[78-L] KEY BALONEY, was Choral key question

[JD]

---> Message: 5
> Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2013 07:10:47 +0000
> From: Valerie Langfield <rcq at minuet.demon.co.uk>
> Subject: Re: [78-L] Choral key question
> To: 78-L Mail List <78-l at klickitat.78online.com>
> Cc: 78L <78-L at 78online.com>
> Message-ID: <g9P7MSA3vpsSFwlW at minuet.demon.co.uk>
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> 
> It could depend on the mood of the piece - it's in a major key, I take 
> it? A flat (and it's A flat major, not G sharp major) is likely to be a 
> more subdued mood; A major is a 'bright', up-beat sort of key. As a 
> pianist, I find A flat easier, even though it's got 4 flats in the key 
> signature (A major has 3 sharps), because black note keys get you right 
> into the keyboard.
> 
> Can you let us know which one you go for?
> 
> Valerie Langfield

THE MOON IS MADE OF GREEN CHEESE. 
This statement has as much or perhaps more validity than your grossly uninformed statement that A  major is bright, up-beat or whatever. Regardless of what you may think you're hearing there is no (rpeat NO!) difference in the sound of keys, particulaely on instruments like the piano or organ. On these instruments a piece played in a highrer key may sound brighter to the uninitiated or amateur but there is no difference, it's just higher. This is an old bit of nonsense that has proliferated over the years among amateurs and even some professinals.  At one time, in my twenties I too believed that flat keys (for instance) sounded more this or that than sharp keys until the fallacy of it was (thankfully) pointed out to me by  an older far more exprinced musician than I. As I matured as a musician there was no doubt that he was correct.

However, when dealing with winds or strings a keen or exprienced ear might notice a difference in a piece played in different keys by the same group. This, again has nothing to do with the supposed color of keys. It's due to the nature of the instruments themselves. A simple example, strings playing a piece on open strings where  possible may well sound different to a keen ear than the same piece played avoiding open strings.  

Whie I'm at it, here are a couple of things that may be of interest:  This was explained to me many years ago by a world famous and highly respected audio equipmen manufacturer and designer. It's based on rlaboratory research.  The human ear wants to hear low tones on the flat side and high tones on the sharp side. The moment he told me this it rang a big bell in my mind based upon years of experience playing with musicians of all stripes. In the days of big bands there were always aome lead alto and lead trumpet players who claimed that they deliberately tuned sharp for brilliance or carrying power. I refer you back to my "green cheese" opening. All these tin-eared fools did was to prove that they had no ears whatsoevr and were lousy musicians. There was a time decades ago when many of the small bands I worked with utilized amplified accordion instead of piano. In a small group a well-tuned accordion in the hands of a real pro is a great asset. There was a small coterie of great accordionists on the NY scene at the time (Billy Costa, Alf Nystrom, Don Byrnes, Eddie Monteiro) who were great players and had superb instruments which were properly maintained and kept in mticulous tuning. Most were originally pianists. Unfortunately, the majority of the accordions I ran into were played by lesser talents. That wasn't so bad. What was a real problem was that the bass reeds of so many accordions were tuned FLAT! to the treble reeds. It was painfully obvious that the maintenance technicians who were supposed to keep these instruments in decenr t tune couldn't. This travesty correlated perfectly with the laboratory research on the human ear vs. intonation  I mentiond above. 

I'm not sure I expect to convince anyone who is a firm believer in the color or difference between keys. Some fallacies die hard but I had to say something or chance wearing out my teeth while gritting away.

Happy holidays to all.
Jack Daney