Author: Erik Kowarski

11. Introduction To Keys and Key Signatures: Major Keys

This post is one of a 2-part series of free basic music theory lessons on my blog, musictheoryde-mystified.com. You can see the complete list here. Please feel welcome to make a comment or ask a question.

This post and the next two cover two important musical concepts. If you need to read them more than once, please do so. If you have any questions, please post them as a comment. I’ll be happy to answer them.

Scales And Keys: What’s The Difference?

A scale is a list of a series of consecutive notes adding up to an octave, based on and named after its first note, the root note, and its mode (e.g. major or minor).

A key is the musical use of the notes of a scale. A piece is said to be in a key, (e.g. C major), when it is largely made up of the notes of the scale (e.g. of C major) and we can hear the tonality of the mode (e.g.major). For more detail, please visit How Can We Tell Which Key We’re In?

I prefer to think of this in reverse priority:

  • A key is music, a scale is a list of notes that music is made from. 
  • A key is the cake, the scale is the ingredient list.
  • A scale is the notes of a key, listed in consecutive pitch order.

Keys and scales have the same name, except if you’re writing or playing a scale you say the word “scale” in the description:

  • “This piece is in C major” means “this piece is in the key of C major”.
  • Else you would say “play the scale of C major” or “play the C major scale”.

In other words, when talking about actual music we say “key”, not “scale”.

Practical Tip: To easily play in a key you need to be familiar with its scale. 

A Scale Has A Key

Since a scale is also a basic melody, a scale itself is in a key. For example, the scale of C major is in the key of C major. 

Unless we’re actually playing scales, we talk in terms of keys rather than scales.

Key Signatures

Apart from C major and A minor, other major or minor keys require some notes that are sharps or flats. So far, we’ve written them in before each note. That’s no big deal if it’s just a scale but in a piece, some of those notes might be used many times. It’s hard work when writing and the music ends up looking cluttered.

Melody in A major without key signature

A key signature uses the space on the stave just after the clef, before the time signature or any notes, to store the sharps or flats of that key for the whole length of the stave. Now they don’t need to be written next to the notes. The music looks cleaner and it’s quicker to write.

Melody in A major with key signature

A key signature is a list of the sharps or flats used in a key.

The note naming rule states that each letter is only used for one note in the scale (7 scale notes, 7 letters), so the scale notes which are NOT in the key signature are naturals.

For example, the key signature of D major is 2 sharps, F# and C#. All the other letters are naturals.

Note: unlike time signatures, key signatures are written at the start of every stave.

The notes of a key can be played at any octave. If that note is a sharp or flat, it’s symbol is written next to the note; at the same octave as the note. In a key signature, however, a sharp or flat is only ever written at one particular octave and it applies to all octaves. It simply tells us that, for a given key, that note is a sharp or flat.

A key signature is a shortcut for writing out a scale. If we start on the root note and play the notes of the key signature, we’re playing the scale for that key.

It’s important to check the key signature, else you may play some wrong notes!

Here are two scales that look the same apart from the key signature. Carefully read the notes as you listen. In these two scales, every note is different because of the key signature!

The Order Of Sharps and Flats

The sharps or flats in the key signature are always written in the same order, regardless of the order in which the notes are played in the scale, and always in the octave shown below.

For sharps, the order is F# C# G# D# A# E# B#. F# is always the first sharp. Each sharp is the 5th letter above the previous sharp.

For flats, it’s the reverse, Bb Eb Ab Db Gb Cb Fb. Bb is always the first flat. Each flat is the 5th letter below (or the 4th letter above) the previous flat.

Don’t worry if you can’t remember all this, we’ll come back to it later…

Let’s look at A major, for example. In the scale, C# comes before F#, but in the key signature, F# appears before C#.


One big advantage to having a set order is that a player only needs to glance at the key signature to know which notes are sharps or flats. If you know the order, you only need to see how many there are.

Here’s the key signature order on the stave in the treble and bass clefs:

Note the octave where the symbols are written. For example, F# is written in the high octave rather than the low octave.

Why This Order?

Let’s say we worked out every major (or minor etc.) scale by counting semitones. If we looked at them all we would notice three things:

  • There are no scales with both sharps and flats.
  • The number of sharps/flats is unique. For example, there is only one major scale with 3 sharps.
  • Sharps and flats are cumulative. Once a sharp (or flat) is used in one scale, all the scales with more sharps (or flats) include that one.

We can reshuffle our list of scales in increasing key signature order. Here’s what the list of major scales looks like. To save space I have listed their key signatures rather than the whole scale:

Note: In the next post we’ll look at key signatures for minor keys as well as some shortcuts for learning key signatures.

