Klarinet Archive - Posting 000580.txt from 2006/03

From: Tim Roberts <timr@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] Re: Keys (from Let's get real)
Date: Mon, 27 Mar 2006 13:04:52 -0500

On Mon, 27 Mar 2006 09:40:09 +0100 (BST), Roger Hewitt
<rogerclarinet@-----.uk> wrote:

>Don't start me on "wrong key"! A friend of mine has perfext pitch and
>associates moods with keys, and as a Mozart nut (in the nicest possible
>way!) he gets upset by Mozart pieces transposed into different keys
>because it changes the mood of the piece.
>

I, too, have heard the hogwash about F major being a "calm" key, and so
on. This ignores the rather serious problem of transposing
instruments. If the orchestra is in F major, then my Bb clarinet is in
G major, my A clarinet would be in Ab major, the alto saxes would be in
D, and despite continued research, science has not yet determined which
key the french horns would be in.

So, does that mean a clarinet playing in G is "calm"? Or in Ab? Or do
the clashing keys of the transposing instruments somehow unbalance the
feng shui of the rest of the orchestra?

--
Tim Roberts, timr@-----.com
Providenza & Boekelheide, Inc.

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