Klarinet Archive - Posting 000659.txt from 1995/05

From: Laura R Bornhoeft <lbornhoe@-----.EDU>
Subj: Weird keys/Key characteristics
Date: Tue, 23 May 1995 17:35:15 -0400

I had always taken for granted that as you add sharps or flats to the key
signature, you end up putting your fingers on more keys and fewer holes,
i.e., using more cross-fingerings (or at least the Boehm equivalent of such).
The fingers work out of their natural positions for a greater part of the
time, and so playing in those keys is physically more clumsy, and hence
more difficult.
Also, when you get LOTS of sharps or flats, the music starts to call for
double-sharps and -flats (especially in short-term modulations), and that
will mentally slow you down.

Concerning personalities or colors of different keys: I remember reading
somewhere a long time ago that certain long-ago composers (Mozart,
Beethoven, Dvorak come to mind) did actually associate different keys
with different (visual) colors and/or moods, and were quite definite
about it -- but they didn't agree on which key was which color. Maybe
that's one of the romantic ideas of the 19th century, which, of course,
the technical 20th century has discarded.

Laura Bornhoeft