Please feel welcome to like, comment or to share this post. If you have any questions, pleased leave them as a comment and I will respond as soon as I can. If you enjoy my posts and would like to be kept up to date, please subscribe.

NEXT LESSON: 12. Major Keys And The Cycle/Circle Of Fifths

PART 1 CONTENTS: Basic Music Theory Course Contents

Scales, Modes And Keys: What’s The Difference?

These three terms are often confused. They refer to the same subject but in different ways. 

Scale

  • A scale is a series of (usually 7) consecutive note pitches finishing an octave above the first note. 
  • The series can be extended over several octaves and is either played in ascending or descending order. 
  • The first (and last) note of a scale is called the root note or tonic.

Mode

  • A mode is the pattern of intervals between the notes of a scale.
  • The pattern is based on the first note of the scale, the root note.
  • Western modes are made up of an irregular combination of (usually 1 and 2 semitone) intervals. This gives each mode a unique character called its tonality.

Key

  • A key is the use of the notes and tonality of a scale in a piece.
  • A piece is “in a key” when it uses the notes of a scale in such a way that the tonality of its mode is apparent overall when listening/playing.

Tonality 

  • Tonality is the unique character of a mode, common to all keys in that mode.
  • The tonality of a mode is simply indicated by the mode’s name.

We should learn to recognise the tonality of the more common modes, both in a scale of that mode and in music written/played in that mode.

Names Of Scales And Keys

Scales and keys have the same names. They are named as the name of the root note followed by the name of the mode. For example:

  • the major scale on C is called C major.
  • Music using the notes of C major is in the key of C major.

For more on scales, modes and keys see 8. What is a scale?, 10. How To Find The Notes Of A Scale, 11. Introduction To Keys And Key Signatures: Major Keys.

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10. How To Find The Notes Of A Scale

This post is one of a 2-part series of free basic music theory lessons on my blog, musictheoryde-mystified.com. You can see the complete list here. Please feel welcome to make a comment or ask a question.

In a hurry? You can scroll down straight to the summary (but you’ll miss all the fun…)

A scale is the combination of a root note and a mode. It’s even named that way. C major means C is the root note and major (Ionian) is the mode. The same for A minor: A is the root note and minor (Aeolian) is the mode.

In 8. What Is A Scale? we saw that a scale is a selection of (typically 7) notes within an octave, and that our sense of tonality depends on knowing which of these notes is the root note. In a piece that has a clear tonality the notes are organised so that the root note (tonic) is highlighted, especially near the beginning and end.

We also discovered that the reason the root note is so important in allowing us to hear the musical character is because typical Western scales have uneven intervals from note to note. Changing the root note effectively changes the pattern, changing the mode and thus its character.

Scales On Different Root Notes

If you know the character of the mode, you can sing a scale in that mode. As long as it’s within your range, you can sing that scale starting on any note (without even knowing what that note is!). As long as you don’t change the mode it will sound the same, just higher or lower. 

The same is true for writing music. You can write a scale on any note. Here’s how it works: 

Let’s look at the the major mode, which naturally starts on C. C major is made up of only the naturals.

We can pick any other note as the root note and build a major scale on that. All we need to do is make sure we stick to the major mode, the pattern of intervals from note to note that matches C major, or else we’ll change its character.

Let’s say we want D major. If we just started on D and used the same notes we would have a different pattern of intervals – a different mode – a different character.

It would sound like this:

This scale has quite a different character to C major.

Instead, we use the same pattern of intervals as C major, write D as the root note and then, working from left to right, count the number of semitones from each note to the next to work out the other notes. This will involve using one or more sharps or flats.

  • The 2nd note should be 2 semitones higher. 2 semitones above D is E. 
  • The 3rd note is 2 semitones higher than E. F is 1 semitone higher than E and G is 3 semitones higher so we want the note in between. This could either be called F# (F+1) or Gb (G-1). What should we call it? We’ll come back to that shortly. We can put in both for now.
  • The 4th note is just 1 semitone further which is plain old G, and so on until the 7th note, 2 semitones above the 6th note, B. Again we have 2 options, C# or Db, and again we’ll write in both for now.
  • And, of course, the 8th note, 1 semitone above the 7th, should be exactly the same as the first, as it is the octave.

OK, time to look at what we’ve got… If we choose Gb for the 3rd note we have Gb AND G but no F, whereas if we call the 3rd note F# we have one F and one G. The same goes for the 7th note: Db uses the same name as the root note but a different sign, whereas C# allows one C and one D.

