 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Ashley91489
Date: 2008-11-15 01:53
I'm not sure if the piece I'm playing is major or minor and it's hard to tell playing it even.
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Author: Eva F.
Date: 2008-11-15 02:03
not sure about clarinet, but on piano you can look at the last chord to tell right away. look for accidentals that occur int the minor variant of your key.
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Author: Katrina
Date: 2008-11-15 04:12
1. Accidentals, particularly leading up to the last note.
2. What the last note is in reference to the key signature.
Do you have any further info? Title of the piece, key sig, starting and ending notes???
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Author: mrn
Date: 2008-11-15 05:08
The answer, actually, might be "None of the above." Not every piece fits neatly into the "major" or "minor" category. A "modal" piece might have a key signature and a tonic note but be built with neither major nor minor scales/harmony. You could make a similar statement about much of the "pandiatonic" music written in the early-mid 20th century by composers such as Stravinsky and Copland. It's no accident Stravinsky's "Symphony in C" is not called "Symphony in C Major" or "Symphony in c minor," because it is neither.
And an "atonal" piece, by definition, doesn't belong to a key at all. There are plenty of those floating around, too.
If you can give the name of the piece and the composer, I'll bet somebody can tell you (maybe even me).
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Author: skygardener
Date: 2008-11-15 07:29
There is a rather simple way to tell if a section of music is in minor- I assume you know how to read all the major key signatures.
If an "average" piece is in minor it will have a raised note that is a diminished 4th below the "average" major tonic of the key signature. So, if the key signature has 2 sharps (D major), but you have one or more A# in the section (this does not include chromatic scales). This A# will usually be preceded by a leap from above or below, OR will be preceded and (sometimes) followed by B natural (or C# which will then go to B natural). This usually means that you are in B minor for that part of the music. Additionally, you will never find a D# in that section (which would mean the piece is in B major).
My disclaimer- this is a super simplistic method of explanation and I am more than sure there are many pieces in minor that do not fit into this example I gave.
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Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2008-11-15 11:52
Find the note in the tune (eg often the last one) that has the most finished sound to the tune.
If that note is 3 semitones (i.e. a minor 3rd) below the beginning of the major scale associated with the key signature, then the piece is minor.
e.g. if the key signature is 2 sharps, then that could be D major, but if the tune sounds most finished on a B, then the tune is in a minor key.
This, too, is oversimplistic, but the more clues you get, the more sure you can be, bearing in mind the can of worms that mrn mentioned.
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Author: Sean.Perrin
Date: 2008-11-17 05:14
You might need the score to tell... the clarinet part alone may not be all that revealing.
That being said, runs that you play should be analyzed, and the last note of the piece can be a dead giveaway (figure out where your part fits in the chord).
Founder and host of the Clarineat Podcast: http://www.clarineat.com
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Author: Nessie1
Date: 2008-11-17 08:10
All of the above is very true - I think that the only way that we may be able to help for sure is by knowing what the piece is!
Vanessa.
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2008-11-17 08:36
Does it sound sad? Or happy?
Alexi
hehehe
US Army Japan Band
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