of the sounds of the third coincides with either the lower or the upper, another one is added to the fifth one sound corresponding to the “average” value. Hence the justification of major and minor by the theory of “averages”. Zarlino writes that the major third (“la Terza maggiore”), placed in the lower part of the fifth, makes the harmony “cheerful” (allegra), and placed in the upper part - “sad” (mesta). Keeping in mind that Zarlino's way of noting times in string lengths rather than in vibration numbers, we get harmonic proportion as an explanation of the major (major triad) and arithmetic- to explain the minor (if we express the same thing in a way typical of our time - in numbers of vibrations, then the data will be reversed: harmonic proportion- for minor, arithmetic proportion - for major). Thus, the sounds of fifths are extreme members:
The third is placed in the middle in two ways:
At the end of chapter 31, Zarlino makes a remarkable statement: arithmetical proportionality is a little removed from the perfection of harmony, since its parts are not in their natural position; on the contrary, the harmonic consonates completely. In these words, Zarlino anticipates an orientation toward the “natural,” that is, the natural order of sounds (a natural scale that he did not know). According to Tsarlino, major and minor are equal and logical (since they materialize in sounds the two most important aesthetic laws of proportions, which in principle equal rights), and at the same time the major is close to nature, and the minor is more distant from it. Hence the difference in expression, the nature of expressiveness.
Zarlino also noted that these two moods - major and minor - underlie all modes (although Zarlino’s theoretical taxonomy of modes is still completely alien to the idea of a two-mode system), and divided all modes accordingly into two groups:
1) with a major third and a major sixth (above the finalis WITH, F, G);
2) with minor third and minor sixth (D, E, A).
The interpretation of Nikolai Diletsky (1679, 1681) is not deep scientific theory, but it is very colorful in its wording and original in its rationale for the relationship between major and minor triads. Formally considering music “triple in meaning” (threefold, that is, three frets) - “cheerful, pitiful and mixed”, Diletsky is in fact based on the idea of only two opposite modes, which he understands depending on the underlying triads - ut-mi-sol And re-fa-la. The dependence is interpreted unambiguously, which indicates full awareness of the two-mode nature of the modern Diletsky si-
stems: “if the tone is given to singing ut, mi, salt, there will be a merry music if the tone re, fa, la- will be pitiful." Diletsky receives the rationale for both triads from Guidon’s hexachord (the very names of the “six signs of Musik” speak about this - ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la), which coincides with the two main consents- “dark” and “light”. The hexachord is divided “in two”:
If Tsarlino divided the fifth in different ways, then Diletsky divides the six sounds of the hexachord, thereby representing a unique “modal” approach.
The German theorist Moritz Hauptmann, in his book “The Nature of Harmonics and Metrics” (1853), to explain the major and minor triads, leans towards the so-called "dualistic" interpretation according to which major and minor mirror opposite to each other. Hauptmann assumes that there are only three directly understandable intervals - the octave, the fifth and the (major) third. Merging into a monolithic unity, they provide only two chords - major and minor triads. The sounds from which these intervals are built and which thereby unite the intervals into a monolithic chord are located differently in both chords: in major it is the lower sound of the fifth, from which the intervals are directed up (C-G, C-e), in minor it is the top sound of the fifth, from which the intervals are directed downwards. Therefore, the sound that combines the major consonance (Klang) has have their own fifth and third, and the sound that unites minor consonance, available(have) fifths and thirds. Hence the logical opposition between the states: the real (active) “to have” (das Haben) and the passive (passive) “to be” (das Sein). As a result, the major triad is tending (upward) strength, and minor - descending (down) heaviness.
Hugo Riemann (together with other German theorists - A. Ettingen, G. Helmholtz, Z. Karg-Ehlert) further developed the theory of dualism of major and minor, according to which the minor is understood as a mirror image (inversion) of the major. Riemann tried to find a natural, objective justification for major and minor. For a major (major triad) this is, naturally, a natural scale. For the minor, such a natural justification is obviously not found. Riemann turned to theory undertons, a series of which is mirror-symmetrical to the series of overtones, differing from it only in the direction of the same intervals (numbers), example 136.