Now that we’ve worked out the notes in D major, let’s have a listen.

Now compare it to C major. The character should be the same, even though one scale is a little higher than the other…

The Note Naming Rule

For scales, there is one simple rule: the next note in a scale should have the next letter in its name.

Each note in a scale must have its own letter.

There’s a good reason for this: there are 7 note names, 7 notes in a scale and 7 pitch positions per octave on a stave.

Music notation is very visual. We can see the notes climb and descend as the melody itself climbs and descends. As we can see from the two versions of D major below, if two different notes in a scale share the same note name there are two different pitches sharing the same place on the stave and needing constant accidentals (sharps/flats/naturals) to show which is which. There is also one unused position, leaving a gap in the visual that we don’t hear.

Below is D major as notes on a stave showing both sets of note naming options. Try to read the notes while you listen. Which one is more visual (and less cluttered)?

Note: We can make a scale look even less cluttered by using a key signature. We’ll look at key signatures in the next lesson.

How to find the notes of a scale 

Now that we know how to work out what notes we need to write a major scale starting on D instead of C, we can do so for any mode and any root note.

As the most common modes are major and minor, let’s find the notes for some other major and minor scales.

  1. Choose a mode, e.g. major or minor.
  2. Write the note that you want to build the scale on as the 1st note (root note).
  3. Working from left to right, count how many semitones to the next note. Where there are two names for the same note, choose the name using the letter after the previous note.
  4. (safety check: if you’ve added it up right, the 8th note’s name should be exactly the same as the first).

TIP: Learn the patterns that make up the major and minor modes (I think of them as phone numbers).

Major .2.2.1.2.2.2.1.

Minor .2.1.2.2.1.2.2.

Example: D minor

Have a go…

Here’s the answer…

OK, this one’s minor and has a flat. Pure fluke! There is no connection between being major or minor and having sharps or flats.

Try These…

Grab some paper and a pencil and try a few more… Bb major, A major, C minor, F# minor.

Answers at the bottom of this post. Here’s what a blank major and minor look like:

Practical Tip

Pick a major or minor scale that’s easy to play on your instrument, find its notes and doodle around with those notes. Just in one octave will do for a start, then try 2 octaves worth – it’s more fun. As long as you highlight the root note every now and again, for instance by making it long or strong, you should be able to feel the tonality of the mode you’ve chosen, or at least keep coming back to it if the music goes elsewhere. For a bit more on how to highlight the root note, visit How Can We Tell What Key We’re In?

Summary

  • A scale is a combination of a root note and a mode. 
  • The root note is the first note of the mode.
  • A mode is a set of (usually 1 and 2 semitone) intervals from note to note adding up to an octave. The most common modes are major and minor. Of these, only C major and A minor have no sharps or flats.
  • Due to the irregular pattern of intervals from note to note, each mode has a unique musical character.
  • To make a scale on a different root note, choose the mode with the character that you want, e.g. major or minor, and write in the note you want to be the root note.
  • To find names for the other notes, start with the root note and count 1 or 2 semitones to the next note, according to the mode. Write the 2nd note in, count  semitones to the 3rd note and so on, all the way to the octave.
  • Each note of a scale should have its own letter. Work from left to right, using the next letter each time, as you go.

This post is one of a growing series of free basic music theory lessons on my blog, musictheoryde-mystified.com. You can see the complete list here.

Please feel welcome to like, comment or to share this post. If you have any questions, pleased leave them as a comment and I will respond as soon as I can. If you enjoy my posts and would like to be kept up to date, please subscribe.

NEXT LESSON: 11. Introduction To Keys and Key Signatures: Major Keys

PART 1 CONTENTS: Basic Music Theory Course Contents

Answers

Bb C D Eb F G A Bb

A B C# D E F# G# A

C D Eb F G Ab Bb C

F# G# A B C# D E F#

7. Rest Values, How To Count Rests

This post is one of a 2-part series of free basic music theory lessons on my blog, musictheoryde-mystified.com. You can see the complete list here. Please feel welcome to make a comment or ask a question.

What Is A Rest?

A rest is a silent note. Imagine that you have to make room for an important, loud note played on another instrument.

Every note value has an equivalent symbol for a rest. Rests are named after the note values they replace. A rest that lasts for a crotchet (quarter note) is called a crotchet rest (or quarter note rest).

Here are the note values from 5. Note Values 1 with their matching rest values. As previously suggested, don’t worry about really short notes and rests to start with.

Note and Rest Values

Just like note values, the length of a rest can be extended by half by placing a dot after it.

Counting Rests

You have to play a rest, just like you play a note.

