See Also:

key (sh)




In music, system of pitches and harmonies generated from a scale of seven tones, one of which is predominantly important.

Keys are a basic element of tonality and represent an outgrowth of modal music (see church mode). When a given piece is "in C," C is its "tonic," or central tone. Most Western music after งใ 1600 is written in either a major or a minor key. The major scale consists of the interval pattern tone-tone-semitone-tone-tone-tone-semitone. The minor scale consistently differs from it by beginning with the pattern tone-semitone-tone, producing a minor third rather than a major third above the tonic.