tonality and ambiguity
Tonality is an interesting thing. How do you tell whether something is in a certain key? In most common pop and folk songs, and quite a few classical songs, it's easy. There's usually a giveaway. The melody hammers down on the tonic note ("She'll be COMIN' ROUND THE mountain when she COMES"), or the chords give you a clue.
Two big clues are the leading tone and the dominant seventh. The seventh of the dominant chord (the V chord) is on the fourth degree of the tonic scale (do the math) and it wants to go down to the third. In "Somewhere" from West Side Story, when we hear "theeeere's A PLACE for us," the word "A" strains down toward the word "PLACE," the fourth straining toward the third.
Take a look at this phrase. In the left hand, the E goes up to an F from the first to the second measure, and then down to an E from the third to the fourth. Meanwhile, the C goes to a leading-tone B and back in those same measures.
Really, a C-major chord and a G-major chord can easily fit into either of two keys: G-major and C-major. But that F and that B fix us unambiguously in the key of C-major. The F in the melody in measures 1 and 2 also help.
Take a look at this new phrase, just slightly tweaked. Now the Fs are F-sharps, and go up to Gs, and the Cs resolve to Bs. Now we're fixed unambiguously in G-major, with just a few notes changed. Those few clues change everything.
What if we erased those clues? Try taking away the fourth-resolving-to-third, and hold back on any leading-tone until the very very very end, and you have a fairly confusing phrase.
Just play the first measure. Or just the first and second: what on earth key are you in? Either the melody or the accompaniment should give you some clue.
The reason I got into this was that I heard a toy of Greta's playing the third phrase there. Even the rhythm was confusing: because of the way it was stressed, it sounded like the pickup note (that first G in the melody going into the first measure) was the downbeat, like "The Army Goes Rolling Along." The whole thing was and is disorienting. Come on, folks!
Two big clues are the leading tone and the dominant seventh. The seventh of the dominant chord (the V chord) is on the fourth degree of the tonic scale (do the math) and it wants to go down to the third. In "Somewhere" from West Side Story, when we hear "theeeere's A PLACE for us," the word "A" strains down toward the word "PLACE," the fourth straining toward the third.
Take a look at this phrase. In the left hand, the E goes up to an F from the first to the second measure, and then down to an E from the third to the fourth. Meanwhile, the C goes to a leading-tone B and back in those same measures.
Take a look at this new phrase, just slightly tweaked. Now the Fs are F-sharps, and go up to Gs, and the Cs resolve to Bs. Now we're fixed unambiguously in G-major, with just a few notes changed. Those few clues change everything.
The reason I got into this was that I heard a toy of Greta's playing the third phrase there. Even the rhythm was confusing: because of the way it was stressed, it sounded like the pickup note (that first G in the melody going into the first measure) was the downbeat, like "The Army Goes Rolling Along." The whole thing was and is disorienting. Come on, folks!
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