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Why do keys really matter?



 
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trumpet56
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 04, 2018 6:17 pm    Post subject: Why do keys really matter? Reply with quote

After following a recent post on the Hummel it got me thinking why does the key of a piece really matter? If we accept playing the Hummel down a half step in the key of Eb for convenience then why not play all the classical concerti [Hummel, Hadyn, and Neruda] in the key of Bb. The Composers are not around to protest and it would make them more accessible to younger players who do not have access to an Eb trumpet.
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Steve A
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 04, 2018 6:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well, for one thing, if you transpose parts up or down a fourth (Eb-Bb), a lot of the parts would go either too low or too high for the instruments, and even those that didn't would have very different balance challenges (read: problems). Also, while it's not such a big deal for us, for strings, certain keys have quite distinctive playing properties, where they can have figures that involve open strings, which don't work the same way when the key is changed. Key is a part of the piece - change it, and you fundamentally change the piece.
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JoseLindE4
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 04, 2018 7:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

This is all relative to whatever pitch standard is in use (A440, A444, A415, etc.). Modern instruments are tuned somewhere around A440 while modern period performances of baroque music are typically at A415, or a half-step lower. From the listener's perspective, once you've changed the pitch standard, you've changed the key.

The idea of a standardized pitch standard for historical music seems pretty ahistorical. Whereas modern orchestras are all relatively close to each other, historical pitch would have varied wildly from community to community (maybe based on however the local organs were tuned?), so the modern practice of playing period music at A415 is one of convenience and a broad generalization of historical practices.

All that to say, moving things up or down a half-step might end up being a better approximation of the earliest performances of the work.

Assuming that it matters that we play the music close to the pitch it was originally conceived, which is a big assumption, Hummel in E or Eb both seem reasonable. Eb seems more practical for most modern instruments, so that makes a lot of sense. I'm not sure if there's much out there about what pitch standard Weidinger's instruments were played at. Maybe someone else here knows.

For the bigger issue that as to whether it matters whether we're close to the original pitch, I'm personally of two minds. Tone color and pitch level does impact our perception of music. Higher music sounds more exciting to us, which is why pitch standards tend to creep up over time. If we were to rework much of the rep to Bb, a lot of music would lose its energy. Going very far in either direction would also require reworking essentially every part due to range, tone color, and balance problems.

On the other hand, pitch and key is to a certain extent arbitrary historically speaking, so there's no reason we can't move things around for ease of playing. Singers do it all the time to fit their voice. I teach an orchestration class and when dealing with transcriptions, I encourage the students to consider moving the key up or down a half-step if it works better for the ensemble. More friendly keys tend to be better performed which means more performances for your work which means more money. Which keys are friendly depends on the type of ensemble.

But that's just a half-step. Moving everything to Bb or C seems a bit extreme and would introduce all sorts of arranging and range issues as well as tone color issues. Most instruments aren't completely consistent in tone color across their entire range. Some figures are also unplayable on certain instruments depending on the key - certain woodwind trills for example. Once you start moving things around, you introduce all sorts of potential problems.

Also, everything in Bb would become a bit of a drag.
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razeontherock
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 04, 2018 9:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Some interesting points get raised here. Challenging the status quo always gets labeled innovation, eventually. This notion that higher pitched music always sounds more exciting is an easy sell here among trumpet players, but there are some highly energetic rock songs that can never sound right unless everything is tuned down a full step. Those same bands will tune down farther and farther on tour to accommodate the lead singer's voice if need be, and the result is keeping the energy up.

Taken to an extreme, transposing from Eb to Bb could be done either up or down, and I'm not suggesting the result would be the same either way but dropping two full steps as I alluded to above comes close to one of those and with good effect in a very specific situation.

If a trumpet soloist is being accompanied by a piano transposition might not be so tough if you can furnish the sheet music transposed, but if accompanied by an ensemble it probably makes more sense to have the soloist do the transposing.
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JoseLindE4
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 04, 2018 11:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yeah, there's no reason many of the major works couldn't be transposed down for soloist and piano. It might take a little clever editing, but it could probably be done. Many of the piano reductions are questionable enough anyway. In many cases though, range and key aren't exactly what keeps someone from performing a piece, so I'm not sure it would always have so much practical use.

Quality arrangements of the major works simplified for the young player is certainly a worthy pursuit.

Works for orchestra or another ensemble would have to be reorchestrated, not simply transposed down.
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zaferis
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 05, 2018 4:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Keys do matter, as you raise or lower key centers you also change to quality of sound, individually and ensembley. And as someone else pointed out you may run into playable range issues.

While I was in the USAF band, I was arranging a bunch of marches for a Brass Quintet - at one point becasue we were having to play a bunch of marches at ceremonies I thought it would be easier/less fatiging to drop a march or two down a step. It did make them easier to play mechanically, but they lost their shimmer and a quality. None of us liked the result.

The number of pieces that work well with the key altered is pretty slim. And then there is the element of tradition.
As with the Hummel there is an aspect of historical/mechanical influence.
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