Musical Key  

The origin of the word key lies in an Old High German word that meant wedge. And that’s exactly what a musical key does. It wedges out from all the possible organizations of scales and chords, one scale and one association of chords.

Musicians use the term key to describe the feeling of center or rest within the melody and harmony of a composition.   When a key is specified for a musical piece, it conveys the scale to be used for the melody and the tonic chord that is the focus of all harmonic movement.

It is common for compositions to begin and to end in the same key. However, a useful technique is to change the key for the last pass through a tune. This technique is called modulation. Changing key often provides a feeling of uplift to the music. Modulation is often done within a medley of three tunes. The medley begins in one key, modulates to a different key for the second piece, and either returns to the originate key or modulates to a new one for the final piece in the medley. Even the same tune played sequentially in three different keys will sound better than the same tune played three times in one key.

You may hear musicians speak about specific keys tied to specific instruments. The Bb tenor saxophone is an example. When this sax plays a melody written in the key of C, the music it produces will be in the key of B flat.

Diatonic instruments, like the dulcimer, are designed to play in only one key at a time. A harmonica is designed for one key, but skilled players can play “cross harp” and force two keys out of the instrument.   Autoharp players speak of “sweet tuned” instruments. By this they mean that the autoharp is strung for chords in one key. The dulcimer is strung to play in several keys, but it is a diatonic instrument because the scales of the keys are not generally chromatic scales.

At the beginning of each line of music, beside the clef, you will find the key signature. This is a group of sharps and flats that tell the player which tones are a half tone higher or lower than they would normally be on the C scale. The dulcimer does not play easily in flat keys and it’s happiest in the keys of G and D. The key of G has one sharp – F#. The key of D has two sharps – F# and C#. The key of A has three sharps – F#, C# and G#.