 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: huda
Date: 2012-01-01 02:45
im having trouble understnding key signatures. okay- i see some accidentals in the front that indicate this song is in d minor; how will it sound different from c minor? how to apply it- do i just give a flat to every B in the row since the b is on the B line? to change a song made for piano, do i first transpose each note a whole step up so its on C, then switch the accidentals to my desired key, and apply them?
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2012-01-01 03:05
'Yes'
Think of the played notes as one step up (if the printed note is on a specific LINE then the note you will play is on the next space). This is because a Bb clarinet will produce a concert Bb sound if you play a C written on the page. It may be helpful to know that ANY instrument will sound its respective key when playing a written C (an Eb clarinet sounds an Eb when playing a written C).
You need to know what key you are in to really grasp this idea, and by that I mean you need to know the TONIC (starting note of the scale) ie C is the primary note around which things swirl in the key of C (or A in the key of A......etc.). The minor keys are the same deal but share the key signature of the scale a Major Sixth Up or a Minor Third Down (ie 'a' minor is the same key signature if C Major .... no sharps or flats; d minor is the same key as F Major ..... one flat , etc.
................Paul Aviles
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Author: blazian
Date: 2012-01-01 03:17
Keys can be a bit tricky. Consider songs in different minor keys just like major keys. The song will "seem" to be in that key because of the tonic note it's centered around and other notes used more frequently in the key. The key of D minor has one flat (B flat) and is a full step higher than the key of C minor which has three flats (B flat, E flat, and A flat). The keys could sound quite alike if you were listening and didn't know what key the song was being played in. So in the key of D minor, every B will be flatted unless it is marked otherwise with a natural or sharp sign. This includes the B below the staff, above the staff, and everywhere else.
If you're reading a piano part, you need to play every note one full step up. For example, D would become E. The key you're actually playing in would be E minor, a full step up from D minor, with the same key signature as G (one sharp (F#)). If the first note is Bb, you'd play a C.
Edit: And ditto everything Paul says
- Martin
Post Edited (2012-01-01 03:18)
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Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2012-01-01 03:21
I'm not certain exactly what you're asking, but I'll take a crack at answering what I think are your questions.
The key signature tells you what notes need to be changed from natural in order to produce a standard mode, which for your situation will mean either a standard major or natural minor scale.
For example, to form a familiar major (do-re-mi) scale, the scale pattern you get when you play all naturals beginning on C (a C major scale), but starting on F, you have to make all the Bs a half-step lower (B-flat). The flat sign in the key signature is put on the B on the staff, but it means *all* Bs are flatted in any octave.
To make a pure or natural scale - like the one you get if you begin on A and play all naturals (we'll leave altered minor scale forms aside) - beginning on E, you would need to make all the Fs sharp. Again, the sharp sign is placed in one F location on the staff (top line in treble clef by tradition) but it means all Fs in any octave are sharped.
By flatting or sharping the right notes, you can produce a major or a minor scale pattern beginning on any of the twelve notes on the piano keyboard (the chromatic scale). Scales starting on different notes than C (major) or A (minor) are used for any number of reasons. D minor will sound higher than C minor, but the pattern - the relationships among the 7 different notes of the scale - is the same if the correct key signature is used.
To transpose music from a piano to produce the same pitches on a B-flat clarinet, you write each note a whole step higher and apply the correct key signature for the scale that begins a step higher than the scale the piano music uses. So, if the piano music is in C major (no sharps or flats), the clarinet part must be written with its notes a step higher *if you want the clarinet notes to sound the same as the piano pitches.* If you did this for each note, you'd find that where there is an E or a B (the 3rd and 7th notes in a C major scale), the written pitches for clarinet would be F-sharp or C-sharp (which happen to be the 3rd and 7th notes in D major). You could certainly mark sharps in front of every F and C in the piece, but it would be easier to use the correct key signature for D major, which is F-sharp and C-sharp, than to mark each note.
I'm not sure if this answers your questions or if it's too long to make easy sense. If I understood your post correctly, maybe this will at least give you a jumping off point to zero in a little more closely.
Karl
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2012-01-01 04:55
When you see accidentals crop up on specific notes, they only last for the duration of the bar they're in and are automatically cancelled out in the following bar.