Some confirmation of the Untertonian theory can be found. Because natural series(which is the overtone series and which Riemann also wants to represent the undertones) is realized in the phenomena of resonance, then in the spirit of Hauptmann’s theory the initial tone of the overtone series has all others, and the initial tone of the undertone available for all others (example 137).
However, such confirmation cannot refute the main objection to the theory of untertons as natural phenomena: the overtone series is really given by the nature of the sounding body, since overtones are produced by dividing the sounding body into parts. Undertones, in order to be equal natural phenomena with overtones, should be obtained multiplication(?!) mass of the sounding body, which is absurd (multiplication means that to extract the sound of the lower octave, for example, on a string, the length of the string must be doubled during vibration, which is physically impossible).
Despite the existence of a number of other theories of major and minor (among which we should mention the theories of A. S. Ogolevets and P. N. Meshchaninov, see p. 255), it is difficult to name one that could be considered answering all questions. Probably Zarlino's theory (including the problem of major and minor in general theory aesthetic proportions) and Hauptmann's theory ( in the best possible way substantiating the semantic content of the concepts of major and minor) in their complementarity provide the most reliable basis for a correct understanding of this most important phenomenon music.
To know how to determine the tonality of a work, you first need to understand the concept of “tonality.” You are already familiar with this term, so I will just remind you without delving into the theory.
Tonality is generally the pitch of the sound. in this case– the pitch of a particular mode, for example major or minor. A mode is the construction of a scale according to a certain scheme and, in addition, a mode is a specific sound coloring of a scale (major mode is associated with light tones, minor mode is associated with sad notes, shadow).
The height of each particular note depends on its tonic (the main sustained note). That is, the tonic is the note to which the fret is attached. The mode, in interaction with the tonic, gives tonality - that is, a set of sounds arranged in a certain order, located at a specific height.
How to determine the tonality of a piece by ear?
It is important to understand here that not at any moment of the sound you can tell with certainty what tone it sounds in this part works. Need to select individual moments and analyze them. What are these moments? This can be the very beginning or the very end of a work, as well as the end of a section of a work or even a separate phrase. Why? Because the beginnings and ends sound stable, they assert, and in the middle there is usually a movement away from the main key.
So, having chosen a fragment for yourself, pay attention to two things:
- What is the general mood in the work, what mood is it - major or minor?
- What sound is the most stable, what sound is suitable to complete the work?
When you determine this, you should have clarity. It depends on the type of inclination whether it is a major key or a minor one, that is, what mode the key has. Well, the tonic, that is, the stable sound that you heard, can simply be selected on the instrument. So, you know the tonic and you know the modal inclination. What else do you need? Nothing, just connect them together. For example, if you heard a minor mood and the root of F, then the key will be F minor.
How to determine the tonality of a piece of music in sheet music?
But how can you determine the tonality of a piece if you have sheet music in your hands? You probably already guessed that you should pay attention to the signs on the key. In most cases, using these signs and tonic, you can accurately determine the tonality, because key signs present you with a fait accompli by offering only two specific keys: one major and one parallel minor. What exactly is the tonality in this work depends on the tonic. You can read more about key signs.
Finding tonic can be challenging. Often this is the last note piece of music or his logically completed phrase, a little less often it is also the first. If, for example, a piece begins with a beat (an incomplete measure preceding the first), then often the stable note is not the first, but the one that falls on the strong beat of the first normal full measure.
Take the time to look at the accompaniment part; from it you can guess which note is the tonic. Very often, the accompaniment plays on the tonic triad, which, as the name implies, contains the tonic, and, by the way, the mode too. The final accompaniment chord almost always contains it.
To summarize the above, here are a few steps you should take if you want to determine the key of a piece:
- By ear - find out the general mood of the work (major or minor).
- Having notes in hand, look for signs of alteration (at the key or random in places where the key changes).
- Determine the tonic - conventionally this is the first or last sound of the melody, if it does not fit - determine the stable, “reference” note by ear.
It is hearing that is your main tool in solving the issue that this article is devoted to. By following these simple rules, you will be able to determine the tonality of a piece of music quickly and correctly, and later you will learn to determine the tonality at first sight. Good luck!
By the way, a good hint for you on initial stage may become a cheat sheet known to all musicians - . Try using it - it’s very convenient.