What is tonality in music, we learn to identify and change tonality

What is tonality in music, we learn to identify and change tonality

Music theory includes a huge amount of diverse terminology. Tonality is a fundamental professional term. On this page you can find out what is tonality, how to define it, what kinds there are, as well as interesting facts, exercises, and a way to change the tonality in the backing track.

Highlights

Imagine you decided to play a piece of music. You found the notes, and when parsing the musical text, you noticed that after the key there are sharps or flat. You need to figure out what they mean. Key marks are alterations, which are preserved throughout the performance of a musical composition. According to the rules, they are set after the key, but before the size (See picture No. 1), and duplicated on each subsequent line. Key signs are necessary not only to not always write them around the notes, which takes a lot of time, but also so that the musician can determine the tone in which the work is written.

Figure 1

The piano, like many other instruments, has a temperament. In this system, the units of calculus can take a tone and a semitone. Due to the division of these units from each sound on the keyboard, you can form the key, either major or minor inclination. So the modal formulas of major and minor were invented (See Figure 2).

Figure 2

It is according to these formulas that the sound scale can be constructed from any sound tonality, either in a major or in a minor. Sequential reproduction of notes according to these formulas is called gamma. Many musicians play scales in order to quickly navigate the keys and key signs with them.

The tonality consists of two components: the name of the sound (for example, before) and the mood mood (major or minor). To build a scale, you need to select one of the sounds on the keyboard and play from it using the formula, either major or minor.

Exercises to consolidate

1. Try playing a major scale from the sound of "re." Use when playing the ratio of tones and semitones. Check the correctness.
2. Try to reproduce the minor scale from the sound "mi". You must play according to the proposed formula.
3. Try to play scales from different sounds in different moods. At first, at a slower pace, then at a faster pace.

Varieties

Some tonalities may have a certain connection with each other. Then they can be included in the following classifications:

• Parallel key. The peculiarity is the same number of key signs, but different modal mood. In fact, the set of sounds is absolutely identical, the difference lies only in the sound of the tonic. For example, the tonalities in C major and A minor are parallel, they have the same number of key characters, but a different mood and tonic sound. There is a parallel-variable mode, which is characterized by the fact that there are two parallel tonalities in the work, and they constantly change the mode, then in major, then in minor. Such a mood is characteristic of Russian folk music.
• The eponymous ones have a general sound of tonic, but at the same time a different mood and key signs. Example: D major (2 key characters), D minor (1 key character).
• The single pericum has a common third (that is, the third sound in a triad); they are no longer united by either tonic, or key signs, or fret. Usually one-pertz minor minor is located for a small second or semitone higher than major. Correspondingly, one-facial major versus minor is lower for a small second or semitone. An example is the key in C major and C sharp minor, in the triads of these chords the sound "mi" coincides.

Exercises to consolidate

Determine how the two keys relate to each other. Next to the example, put the appropriate number:

1. Parallel
2. Eponymous
3. Single finger

Questions:

• B-dur and h-moll
• A-dur and a-moll
• G-dur and e-moll

Check the correctness of your own knowledge.

Answers: 3, 2, 1.

Interesting Facts

• As a musical term, it was born at the beginning of the 19th century. It was introduced by Alexander Etienne Shoron in his own writings.
• There is a “color” ear, which is characterized by the fact that a person has a certain tonality associated with a specific color. The owners of this gift were Rimsky-Korsakov and Scriabin.
• In modern art there is atonal music, which does not take the principles of tonal sustainability as the basis.
• English terminology uses for parallel keys the following designation - relative keys. For literal translation, this is "related" or "related." The same names are designated as parallel keys, which can be perceived as parallel. Often when translating specific literature, translators admit an error in this matter.
• The symbolism of classical music assigned a certain meaning to certain keys. So Des-dur is true love, B-dur defines beautiful men, heroes, and e-moll - grief.

Key table

Sharp

Bemole

How to determine the tonality of the work

You can learn the key for the composition using the following plan:

1. Look at the key signs.
2. Locate the table.
3. It can be two keys: major and minor. To determine what kind of mood you need to see how the sound ends the work.