For example, in 4/4 try counting crotchets and only playing the first and 3rd. It feels like counting minims, except that you cut the note short at a specific moment. Here, that’s the start of beat 2 or 4. You’ll hear a metronome ticking every beat.

You should think of the cutoff point as a deliberate act, as if someone else is playing an important note that needs to be heard. You cut the note off by “playing” the rest, as if you have to squash the note to stop it. Some players tap the beats with a foot while playing; this may help…

The importance of rests is more obvious when they’re on the strong beats rather than the weak beats.

Two Types Of Rests

Broadly speaking, rests fall into either of two categories depending on how they feel when we play them.

  1. Off-beat rests are rests that feel like they just stop the note from being a longer note. They don’t change the overall character of the rhythm. For longer notes, these include rests on weak beats, as in our first example.
  2. On-beat rests feel like they’ve displaced the next note, forcing the note off the beat (or strong beat). Compared to the time signature’s natural rhythm, they make the notes feel “against the grain”. NOTE: This isn’t a value judgement. In fact, on-beat rests often make the music feel more exciting.

NOTE: The following examples and exercises have a double bar with 2 dots at the end. This is the repeat sign and indicates that the piece should be played a second time. For more on repeat signs and other navigation symbols, please visit How To Navigate Music 1: Animated Tour.

Shorter rests have a more obvious effect on the rhythm, so here’s two examples using quavers. They’re also a great warm-up for getting used to counting and playing rests. Try playing and counting along.

The last example, playing off the beat (between the beats) after an on-beat rest, is known as syncopation. We’ll look at syncopation in part 2 of this course.

NOTE: If you find these too hard, visit 3. Beats, Tempo And Timing for some help on how to count and play.

Try These…

Here are a few exercises for reading rests. Try them on your instrument before you listen to them. If you find that hard, play along to them first, then play them by yourself.

NOTE: Many percussion instruments have no control over how long a note sounds. For such instruments, the difference between writing bar 2 of the first example as crotchets followed by crotchet rests or as minims is moot. It would make sense for such parts to we written as longer notes without rests. However, for on-beat rests, the presence of a rest helps players to capture the feeling of playing between the beats rather than on them.

This post is one of a growing series of free basic music theory lessons on my blog, musictheoryde-mystified.com. You can see the complete list here.

If you enjoyed reading my post, please give it a like and feel welcome to share it. Any questions, please leave a comment and I’ll answer it as soon as I can. If you’d like to be kept up to date on new posts, please subscribe.

NEXT LESSON: 8. What Is A Scale?

PART 1 CONTENTS: Basic Music Theory Course Contents

9. Accidentals, Sharpen and Flatten

This post is one of a 2-part series of free basic music theory lessons on my blog, musictheoryde-mystified.com. You can see the complete list here. Please feel welcome to make a comment or ask a question.

The term accidental has two similar meanings:

  • In general terms, an accidental is a symbol that affects the pitch of a note. The main accidentals are sharp, flat and natural.
  • In a musical context, the term accidental is also used to describe a note that doesn’t belong to the key of the piece; the scale that the piece is based on.

Give Me A Sign…

Symbols for accidentals such as # or b are called signs, not symbols.

  • A sharp sign acts like a plus sign: it adds 1 semitone to the pitch.
  • A flat sign acts like a minus sign: it subtracts 1 semitone from the pitch.
  • A natural sign cancels a previous sharp or flat.

Back in our first lesson we briefly looked at sharps and flats. Here’s a reminder.

  • For notes on a stave, accidentals are written before the note, immediately to the left of and at the same pitch position as the notehead.
  • When written as text, accidentals are written after the letter.

Writing a sharp next to a note raises its pitch by one semitone, without changing its name. Sharp = natural plus 1 semitone.

For instance, B# is one semitone higher than B. C is also 1 semitone higher than B. C is a much easier name than B#, so normally you’d call that note C. However, in some circumstances, the name B# is appropriate. We will see some examples of this in the next few posts.

A flat does the opposite to a sharp. Writing a flat next to a note lowers its pitch by a semitone, again without changing its name. Flat = natural minus 1 semitone.

Again, there are occasions where an unlikely name such as Cb is more appropriate than the natural, B.

Here are some more accidentals.

The letter notes are naturals; they aren’t raised or lowered. Normally we don’t need a sign to indicate that. However, if we’ve just used a sharp or flat (e.g. F#) and we want to follow it with the natural (F), we use the natural sign to indicate that the sharp or flat is now cancelled.

Double Trouble

There may not seem any point at this stage, but a note can be raised or lowered by as much as 2 semitones! We do this using the double sharp or double flat signs.

