I can't follow your link for some reason, but I'm personally more sympathetic to the idea that some keys suggest particular moods. In the days before equal temperament tuning became ubiquitous, different key signatures would sound distinct from one another even to a musician without absolute pitch. This much _can_ be stated objectively.
It's less clear whether the actual emotional mood we associate with each key is likely to be innate or learned, or a bit of both. We generally claim that major keys sound more upbeat than minor - personally I wouldn't say this is terribly ambiguous, but I'm open to the idea that it's a clear convention we all learn from an early age. On the other hand, some properties of music may have a degree of innateness. Discords are discordant both mathematically and aesthetically (which is not to say we can't learn to like them - just that we recognise them just the same). I don't know whether the jury has passed verdict on the subject, but I do know enough about psychology to say that these are questions that can be and are being investigated scientifically. There's an old debate in philosophy about whether or not we all see the same colours - red, green, blue etc... It strikes me that there are a lot of parallels here. Out of curiosity, what's your science? Into the fray, Kit > I think this is a wonderful idea in general - but going to this: > > _http://keepingscore.org/sites/default/files/swf/beethovenext/major-minor_ > (http://keepingscore.org/sites/default/files/swf/beethovenext/major-minor) > > > Is to me somewhat misleading. While certain keys were associated with > certain moods often in the romantic period it also doesn't mention the > fact that > some keys were chosen because of specific instruments or specific > instrumentation. Furthermore (and this is the music nerd sticking his neck > out) it > falsely connotes that certain keys are always certain moods. > > So titling a page with "Keys have Character" is just a big no-no to me. > > There is absolutely no way to objectively say that a particular key will > always be a certain mood to everyone - and there is no objective way to > compose anything that will always convey the same mood to everyone. > > And, to me, I've always felt that we should always be clear on what is > objective and what is subjective when dealing with music and that we > should > keep that in mind when discussing any specific topic. > > For example, we can easily objectively say if something is out of tune by > measuring it. However when it comes to the correct or incorrect > interpretation of a piece we cannot simply measure something to find out > if it is > correct. > > I'm a science nerd, so it always bothers me when people try to apply > subjective ideas objectively. > > -William > > > In a message dated 10/15/2009 11:10:16 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, > [email protected] writes: > > http://keepingscore.org/ > > _______________________________________________ > post: [email protected] > unsubscribe or set options at > https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/c.j.l.wolf%40newcastle.ac.uk > _______________________________________________ post: [email protected] unsubscribe or set options at https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
