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Am I right in thinking that the word "major" is optional, and can be omitted from the title of a piece of classical music—that in the absence of 'minor" or "sharp" e.t.c., the key is major, and "Concerto in C" is the same as "Concerto in C major" ?
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no. unless you bow down to the tyranny of major.
yes. you are right that in the absence of a qualifier, major is usually understood.
formerly known as etaoin...
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>yes. you are right that in the absence of a qualifier, major is usually understood.
What about "flat major". Is "B-flat" the same as "B-flat major" ?
(I'm to format my iTunes library, and the CD track titles are very inconsistent about this).
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> flat major
that just indicates the key of B-Flat, which is a half-step lower than B. and a whole step lower than C. so, we're just talking about the absence of a qualifier again.
> very inconsistent
it's not really iTunes, it's music in general. some composers/publishers will use the qualifier, others will not.
formerly known as etaoin...
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Thanks for that etaoin.
(So, you are musically inclined, yes?)
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you're welcome. yup, I am a performer and music teacher.
formerly known as etaoin...
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Can you play anything on that shoe?  What in the h___ is 'e.t.c.'? 
ÅΓª╥┐↕§
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Quote:
Can you play anything on that shoe?
no, but if you hum a few bars....
Quote:
What in the h___ is 'e.t.c.'?
huh?
ah, I see now. in the original post. I think that is from the Punctuation Period.
Last edited by etaoin; 02/08/07 08:21 PM.
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>e.t.c.
This is an abbreviation, and its two-fold meaning should be obvious.
First, following as it does my hasty list of certain keys in music I do not understand, it means "experts to clarify".
Second, it means, "excluding the carrots", since, as I am sure you will agree, carrots have absolutely nothing to do with the subject at hand.
Duh.
: )
Last edited by Hydra; 02/09/07 03:02 AM.
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Sharps and flats go with the letters (A - G); any of them can be major or minor. How can you tell what key a piece of sheet music is written in?
Do these three things:
1. Look at the key signature
2. look at the final chord
3. look at the music
The key signature will indicate the scale that is used. However, there are two possible keys for every key signature. For example, the key signature of one sharp (an f#) may be that of G Major or that of e minor. What you have to find out is where the center of tonality is. If you look at the music and see accidentals written in that are leading tones in the minor key, such as d# in the key of e minor, that may indicate the minor key as a tonal center. Look at the final chord. Most often it will be that of the tonal center. So in this example if the piece ended on an e minor chord, it would most likely be in the key of e minor.
There are always variations and pieces that end on chords other than the tonal center. Most of the time, the above method will work. To be more accurate in finding the key, you need to understand more about cadences, scale tone triads, and harmonic progressions. In any case you need to know your scales and key signatures. From: Music Theory Questions and Answers
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