We already had 2 possible names for most notes, now we have even more!

Double sharps and double flats aren’t that common. We don’t randomly name a note as double sharp! It requires a really good reason to use them.

Nonetheless, notes are named according to their function in the music and sometimes their use is appropriate. If you see one, don’t worry – it’s just more of the same, “sharp sharp” or “flat flat”…

Sharpen And Flatten

To sharpen or flatten means to raise or lower a note by 1 semitone while keeping the same note name. For instance, if we change an F to an F# or a Bb to a B, we have sharpened it. You might ask, “why would we change any notes in a scale?”

In real life, we’re talking about musical pieces, not scales. Most music doesn’t just stick with the one scale for the whole piece. Also, notes can be changed temporarily just for effect, such as an ornament.

The note naming rule requires that each note in the scale has its own letter. If a note temporarily replaces a scale note it must use the name of the note it replaces. We use an accidental to make it the right pitch. 

For example, if F and G are both scale notes and we want to write the note in between, it’s name depends on whether it replaces F or G in the scale. If it replaces F, it’s sharpened (= F#). If it replaces G, it’s flattened (= Gb).

Some scales have lots of sharps or flats. The note which is sharpened may already be a sharp in the scale. In that case we use a double sharp. Similarly, if we flatten a note that was already a flat it becomes a double flat. Double sharps and double flats, although fairly rare, are no big deal…

  • To sharpen a note is to raise it by 1 semitone without changing its name. A double flat becomes a flat, a flat becomes a natural, a natural becomes a sharp and a sharp becomes a double sharp.
  • To flatten a note is to lower it by 1 semitone without changing its name. A double sharp becomes a sharp, a sharp becomes a natural, a natural becomes a flat and a flat becomes a double flat.
Each arrow represents 1 semitone

If you change the note name, you are NOT sharpening or flattening, you’re using a different note!

Try These 

Grab a pencil and a piece of paper and try some sharpening and flattening. Actually doing it is the best way to learn…

Sharpen the following notes:

Bb, C, G#

Flatten the following notes:

C#, A, Db

Answers at end of post.

This post is one of a growing series of free basic music theory lessons on my blog, musictheoryde-mystified.com. You can see the complete list here.

Please feel welcome to like, comment or to share this post. If you have any questions, pleased leave them as a comment and I will respond as soon as I can. If you enjoy my posts and would like to be kept up to date, please subscribe.

NEXT LESSON: 10. How To Find The Notes Of A Scale

PART 1 CONTENTS: Basic Music Theory Course Contents

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Answers

The Note Naming Rule For Scales And Keys

Each note in a key or scale must have its own letter.

Most Western scales have 7 notes. Including those with a sharp or flat in their name, most notes have two possible names.
We have 7 letters for note names and 7 pitch positions per octave on a stave. It makes sense that each note in a scale has a different letter as it’s name.

(Graphic, dots, D major scale with wrong crossed out and right notes)

Music notation is very visual. We can see the notes climb and descend as the melody itself climbs and descends. As we can see from the two versions of D major below, if two different notes in a scale share the same note name there are two different pitches sharing the same place on the stave and needing constant accidentals (sharps/flats/naturals) to show which is which. There is also one unused position, leaving a gap in the visual that we don’t hear.

(Sib graphics of D major melody, wrong/right notes)

If there are two possible names for a note, always choose the name that’s not used by any other notes in that key or scale.

8. What Is A Scale?

This post is one of a 2-part series of free basic music theory lessons on my blog, musictheoryde-mystified.com. You can see the complete list here. Please feel welcome to make a comment or ask a question.

If you’re looking for the quick answer, scroll down to the summary.

A scale is both a sequence of note pitches you can play by itself as a simple melody (usually for practice) and the basis of a piece of music.

In 1 Note Names, Semitones and Octaves, we saw that there are 12 different musical note pitches within an octave, each 1 semitone apart. We also saw that there are only 7 letters used to name music. On a musical stave there are also only 7 pitch positions per octave, one for each letter.

This is because most music in Western culture is usually made up using only 7 of the 12 notes at a time, the eighth note being the octave (hence the name “octave”). Such a selection of notes is called a scale. The first note of a scale is the reference note for music written in that scale.

Note: It is possible for a scale to have more or less than 7 notes (such as the 5-note pentatonic blues scale) but the vast majority of music in Western culture, both historically and in modern times, is based on 7-note (heptatonic) scales.

How Far Apart Are Scale Notes?

