Qualities of the different Keys

Comment by Wes Merchant on April 26, 2013 at 7:42pm

This is from Howe's School for violin, I understand there were some more complex theories of relationship of keys to moods or feelings, but find this kind of glimpse into the thinking of musicians of the 1860's fascinating.

Comment by Al Smitley on March 26, 2016 at 10:22am

I remember you posting this before, Wes, and I saved it as a .jpg.  It's interesting but I must be too dense to understand how 'C' is "warlike" and 'D' is "solemn" and "melancholy".

Most of us probably couldn't tell the difference between 'C' and 'D' unless we had an instrument or tuning fork handy.  I understand how a minor key can give you a different feeling but those aren't even listed.

Comment by Wes Merchant on March 26, 2016 at 10:40am

I like the assertion thatF is best

Comment by Strumelia on March 26, 2016 at 10:44am

Don't all these key 'moods' get thrown out the window once you lock into equal temperament?  (i.e. fretted banjo, guitar, piano)

Comment by Strumelia on March 26, 2016 at 12:07pm

I like the assertion thatF is best

I'm thinking a lot of this has to do with the repertoire as well.  Some kinds of music and melodies fall better in certain keys, right Wes?

Comment by Wes Merchant on March 26, 2016 at 3:53pm

When I think about this stuff I try think about what musicians thought and did in the 19th century and that's where I find these type of references interesting. Part of the difference in the keys on fiddle is where the string crossings fall, and that affects the feel and the pulse of the tune. One the reason's how may have liked Bb and F is the range of the scale in the first position, I've run across many tunes in th old books that show up in keys that modern fiddlers would just blow off, but I think they were notated the way they were for a reason. I suspect if the Banjoist did not like the key he would play bones or pick up his fiddle

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