Thread: The key to keys
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Old 02-18-2019, 04:05 PM
patrickgm60 patrickgm60 is offline
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Late to the thread; have been in China, where I was unable to access... pretty much everything.

Yes, a fascinating topic, that I haven't visited in a long time. Here's a link to more information:

http://www.biteyourownelbow.com/keychar.htm

Some of the key descriptions are very expressive. E.g. Bb minor:

"A quaint creature, often dressed in the garment of night. It is somewhat surly and very seldom takes on a pleasant countenance. Mocking God and the world; discontented with itself and with everything; preparation for suicide sounds in this key."

While equal temperament has "solved" much of the prior key selection problems faced by classical composers, the key characteristics are still there, if you can hear them. Chopin's music is a wonderful example of the use of various keys, to capture the mood/emotion of his pieces. Were he composing on a modern piano, I suspect he would have chosen the same keys. Playing his music in a different key, to me, "sounds wrong."
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