For 7 notes to make up an octave (12 semitones), the notes can’t all be spaced evenly. Most of the notes are 2 semitones apart, but there are two pairs which are only 1 semitone apart. For example, let’s look at the naturals; the notes that have just a letter as their name.

The naturals from A to A with note spacing in semitones

C major

Although the notes are named starting on A, C is the starting point for the most common scale of all, C major. We’ll talk about major and minor shortly, but for now, let’s look at the notes starting on C.

The naturals from C to C with note spacing in semitones

C major is made up of the naturals starting on C. We can see that C to D is 2 semitones, as is D to E, then E to F is only 1 semitone, etc. This is quite easy to see on a piano keyboard, as the named notes are the white keys and the others, the black keys. The interval from one key to the next is 1 semitone, whether between adjacent white keys or between a white key and an adjacent black key. (The staggered layout of a piano’s keys is for practical reasons- so one hand can span an octave).


Note: In scales, the intervals marked as 2 semitones are usually called a “tone” rather than “2 semitones”. Other schools use the terms ”steps” and ”half-steps” for the 2- and 1-semitone intervals between the notes of a scale.

In this blog I will always name intervals by semitones or by their musical interval name. For my reasons, see A Story Of Tones And Semitones.

The Root Note 

When we play a scale, we usually emphasise the first and last note, in this case, C, by playing those notes louder, longer or both. Playing a scale in this way helps us feel that the starting/ending note is the home note and that the other notes either lead away from that note or towards it.

The first note of a scale is called the root note or tonic and it is the most important note in a scale. The root note represents home in a musical journey and the start of the pattern of intervals from note to note that defines the scale.

Modes

Let’s play a scale using only the naturals, from C to C and back.

Now let’s play the same notes but starting on a different root note, such as A. We’ll play A to A and back.

Sure, one was slightly higher than the other, but did you notice a difference in character/flavour/mood? Have another listen…

… (I’ll wait)…

This difference in character is even more noticeable in a real piece than just a scale.

Now let’s compare the spacing of the notes.

Notice the difference in the order of the 2’s and 1’s in relation to the root note? It is this pattern that determines the scale’s character. 

The pattern of intervals that determine the note spacing of a scale is called a mode. When using just the naturals, each time we start on a different note, the pattern of note spacing is different. There are 7 different naturals, each of which is the root note of a mode. Of the 7 modes produced, six are quite common in various genres and one, the one starting on B, is seldom used (but that’s the subject of another post).

Earlier on, I called the first scale, starting on C, C major. The term major refers to the mode. Major is the most commonly used mode in modern Western music, hence the name. The one on A is called A natural minor or just A minor for short. Minor scales are usually used in a slightly different way to major in that there are two popular variations on the natural minor. We’ll look at how these variations are used in part 2 of this course so for now we’ll use the natural minor as our minor example.

The major and natural minor modes are also known by Greek names based on modes in the renaissance era.
Major = Ionian mode. Natural minor = Aeolian mode.

What About Keys?

You’re more likely to hear people talk in terms of keys rather than scales and modes. A key is simply the notes of a scale when they are rearranged to make music.

For instance, any music which is based on the scale of C major is in the key of C major.

The major or minor (or any mode, for that matter) can be made to start on any root note. The major mode on D is called D major. The minor mode on F is called F minor. We’ll look at how this works in coming posts..

Scales and melodies 

We can tell the difference between C major and A minor when we play the scale because we’re emphasising the root note – by playing it first, last and longer than the other notes. Furthermore we can hear the progression of ascending or descending notes arrive on the root note. But how can we recognise the mode when the notes are all mixed up in a melody?

It’s all about being able to recognise the root note.

Melodies rely on a range of techniques to highlight the root note including those I’ve just mentioned. A melody isn’t a random selection of notes. The structure of the phrases that make up a melody and the relative length and strength of notes all contribute to our ability to recognise the root note as home. Some of these techniques are mentioned in a little more detail in How Can We Tell Which Key We’re In?

Summary

  • A scale is a selection of (usually 7) pitches within an octave, which form the basic pitch elements of a piece. The notes can be played at any octave.
  • The root note or tonic is the first note of the scale and the reference/ home note for music written using that scale.
  • The interval spacing of the notes of a scale is called a mode. The most common modes are called major and minor.
  • Each mode imparts a unique character to the music because of its unique combination of 1 and 2 semitone intervals from note to note.
  • We can hear the character of the mode because the music is written in such a way as to highlight the root note. For some examples, visit How Can We Tell Which Key We’re In?

This post is one of a growing series of free basic music theory lessons on my blog, musictheoryde-mystified.com. You can see the complete list here.

