For the difference between major and minor keys, that's true, and my comment didn't emphasise the distinction because of the context of the parent.
But within major keys or minor keys, I don't think this is true for most people. Most people do not have absolute (aka "perfect") pitch, so if you play them a piece of unfamiliar music in a particular key, allow them enough time to forget the pitch at which it was played, then play it again transposed up a semitone, they won't actually be able to tell it's played at a higher pitch. The brain hears the relation between pitches, not the absolute pitches, and the relations are all the same.
There are certain exceptions: string instruments sound slightly different when playing the notes of one of the open strings as those strings vibrate sympathetically. Instrument bodies don't respond exactly the same to two adjacent pitches, so it's not just the pitch that changes; so does the timbre. But these are subtle effects, especially on an instrument like a piano, and they can disappear entirely on electric or digital instruments leaving only the pitches as the variation.
And there are certain limits: if I play you a piece you know very well, you'll have an expectation as to the pitch you hear it at and will be able to tell more accurately when it is played differently. If I play it to you very soon after you've just heard it, it will be the same. And even if neither applies, if I play it transposed up an octave, you'd have to be tone deaf to not hear the difference.
Sure yeah I agree, I can't tell the difference between notes a semitone apart or whatever. But the part about instrument timbre sounding different is very important. Most guitars are in standard tuning, and Emajor sounds different than Dmajor, even if you shifted up their pitch.
Yeah, while the individual 8 tones are the same. Once you start chording, A minor still sounds different from C major. On the grasping hand, there are some chords that are effectively shared so a complex piece can "disguise" one as the other.
Oh my god, my favorite key is absolutely destroyed. It used to be D-Minor, but I've been using Bb-Minor increasingly and really enjoying it. But now I know the truth, it's actually "obscure and terrible"!
I always thought of the major keys as gentler and cheerier, like a daisy chain, and the minor keys as darker and stronger, like a deep purple orchid, but Charpentier clearly saw it completely differently.
42 Comments
Frozzie@lemmy.world · 32 pts · 7d
I'm certainly gay. And warlike.
IhaveCrabs111@lemmy.world · 23 pts · 7d
And a major c
Kolanaki@pawb.social · 20 pts · 7d
C Major.
Tho I may be using a different definition of "gay."
FreddiesLantern@leminal.space · 3 pts · 7d
Just own it, you're a warmonger.
brezel@piefed.social · 13 pts · 7d
i don't really get it. all minor keys are the same and all major keys are the same, they're just shifted up and down :shrug:
FishFace@piefed.social · 23 pts · 7d
They used to be different! Only with equal temperament are they all exactly the same.
valar@lemmy.ca · 8 pts · 7d
Even with equal temperament, there is cultural context deep in our brains that affects what each key evokes in us.
FishFace@piefed.social · 9 pts · 7d
For the difference between major and minor keys, that's true, and my comment didn't emphasise the distinction because of the context of the parent.
But within major keys or minor keys, I don't think this is true for most people. Most people do not have absolute (aka "perfect") pitch, so if you play them a piece of unfamiliar music in a particular key, allow them enough time to forget the pitch at which it was played, then play it again transposed up a semitone, they won't actually be able to tell it's played at a higher pitch. The brain hears the relation between pitches, not the absolute pitches, and the relations are all the same.
There are certain exceptions: string instruments sound slightly different when playing the notes of one of the open strings as those strings vibrate sympathetically. Instrument bodies don't respond exactly the same to two adjacent pitches, so it's not just the pitch that changes; so does the timbre. But these are subtle effects, especially on an instrument like a piano, and they can disappear entirely on electric or digital instruments leaving only the pitches as the variation.
And there are certain limits: if I play you a piece you know very well, you'll have an expectation as to the pitch you hear it at and will be able to tell more accurately when it is played differently. If I play it to you very soon after you've just heard it, it will be the same. And even if neither applies, if I play it transposed up an octave, you'd have to be tone deaf to not hear the difference.
valar@lemmy.ca · 3 pts · 7d
Sure yeah I agree, I can't tell the difference between notes a semitone apart or whatever. But the part about instrument timbre sounding different is very important. Most guitars are in standard tuning, and Emajor sounds different than Dmajor, even if you shifted up their pitch.
bss03@infosec.pub · 1 pts · 6d
Yeah, while the individual 8 tones are the same. Once you start chording, A minor still sounds different from C major. On the grasping hand, there are some chords that are effectively shared so a complex piece can "disguise" one as the other.
brezel@piefed.social · 3 pts · 6d
ok yes you're right, i hadn't considered that in 1682 the scales were actually different. thanks!
luthis@lemmy.nz · 1 pts · 6d
Yeah that was my question too
9point6@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 7d
SeptugenarianSenate@leminal.space · 12 pts · 7d
B flat Minor
ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.net · 9 pts · 7d
My friends claim I'm A minor but deep down I'm D major.
Uebercomplicated@lemmy.ml · 6 pts · 7d
Oh my god, my favorite key is absolutely destroyed. It used to be D-Minor, but I've been using Bb-Minor increasingly and really enjoying it. But now I know the truth, it's actually "obscure and terrible"!
snoons@lemmy.ca · 5 pts · 7d
C minor
sfxrlz@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 7d
Trying to strike a cord ..
TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 7d
Somewhere between Gmajor and Gminor
bstix@feddit.dk · 2 pts · 7d
You need to be more specific. There's 5 other diatonitic modes between G major and G minor, and that's before we get into altered modes.
BoosBeau@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 7d
Anyone else pissed off that the minor keys use capital letters?
eezeebee@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 6d
What a very F major thing to say
ComicalMayhem@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 7d
E major
dream_weasel@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 6d
D Major 😁⚔️
yakko@feddit.uk · 3 pts · 7d
Bb minor 🫥
ChicoSuave@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 7d
My while childhood summed up: B flat minor, obscure and terrible
Broadfern@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 7d
F major
MajinBlayze@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 7d
New personality matrix just dropped
aeiou@piefed.social · 2 pts · 7d
b minor, I suppose
BreadOven@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 6d
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgViOqGJEvM
Edit: to answer OP....B# minor.
MelodiousFunk@slrpnk.net · 2 pts · 7d
Eb minor
SourDragon@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 7d
So if I want to start an argument with my spouse, I play a C Major?
FreddiesLantern@leminal.space · 2 pts · 7d
C# maj ...bi but also very warlike.
strawberry_enjoyer42@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 1 pts · 7d
C major & E minor :3
sundray@lemmus.org · 1 pts · 7d
Oh D Major, certainly 🐇🙏
davidagain@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 6d
I always thought of the major keys as gentler and cheerier, like a daisy chain, and the minor keys as darker and stronger, like a deep purple orchid, but Charpentier clearly saw it completely differently.
HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 6d
Bb minor
OwOarchist@pawb.social · 1 pts · 7d
Definitely F Minor.
BigPotato@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 7d
I'm a whole piece of sheet music.
AbsolutelyNotSpez@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 7d
C major is my intro music.
bss03@infosec.pub · 1 pts · 6d
My improvisations on a keyboard are always somewhere between A minor and C minor. I only use the 2 minor keys in between for key changes.
Apytele@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 7d
E Major
tastetheplague@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 7d
I'm equal parts C minor and B minor.