Timeline for Reasons why certain key changes work better than others
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
17 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Nov 8 at 17:30 | comment | added | root | @user1079505 An emotional response in many cases is influenced by instinct, past experiences (and how they were processed), and current mental state. It's not a contradiction, it's a combination of those factors. | |
| Nov 8 at 17:22 | comment | added | user1079505 | The two first bullets in this answer contradict each other. Is is learned or is it instinctive? | |
| Nov 8 at 16:07 | comment | added | Andy Bonner | @user1079505 Hehe, "what music theory is and what its for" is worthy of very long discussion, and has gotten a lot of it over the centuries. But the comments section under an answer isn't the place to tackle it. Hopefully you can understand my meaning: That as far as I know, there isn't a "reason involving chords n scales n stuff" that up is more common than down. Parsing the emotive and affective impact of musical gestures is arguably part of the broader field of musicology, especially is it will often venture into ethnomusicology. | |
| Nov 8 at 15:52 | comment | added | user1079505 | @AndyBonner isn't all music theory about explaining why some things sound more fun than the others? | |
| Nov 8 at 15:44 | comment | added | Andy Bonner | @user1079505 By which I mean, I think Tim is hoping for something like "modulation one step lower is harder than one step higher because [something about pivot chords or tonality or scales]." But I don't think there's something like that. The only reason upward is more common is because it's more "fun." | |
| Nov 8 at 15:42 | history | edited | root | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Nov 8 at 15:41 | comment | added | user1079505 | @AndyBonner How it isn't music theory? | |
| Nov 8 at 15:39 | comment | added | Andy Bonner | @Tim Wait, this isn't the answer you're looking for? You might edit to make that clear, but I think it's the best answer. That is, the answer to "why up rather than down" is not a music-theory reason but a performative and affective one: As things get higher (or faster) they get more exciting, or at least more expressive. Modulation downward would be no harder technically than upward. | |
| Nov 8 at 15:33 | comment | added | root | @Tim Key changes downwards (for example by a semitone) do exist in popular songs, see this video from the same playlist. I was asking what you think about my comment regarding what you're looking for and every song being very different. Analyzing the many very different songs might go beyond the scope of just one question, and require several questions. | |
| Nov 8 at 15:28 | comment | added | Tim | I'm thinking specifically of, say, C>Csharp, or C>D, which both get used a lot. C>B doesn't seem to work, but apart from the lowering of the key, why not, key-wise? | |
| Nov 8 at 15:22 | comment | added | root | @Tim Are you asking for an interpretation of the harmony (and melody) across the key change? Harmony is different in different songs. You might want to post separate questions about specific songs or chord progressions, then separately ask for a meta-analysis of those analyses, if that's what you're looking for. What do you think? | |
| Nov 8 at 15:07 | comment | added | Tim | That'll be the 'truck driver's gear change' you're talking about! But even some of those, suddenly going from one key to another, can sound good! | |
| Nov 8 at 15:04 | comment | added | root | @Tim In many cases, they aren't seamless, quite the contrary, they are described as "jarring", and that's their intended effect. | |
| Nov 8 at 15:02 | comment | added | Tim | We are aware of what the key changes are supposed to do ( I don't absolutely subscribe to that, but that's not the issue). What I'm looking for is what musical mechanism, or why particular changes of key can happen 'seamlessly', as far as the notes/harmonies are concerned. | |
| Nov 8 at 14:58 | history | edited | root | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| S Nov 8 at 14:52 | review | First answers | |||
| Nov 8 at 20:07 | |||||
| S Nov 8 at 14:52 | history | answered | root | CC BY-SA 4.0 |