Please feel welcome to like, comment or to share this post. If you have any questions, pleased leave them as a comment and I will respond as soon as I can. If you enjoy my posts and would like to be kept up to date, please subscribe.

Much of the content is based on my upcoming music theory reference, Music Theory De-mystified, which is currently planned for release as an e-book by the end of 2023.

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PART 1 CONTENTS: Basic Music Theory Course Contents

A Story Of Tones And Semitones

In kindergarten and early primary school, children are taught scales as having steps and half-steps, or tones and semitones (T and S). This naming conveys that between one scale note and the next is always “one” something (tone or semitone, step or half step), indicating that these notes are consecutive in the scale despite their different size.

This is great for very young minds but doesn’t reflect how intervals are measured and described in general use.

The smallest unit of musical pitch (in Western culture) is 1 semitone. The semitone is a basic unit, like a millimetre. (Smaller units exist but they measure expression such as vibrato or micro-tuning rather than musical notes). Larger intervals are measured in semitones, not tones and semitones. We say an octave is 12 semitones, not 6 tones or 5 tones and 2 semitones.

(Personally I find that calling 2 semitones a tone is confusing, given that a “tone” is also the American name for a note as well as a word for timbre.)

I never refer to “tones” as an interval size in any of my writing. For scales, I write 2 or 1 (semitones) instead of T or S.

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Terms Used In My Posts

The American and English teaching systems use some different terms to describe music. Even the word for a single musical sound is different: Americans say “tone”, the English say “note”. In Australia, where I had my musical education, we use the English system. Below are the most common terms and their equivalents.

General

  • note = tone
  • bar = measure
  • stave = staff
  • great stave = grand staff
  • root note = tonic

Note values

For note values I teach both versions. I mainly teach the American names to help interpret time signatures but overall I use the English names, such as:

  • minim = half note
  • crotchet = quarter note
  • quaver = eighth note

Scale degree names

There are two prevailing schools of naming scale degrees:

  • as interval names above the root note
  • as note numbers based on the major scale, with minor intervals marked as b (flattened).

In my posts I use the interval names method.

Relative scale degree names

  • subdominant = pre-dominant
  • leading note = leading tone

Key Relationships

  • cycle of 5ths = circle of 5ths

Chords

  • modal chord = power chord

Other terms in my posts

  • Western music = the music of Western culture in any school or genre, whether historic or contemporary
  • instrument = instrument including voice
  • piece = musical work, whether sung or played, improvised or written, with any number of players
  • part = one instrument’s contribution to a piece
  • section = a smaller structure within a piece
  • ensemble = more than one part, from a singer who accompanies the self to an orchestra or choir

How Can We Tell Which Key We’re In?

This post is one of a growing series of holistic investigations into various aspects of music theory. The full list can be found in the Posts page under the category Music Theory De-Mystified.

All comments are welcome. If you enjoy my post, please give it a like and share it or subscribe to my blog.

First I should say that there are two separate subjects here: the overall key and the key at a given point in the piece such as a visiting key. For the purpose of this post I’ll focus on overall key and assume a fairly simple melody but in principle, the same applies to sections and even individual phrases within the piece.

If you’re looking for a quick answer, scroll down to the summary.

When we play a scale, it’s easy to tell what the key is: it’s a combination of the root note and the mode. If we start and finish on C and play the major scale pattern of .2.2.1.2.2.2.1. (semitones), we’re in C major: C major is the major mode built on C.

But how can we hear/feel what key we’re in when the order of the notes varies, as in a melody?

If you’re reading notation, you could say, “look at the key signature”. This is true, but it’s only part of the answer. Within a key signature there are many possible tonalities. Even considering only the major and minor modes, you still need to find the right choice, to help interpret the music correctly. And if you’re listening or playing by ear, you need to be able to “feel” the key.

Look for the root note

To do this, we need to know what the root note is. For a given key signature (set of notes that make up a scale), the mode is determined by where we start the pattern i.e. the root note.

“The Spokes Of A Scale”

The best way to think of a scale is not as a strip of notes lying next to each other but as a series of spokes with the root note at the centre and the other notes around it. The double lines in the following diagram indicate the special bond between the root note and its octave (where the pattern repeats) and between the root note and the perfect 5th (more on that later in this post).

“The spokes of a scale”, diagram of the connections between the notes of a scale
“The Spokes of a Scale” over 3 octaves

(…I see it as a kind of spiral staircase extending up and down the octaves like storeys of an apartment block, where notes on the central column are octaves of the root note…)

Root Note Power

In a piece of music, it’s as much about the relationship of each note to the root note as it is from each note to the next. To be able to feel the key we need to be able to feel the root note.

