A month or two ago, I participated in a school music programme, where I was playing guitar. The chord progression I was playing was in the key of C. Then our music teacher comes, and asks in which SCALE we are playing the song. I - without thinking much - told her that it's in C Major.
But now that I think of it, I had used the terms 'scale' and 'key' interchangeably, which obviously isn't very correct.
A scale is a collection of notes, with specific intervals (for example, the Major Scale is made from the intervals R, Major 2nd, Major 3rd, Perfect 4th, Perfect 5th, Major 6th, Major 7th, Octave). But a KEY, is basically every note in the corresponding scale, counting notes that span MORE than a single octave. For example, the key of G Major contains the notes G, A, B, C, D, E, F#, but in every octave.
Then what should I have said to the teacher? Were the teacher's wordings inaccurate? Because it really seems like she was using the terms 'scale' and 'key' interchangeably.
(By the way, I have another such programme coming up, and we have rehearsals from tomorrow. Wish me luck :)
(EDIT: I don't know a lot of music theory, and I live in India, if either is relevant)