There are ways to simplify the search:

• For major in sharp keys: the last sharp + m2 = the name of the tonality. So, if the extreme key sign is C sharp, then it will be in D major.
• For flat major keys: the second last flat = the required key. So if the key signs are three, then the last but one will be E-flat - this will be the desired key.

You can use both standard methods and the ones listed above. The main thing is to learn to correctly identify the tonality and navigate it.

Exercises to consolidate

Determine the tonality of the key signs.

Major

1.

2.

3.

Minor

1.

2.

3.

Answers: 1. D major 2. As major 3. C major

1. Cis minor 2. B minor 3. E minor

Quinte circle

A quinte-quint circle is a special schematically presented information in which all the tonalities are located at a distance of a pure fifth of a clockwise direction, and along a clean quarter of a counterclockwise direction.

The main triads in tonality

To begin with, what is a major and minor triad, and how they are built. Regardless of the inclination, a triad represents a chord consisting of three sounds, which are arranged in third. Major triad denoted as B⁵_3, and consists of a third and a small one. The minor triad is denoted as M⁵₃, and consists of a small and large third.

A triad can be constructed from each note in the key.

The main triads in tonality are those chords that show this major or minor inclination. On the first, fourth and fifth triads are built, corresponding to the fret mood. That is, major triads are built in the major on these steps, and minor in the minor, respectively. The main triads for each stage have their own names or as they are also called functions. So on the first stage is the tonic, on the fourth subdominant, and on the fifth dominant. Usually abbreviated as T, S and D.

Related Key

There is such a thing as tonal kinship. The greater the difference of signs, the further the relationship. Depending on the systems, there are 3 or 4 degrees. Consider the most popular system that divides the key into 3 degrees of kinship.

First group divided into 3 categories:

1. This is a parallel key. The difference in signs is 0. This key combines six common chords. Example: F major and D minor.
2. 4 tones. There is one difference between the main and final key. These are subdominant and dominant tones, as well as parallel to S and D. For example, for G major: S for C major, parallel for S for A minor, D for D major, parallel for D for B minor.
3. It is considered only for major keys. The difference of 4 digits is the harmonic subdominant. An example for C-dur - subdominant harmonic - this is in F minor.

Second group Kinship is divided into 2 subgroups:

1. 4 tones. The difference in two key signs. It is easy to find these tonalities from the main one, they are located for a large second above and below + the parallels found. Example: the main key - in A major. Above and below for a big second or tone of tonality: B minor and G major. Parallels for found keys: these are D major and E minor.
2. The difference of characters from three to five. Finding the tonality will depend on whether the key is minor or minor.

• Dur: 6 major and 2 minor: higher and lower per m2, m3 and b3; ss harmonic, located on the b2 below, as well as the minor minor of the same name. Example for G-dur: As-dur, B-dur, H-dur, Fis-dur, E-dur, Es-dur and f-moll and g-moll.
• Moll: 6 minor and 2 major: for a small second, a small third and B3 above and below; DD is a big second higher and of the same name major.

Third group divided into 2 groups:

1. 3 tones, not having a single common chord, the difference by 3-5 signs in the opposite direction. For major, it is necessary to find the minors higher at the following intervals, and for minor, the major values ​​are at SW 1, SW 4 and SW 5 below.
2. Tritonant and its parallel. There is a triton from the original tonic, for C-dur - Fis-dur.

Depending on the degree in harmony, there are many ways of modulations.

How to change the key in the backing

It happens that the tonality is either too high for voice or too low. In order for music to sound beautiful it is necessary to make a backing track comfortable using modern technologies and programs, that is, to transpose it to the required interval lower or higher. Let us examine how to change the key in the backing tracks or compositions. We will work in the program Audacity.

• Open Audacity

• Click on the "File" section. Choose "Open ..."

• Select the desired audio
• Use CTRL + A to select the entire track.
• Click on the "Effects" section, select "Pitch Bend ..."

• We set the number of semitones: when increasing the value is above zero, when decreasing the value is less than zero. You can choose a specific key.

• Save the result. Open the "File" section, select "Export Audio ..."

We hope that the page was useful for reading and now you know what tonality is, understand their types and can transpose a piece of music with the help of a special program. Read other music literacy articles and improve your own knowledge.