There’s a good chance that the root note is first, or at least among the first few notes, and also at or near the end, but it’s not always the case. Fortunately there are many other ways it can be pointed out in a melody.

Longest, Strongest and Most 

In a melody, other than first and last, these are the three main ways we can highlight the root note.

Longest

Duration is power. Out of a series of different length notes, the longer notes are more prominent. If the root note is a long note it will stand out in the crowd.

Strongest

One way to emphasise the root note is to give it strength. There are two ways to do this:

  1. by playing that note louder than the others or giving the note an accent (a strong attack).
  2. by making the root note appear on the strongest parts of the bar. Time signatures have an implied hierarchy of strong and weak points- a default rhythm, if you like. Placing the root note on beat 1 gives it the most strength. In 3/4 and 4/4, beat 3 is also naturally strong. Similarly, on-beat quavers are naturally stronger than off-beat quavers.

Most 

Another way to reinforce the root note is to keep coming back to it. The more often we hear it compared to surrounding notes, the more we believe it.

Examples

Here are a few single-phrase “melodies” using just a single technique to highlight the root note. For the following examples, as you listen, try to hum the note that feels like the root note. Bear in mind that no single note will fit all the time. What we’re looking for is the note that fits most of the time. When you stop listening, which single note would you remember? Try a few if you’re not sure…

The examples are all in C major, so if the techniques I have described are effective, C should feel like the root note.

To make it a fair test, I have tried to make the (mini) melodies fairly random apart from the parameter we’re testing, so they’re not great. Real composers use a combination of these techniques when creating a melody.

Longest
Strongest
Most

Lowest & Highest, Direction 

Although not as significant overall, the lowest and highest notes of a passage within the melody will be naturally emphasised. I see this more as a sense of direction. When listening, we follow the direction of a scale-like series of notes, upward or downward, to its destination. The series directs us to the destination, giving that last note emphasis, before changing direction. 

A scale played ascending then descending is as good an example of this as any. Scales are essentially very simple melodies with no detours.

Lowest, highest, direction

Harmonic Reinforcement 

The perfect 5th, a great support act

The 5th note of a scale is almost as special as the root note itself and warrants a post of its own. I will say that it has both the capacity to blend well with the root note to support it (even if the notes are one after the other rather than played together) and to be a convenient destination for the melody to visit, a temporary root note of its own.

As a supporting note it is second to none. A 5th nearby will reinforce the presence of the root note by “pointing to it”. The 3rd note, especially the major 3rd, can also help in this way.

Some melodies place all 3 notes of the home key’s triad (chord) near each other, virtually acting as an arpeggiated chord, providing an even stronger emphasis.

Harmonic reinforcement from the perfect 5th

Accompaniment 

We haven’t talked about chords yet. Chords have an enormous say in what feels like home. Chords (at least the basic types) feature the three most important notes of a key, the 1st (the root note), the 3rd and the 5th. These notes blend so well together that they reinforce the chord’s root note. 

While the chord sounds (if it sounds for long enough), it’s hard not to feel that its root note is, temporarily, the root note of the piece.

The most prominent chord overall, especially towards the beginning and end of the piece, is generally that of the home key.

Other chords can also feel like home for a while if they sound for long enough, providing visiting points in the melody. This is one of the tools a composer can use to create music that has a journey, a sense of going places, rather than being stuck at home the whole time like a COVID lockdown.

The techniques described in this section are also used to establish the new key after a modulation (key change).

Even when no chords are played, the melody’s sense of direction and use of the above techniques can suggest some of these temporary keys. Chords can also be played melodically, as a series of notes called a triad. Many melodies are largely made up of scale-like passages and triads.

In A Nutshell

To answer the title question: look for the root note. The music makes sense when you can hear/feel how the other notes relate to the root note.

Look for a strong note or a strongly supported note early in the piece and towards the end. Feel the flow of the melody’s phrases- where the phrases start and end, which notes are emphasised. When a phrase is arriving home, you will hear it.

Once you know the root note, the mode will become evident, because you’ll interpret the other notes from the root note’s perspective. You can confirm this by playing the notes of the melody as a scale starting on the root note. If you have chosen the root note correctly, the tonality of the scale will match the overall tonality of the piece.

Much of the content is based on my upcoming music theory reference, Music Theory De-mystified, which is currently planned for release as an e-book by the end of 2022.

Please feel free to comment. I have a slightly unorthodox way of presenting music theory concepts but the concepts themselves are well established. If you like my posts, please subscribe so you can be informed of new posts.