singing in different keys

[B Girl]

Posted: 1/6/06 at 4:57pm

what does it mean when someone says something like there going to sing a song i A flat? what are the other types of ways to sing song?

[duroc]

Posted: 1/6/06 at 5:07pm

I'm not a music major, or an expert on singing, but essentially playing a song in, say, an A-flat, means that the middle C (and all the notes) have been transposed (or moved down) to A-flat. When you sing it in any key, you're taking the notes and transposing them, up or down. It is how you make a harmony.
Updated On: 1/6/06 at 05:07 PM

[WalveMalve]

Posted: 1/6/06 at 6:08pm

ummm that's sort of a rough explanation. Key signature is not how you make harmony, but you're sort of right in terms of explaning it as if it were a transposition.

Basically, key signatures are what appear at the beginning of a piece which tell the musician singing or playing that specific notes will be moved a half step sharp or flat (trying playing a white key on a piano surrounded by two black keys. Playing the black key to the right of that white key moves that note a half step sharp, the black key to the left moves it a half step flat). The reason that key signatures are used today in terms of singing is to move the notes in the song such that it lies in a specific range. Historically, however, many composers attributed different key signatures to being able to evoke different emotions. A key signature is not how you make harmony, that is created using different intervals to create different chords.