Music Bites #1

What is a Key?


A key is. Link or connection between two cadences , a major and a minor cadence .

These two cadences ( cadence means subdominant,dominant,to tonic)
Are linked by a neutral chord ( inside the key)
Which both cadences are consonant over top of.


Let's see this in action.
KEY
Of C major ( A relative minor)
The notes are
C D E F G A B C

Here are the chords.
1 CEGB
2. DFAC
3. EGBD
4.FACE
5.GBDF
6.ACEG
7.BDFA


What makes this a key?


We have a cadence for C major

2.dfac, 5.gbdf, 1.cegb

We have a cadence for A minor

7.bdfa, 3.eG#bd. 6.aceg

That's 6 out of 7 chords


Now out of 7 chords , look at the dead center chord
4.FACE
Here is our link.

So the link means that

If you place link on bottom and cadences on top.

Face(bottom) and DFAC,gbdf,CEGB, on top or
Face( bottom) and BDFA,eG#bd,ACEG on top.

 

Part B the minor side of a key.

Let's look at the SAME key , from the A minor perspective.

A harmonic minor

A B C D E F G# A

Chords.
1.aceg# ( a minor 6th acef#)
2.bdfa. ( Bmin7b5)
3.ceg#b
4.dfac
5.eg#bd (E dominant 7)
6.face
7g#bdf

We have our 2 cadences
( We use Cmajor cadence DFAC,gbdf,CEGB)
But we use A harmonic minor cadence
( BDFA, eg#bd, acef# (use amin6 for tonic)

That is 6 out of 7 chords
Look at the dead center chord
4.DFAC
This is our link on the minor side

The link is consonant with both cadences

So DFAC on bottom while ( DFAC,gbdf,cegb)
Fits on top
Or
DFAC on bottom while ( BDFA,eg#bd,acef#) on top.


This shows us what a key is, and how it's used.

It opens up so many options by understanding what a key is and how to use it.

 

Part C application .

Once we understand this component of how music works , how do we actualize it? ( Make real music from it)

Well there so many ways but here is to get you started

First
Don't think of this information relative to one instrument only. This represents all sound layers and all instruments.
By understanding this we assign different instruments to do tasks.

So our bass line establishes the root
Our main melody uses the highest pitches
The harmony is in the middle.

Let's start by taking C major KEY.

Our form will be

Dmin7, G7, C6

Here is those notes.
DFAC,GBDF,CEGA

Now ,
We are going to start by having the bass be in bold
DFAC ,GBDF ,CEGA

That's the bass sound.

That leaves us this for the other instruments.
FAC,. BDF,. EGA

We are going to make the main melody in red
FAC,BFD,AGE
This gives us a voice leading in high octave

Finally all we have left is this.

FA, BF, AG

New for the remaining harmony we put them in the mid range in between the baseline and the high melody line established.

Let's spread the notes out.
AF,. FB,. AG

We can do it with blue being left side in stereo
And green right side in stereo

AF,. FB. AG

Now we have totally expressed our
C major cadence over 4 instrument layers.
1bass
2mid left
3mid right.
4upper melody


Now we can add our link as well.

In C major the dead center chord is FMaj7 FACE

We can add a 5th layer of sub bass
Using the F ringing out the whole time the other changes are happening above it.

Next we follow all the same steps except with A harmonic minor.
This time our cadence is BDFA,eg#bd,acef#

And our link is DFAC

Follow same steps as before once you connect both parts it will be this.

( DFAC,GBDF,CEGA,) over top of FACE
Then changes to
( BDFA,EG#BD,ACEF#) over top of DFAC

You have now seen an example how to take the knowledge and turn it into a real world example of how a key works and how to use it

 

Part D

The LINK in more depth.

In C Maj ( a min)

The LINK is
Fmaj7
We can focus our attention on this area and
Think of it from that perspective

F G A B C D E F

F Lydian

Now we are seeing it from a modal perspective.
This means creating music at unity instead of tension release or home and away like in tonal music.
The LINK
Is where tonal music meets modal music.

,...............

( A brief look at the modal language)
F Lydian.
1.face.
2.gbdf
3.aceg. ( Inversion of Fmaj
4.bdfa
5.cegb (inversion of Fmaj
6 dfac
7.egbd

In modal music

F Lydian really means 5 flavors of the same thing

major flavor ( Fmaj7
dominant flavor G7
min7b5 ( min6) flavor ( bmin7b5) dmin6
Min flavor ( dmin7
Min flavor 2 ( emin7


These all fit on top of FACE
( Changing the chords changes the flavor but there is no motion because it all represents F Lydian )
The music is still not moving around.

