What are the musical keys

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Communication is a fundamental process for the human being, music is no exceptionWell, in addition to being an art, it is also a language. In order to fully enjoy music we need to learn to speak this exceptional language, this requires us to learn certain key terms in order to communicate with it. In this article by a TEACHER we will learn about a very important topic for music reading: what are the musical keys.

Index

1. Definition of musical keys
2. Brief history of musical keys
3. What are the musical keys
4. When to use musical keys
5. Musical instruments and keys
6. Examples of musical keys and their instruments

The musical keys are the reference symbol that we use at the beginning of a staff to indicate what name we will give to the notes. The clef indicates a specific line on the staff that will indicate a starting point. The rest of the notes will change their name in relation to this one.

The word

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The musical clefs arise with the staff, which began to be used in the Middle Ages when a system was invented to be able to write and read Gregorian chant.

At first the Gregorian chant was very simple and did not need the staff for the notes, in fact, it was a monodic song (it was sung mostly with a single note). Over time, Gregorian chant began to become more complex and the system was transformed so that the notes could be read more accurately. First the "Tetragram" (tetra comes from the Greek and means 4), 4 lines instead of the 5 that we currently use in the “staff” (penta comes from the Greek and means 5).

When clefs were already used, the staff bore the letters F, C and G (the latter being the least common). Over time the letters came to be written as symbols. These would become what we now know as bass clef (F), key of C (C) and treble clef (G).

As we mentioned, the keys we currently use are the treble clef, the bass clef, and the key of C. Each one with a different symbol, which is placed on the staff line where the key note is located. E <

In other words, the treble clef indicates the line that bears the note “G”, the bass clef indicates the line that bears the note “F” and the clef indicates the line that bears the note “C”.

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All musical instruments are different. They are made of different materials, different shapes, and work differently. Therefore, each instrument sounds different. There are two important concepts to describe the sound of an instrument: timbre and tessitura.

• The doorbellis what we call the characteristic sound of an instrument. They are all those characteristics of the sound that make us recognize an instrument when listening to it, even if we are not seeing it.
• And then the tessiturais the note width that an instrument can play, from the lowest (low tuning sound) to the highest (high tuning sound).

Since all instruments have different capabilities, there are instruments that can make very low notes, and others that can make very high notes. It is for this reason that we cannot use the same musical key for all instruments. So, depending on the register of the instrument, a specific musical key is assigned, so that the music is easier and more practical to read.

As we said earlier, the key in which a musician reads depends on his instrument. Normally, each instrument is read in a single musical key, however, if a musical work has a very wide tessitura, and the instrument can play all the notes in it, more than one clef can be used musical. The clearest example we have is the piano. The piano uses the treble clef for the notes that are played with the right hand because they are the high notes, and then, for the notes that are played with the left hand, they are written with the bass clef because they are lower.

In the case of the piano, (and other instruments such as the harp) both musical keys can be used simultaneously because the instrument allows it. Namely, we can play different notes with each hand. In many instruments we cannot play 2 notes at the same time, so in most of the times, we only use one musical key, unless the range of the instrument is very wide. In this case, the writing can start with a musical clef and change to another when necessary.

The goal of good music writing is that the musician can read in the easiest and most practical way possible, so that he can interpret the music without worrying about other things. When a note is very low or very high, the note is written outside the staff and requires what we call "Additional lines".

Sometimes so many additional lines are required that reading becomes very difficult. It is then when we resort to changing the musical key to facilitate reading.

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There are thousands of different instruments so we will mention just a few to exemplify the use of musical keys:

• Treble Clef and Bass Clef: Piano, harp, celesta, marimba.
• Treble clef: Piccolo, flute, oboe, clarinet, trumpet, saxophone, violin.
• Bass clef: Cello, electric bass, double bass, bassoon.
• Key of C: Viola, Alto Trombone.

If you want to read more articles similar to What are the musical keys, we recommend that you enter our category of Musical language.

• Staff: The system of lines on which musical notes are written.
• Doorbell: The characteristic sound of a sound. Qualities such as tone, duration, and intensity.
• Tessitura: The spectrum of notes that an instrument can produce.
• Serious: A “low pitch” note or sound in relation to another note.
• Acute: A “high pitch” note or sound in relation to another note.
• Gregorian singing: A singing style of simple melody and religious texts in Latin, used during the Middle Ages in the Catholic Church.
• Additional Lines: Lines that are written off the staff when a note is lower than the first line of the staff, or higher than the first line.