Using D minor as an example (as you will encounter accidentals in minor keys more often than in Major keys if the music doesn't change key too frequently), if you see a B natural or C# marked in one bar, they will last for the remainder of that bar unless cancelled out by a flat or natural. Then if they're not reinstated in the following bar, they'll be taken as Bb and C natural. Accidentals also occur if the music has modulated into a different key but the new key signature hasn't been used.
Accidentals also apply to the note they're placed in front of instead of applying to all the notes of that name, so if theres an 8ve leap and the notes have been changed by an accidental, both notes will have accidentals on them to be certain.
Again, the accidentals will only carry for the duration of the bar unless they happen to be cancelled out before then.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: huda
Date: 2012-01-01 04:59
kdk, you got it perfectly. i thought most of this, but wasnt sure, and didnt get the point/application. i was half insane. thanks for lifting the pressure! m.y.k.
Post Edited (2012-01-01 21:27)
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Author: JJAlbrecht
Date: 2012-01-01 15:37
You made a little mistake in your original post. In the KEY SIGNATURE, there are not "accidentals." The Signature tells you what notes are played as flats or sharps throughout the entire time you are playing in that particular key. For example, a piece written in F Major will have all B notes played as B-flat, UNLESS the composer uses an accidental (a natural in this case) to cancel out the B-flat in the Key Signature. The accidental is only good for the duration of the measure it is in, orr aneven shorter time if fiollowed by another accidental to chang ethe note value yet again. As soon as you cross the next bar line, you revert to the original "intention" of the key, in this case, making all Bs flat again.
Jeff
“Everyone discovers their own way of destroying themselves, and some people choose the clarinet.” Kalman Opperman, 1919-2010
"A drummer is a musician's best friend."
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Author: Bob Phillips
Date: 2012-01-01 18:47
It might be helpful to go sit at a piano and look at the keyboard. Find a C.
To find a C, block out 12 keys (the ivories and ebonies, not a "key" as in key signature), including both black. Two of those keys will be white ones that are side by side with no black key between them. The C in your assortment will be the one on the left of one of the two black keys that are close together --not the one to the left of three black keys that are close together.
With a C found, we can look at a scale and decode some of the mystery. Play a C Major scale by striking your "found" C key and then the next 7 WHITE keys to its right (those are the 7 notes in the C Major scale: C D E F G A B and back to C).
Now look back at that octave and notice that you've skipped over 5 black keys!
Every key is a half step, and most of the steps you've made going up the white keys are WHOLE steps --you've skipped past a black key between
C&D, D&E, F&G, G&A, A&B. But there is no black key between E&F and no black key between B&C.
So the major scale consists of particular sequence of whole and half steps. In steps, it goes up like this:
Whole, Whole, Half, Whole, Whole, Whole, Half
So, CMajor has no key signature, you just play the white notes.
Now, you have what you need to construct all of the other Major scales. Lets pick out the F-Major scale on the piano keyboard. We have to find the right keys to make the WWHWWWH sequence.
Strike an F
Go up a Whole tone (skip over the black F#) Hit the G
Go up the second Whole tone (skip over the black Ab) Hit the A
OK, now you have to go up a half step --that would be the next key, the black Bb key.
Now, we need to go up three whole steps in a row.
Well, we've played the Bb, and the next whole step skips the white B key and lands on the C.
The next whole step (skip over the C#/Db) and hit the D key.
The final whole step (skips the black Eb key) and hit the E.
Finally, to complete the F Major scale, we he the F.
To summarize, the F Major scale goes F G A Bb C D E F. It has the required sequence of W W H W W W H steps, but to make it work, we've had to hit the Bb instead of the B.
Therefore, when the music is iin F Major, the music has a key signature showing one flat: Bb.
Similarly, you can figure out the key signature for any major key starting note by working your way up in WWHWWWH steps and just keeping track of where you have to strike a black key to make things work out.
If you start on G, you'll come up with G A B C D E F#, and conclude that the key signature for G Major consists of one sharp: F#.
So the key to keys (major keys) is W W H W W W H
Bob Phillips
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