Why do we have to learn to play in so many different keys? Key signatures just seem to make things more complicated; isn’t there an easier way? A lot of readers have asked me some variation of this question, and it’s a great question. After all, music notation is not some basic truth about the way the universe works. It’s just a system that people have constructed for writing down music. Through history, as music changed, the construction also changed, mostly by altering and adding to an older system. It might be possible to work out a more logical, easier-to-understand system by starting “from scratch,” so why not ask whether there is a better way?
In order to do that, we have to ask, what is it that key signatures actually do? Here is my take on that: Most of the music written this way (pop, rock, classical, etc.) is tonal. In tonal music, we divide each octave into 12 different pitches, but we tend to use only 7 of those twelve notes at a time (the notes of a major or minor scale). If you are singing, it doesn’t matter much which 7 you are using. You probably don’t even know whether the note you are singing is a C or a D, and why should you? It’s more helpful to know where the note is compared to the other notes in the tune, and for most singers,that’s also much easier than knowing exactly what note you’re singing. That’s why shape-note notation and solfege work well for singing; they simplify things by ignoring the “what key is this” question, and concentrating on the easier “where is this note in the key” question.
But that approach doesn’t work for most instrumentalists. If you are playing piano or clarinet, it matters a lot whether the note is C or D. You might be tempted to ask why we can’t just play everything in the key of C, but there are two big problems with that. Given the natural limitations of voices and instruments, many pieces are going to be easier and sound better in some other key. Also, changing keys in the middle of a piece is one way that composers make music interesting and compelling.
So, our musical preferences – what we like to hear – dictate that we want to play with lots of different keys, each key has a different set of notes, and it really matters to the instrumentalists which 7 notes are the most common notes in a key. Key signatures are meant to be a “shorthand” way to arrange the music staff so that it mainly shows only those 7 notes. In other words, if the piece is likely to have D flats, but not D sharps or D naturals, then the staff has a line for D flats, but not for D naturals or D sharps. If we need a D natural, we add a signal (an “accidental”) that says “pay attention, here’s something that is not in the key.” If you don’t see that signal, you can just automatically assume you’ll be playing one of the notes in the key. Once you get to the point that playing in that key is truly automatic, that allows you to concentrate your attention on more interesting things, like phrasing and dynamics.
(As a practical suggestion, I’d like to mention that music theory is a system constructed to help people organize, understand and talk about things like key signatures. If you like having an organized, “big picture” understanding of what you’re doing, it might help to learn a little music theory, especially the circle of fifths.)
All of this is from the perspective of someone who has been playing for so many years that key signatures are second nature. But I also teach many beginners, so I know what a struggle it is at first. So is there an easier way, something that is less confusing but still allows musicians to “switch gears” and play in different keys easily? There are the old standbys like playing by ear or using tablature notations. There are also some interesting newer possibilities, including transposing keyboards, new alternative notations, and even new instruments with the notes arranged so that fingering patterns are the same in every key. There may be some that I don’t know about, too. Probably each alternative has some strong points and weak points, but I’d like to hear from some other perspectives. What do you think of key signatures? Is there an alternative that you prefer, and why? What would you recommend to beginning musicians and why?
Speaking as someone who’s played percussion and jazz drums for 8 years or so, and just recently picked up piano and guitar and bass in the last 4 years or so, I find keys to be a bit perplexing as well. I’ve taken many a theory course, but I’m much better at reading tabliture than I am at reading normal sheet music. Since I don’t typically play classical music, I’m normally just concerned with what chord I’m on, especially in the case of jazz stuff. Typically, when composing a song, I’ll start it in C and then just change the key signature to whatever removes the most accidentals.
Just concentrating on the chords sounds like a very practical approach. I imagine it would be particularly useful for the types of jazz that switch tonal center often or have a lot of chords that aren’t in the key.