Music Theory U.4: Key Signatures & Tonality

tonal center

A key signature creates a _______ ________. That means your ear is drawn to certain notes in the key. In the key of F, your ear wants you to go to the note F. In the key of G sharp, your ear leads you to G sharp.

solfege

A method of assigning a syllable to every pitch/degree of a scale. Instead of singing the actual names of the notes in the scale (eg. c d e f g a b) we use the syllables instead (Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Ti).

tonality

A system of music in which specific hierarchical pitch relationships are based on a key "center", or tonic.

relative pitch

The ability to identify relationships between notes and chords in a theoretical and musical way, without actually identifying note names.

tonic

The first scale degree of the diatonic scale and the tonal center or final resolution tone. The triad formed on the tonic note, the tonic chord, is thus the most significant chord. More generally, it is the pitch upon which all other pitches of a piece are hierarichally referenced.

C

The root note of the C Major scale would be...

24

There are _____ keys total.

relative

major and minor keys that share the same signature are ________ to each other

w h w w h w w

natural minor is constructed with WHAT formula?

c major

no sharps or flats in the key signature:

f major

one flat in the key signature:

chromatic

refers to structures derived from the chromatic scale, which consists of all semitones.

melodic minor

scale has half steps between scale degrees 2-3, and 7-8 when ascending. The melodic minor scale reverts to natural minor when descending.

key signature calculation method

where each key signature is assigned a numeric value based on the number and type of accidentals. sharps are positive, flats are negative.

W W H W W W H

whole & half step pattern in a major scale

relative keys/related minor

Every major key and its corresponding key signature has a dual function. Not only does it indicate a major key, but it also indicates one minor key as well. Simply put, every major scale/key has a minor scale/key hiding inside it.

tendency tones

Every note within a scale has a certain function to either be a stable note or to resolve to a stable note.

B E A D G C F (Battle Ends And Down Goes Charles' Father)

In a key signature, flats are organized in a special way...

F C G D A E B (Father Charles Goes Down And Ends Battle)

In a key signature, sharps are organized in a special way (opposite of flats)...

3

Where there is only 1 major scale, __ different variations of the minor scale exist.

sharps

_______ (in a key signature) can be visualized as groups of 2, 3 and 2, each group going up a line or space.

flats

_______ (in a key signature) can be visualized in pairs, each going down a line or space.

key signature

a collection of every accidental found in a scale

second to last

for key signatures with flats, the key signature is the _____________ flat.

a half step

for key signatures with sharps, the key signature is the note name ______________ above the last sharp.

natural minor

has half steps between scale degrees 2-3 and 5-6. (It is the only one of the three minor scales with a whole step between 7-8.)

harmonic minor

has half steps between scale degrees 2-3, 5-6, and 7-8. (It is the only one of the three minor scales with a step and a half between scale degrees 6-7.)

d flat

This is the key of...

g

This is the key of...

minor

To name a ________ key signature, first name the major key. Once you have found that, you simply count up six notes (up a major sixth) or down three (down a minor third). Either way, you arrive at the same note.

false

True/False: A note in the major key can only use the notes of the major scale.

atonal

When a piece of music lacks a tonal center it is said to be...

tonal

When music has this centered sound to it, it is said to be...