........

Now that we have looked at the tonal aspect ( first few comment boxes)
And then the separate modal language aspect here.

We can see where the two types of music meet together and both can be used at any time.

If you want to combine tonal and modal music through this understanding of a KEY and it's link,

All you have to remember is that
The major and minor cadences move normally like a normal progression .
However the LINK
Moves slowly because those 2 cadences are happening inside the LINK.


Let's take a look at

C melodic minor scale

C D Eb F G A B
D#.

1.CEbGB. ( C minor major7th. _ Cminmaj
2.DFAC. ( dmin7
3.Eb GBD. ( Ebmaj7#5
4.FACEb. ( F Lydian dominant)
5.GBDF. (G dominant7
6.ACEbG. ( Amin7b5. Or. Cmin6
7.BDFA. ( Bmin7b5. Or Dmin7

Here we can see that the LINK
Behaves the same way
F Lydian dominant is the thing that these chords are happening inside of .

 

Part E

Tonal music's melody ( in the KEY )

Now we are going to take a look at melody.
We are going to use one note after another here

First take C major.
1.up and down
C D E F G A B C
C B A G F E D C

2. Thirds
D C E D F E G F A G B A C B D A

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

3 triads forward backward

CEG AFD EGB CAF GBD ECA BDF GEC
Then
GEC DFA BGE FAC DBG ACE FDB CEG

3b triads leading tone below root forward

BCEG C#DFA D#EGB EFAC F#GBD G#ACE

A#BDF BCEG

3c. Triads leading tone below fifth backward

F#GEC G#AFD. A#BGE. BCAF C#DBG D#ECA
EFDB

3d.
Triads leading tone below root up, then leading tone below 5th down then next up the next etc.

BCEG. G#AFD D#EGB. DCAF F#GBD D#ECA A#BDF F#GEC


4. 7th chords ( 4 note chords)
CEGB CAFD EGBD ECAF GBDF GECA BDFA BGEC
Then
BGEC DFAC DBGE FACE FDBG ACEG AFDB CEGB

 

Part F

The connect between rhythm and the melody in a key.

For every important beat you have a weak beat next to it.
If you have 4 beats
1234
The first is important the bass drum identifies this
The 2 and 4th beats are weak
The 3rd beat is strong commonly identified by the snare drum.

This connection of how our ear prioritizes strong and weak beats also has a connection to the navigation of melody within a KEY.

This is through what is called the chromatic MAJOR scale.
How this works is like this
If I am moving forwards in the KEY of C major
CC#DD#EGFF#GG#AA#BDC

If I am moving backwards in the KEY of C major
CDBA#AG#GF#FGED#DC#C

This is the chromatic C major scale .
It gives you a way to always have a note land on a strong beat if it is your preference to do so at any moment in any context.

 

The chromatic C major scale can be used in the same way that we looked at melody in the KEY.

Let's say outlining the triads.
1.CEG
Forward
CD#DD#EGFF#G
Backwards
GF#FGED#DC#C

2.DFA
DD#EGFF#GG#A
Backwards
AG#GF#FGED#D

3.EGB
EGFF#GG#AA#B
Backwards
BA#AG#GF#FGE

Etc.

How about triads forward then backward?
CEG
DFA

CC#DD#EGFF#GG#AG#GF#FGED#D

Any regular melodic motion can be captured this way as demonstrated.

 

Changing tones.

Say we are on our tonic chord
CEGB

For every note in a Melody you can use the neighbor notes of the key to setup your landing note as a melodic device.

Take CEGB
CEGB
Turns into
DBCEGB
Then
DBCEGBDBC on top as well

We can loop it around

DBCEGCAB
Is just more detailed version of
CEGB
What about a more detailed version of
CEGBGEC?
Up then down.
DBCEGCABGEDBC
Now it is a loop

Changing tones offer a great way to add embellishments.

Say if we were on our subdominant 2 chord in C major
DFAC ( E is the 9th a good note for this chord)

Using the changing tones
FDECDFACECDAFECDFACECDAF


Let's revisit this.

FAC DBG ACE FDB CEG

Now changing tones

GEFAC ECDBG BGACE GEFDB DBCEG

 

Summary of The KEY.

It's important to understand what a key is and how it works.
A KEY is NOT that you are restricted in any way.
You have every note and every chord available .
Because a key is a connection between 2 cadences.
Which motion is happening over a static 2 or 4 chord.

Summary of melody in a key

As stated before there is no restriction of notes.
All 12 are usable in every key.
It's about understanding that in melody you have strong beats and weak beats.
You have notes that prepare you for a strong destination landing note .