Which key are these notes and how to transpose it to the key of D?












14














I am a beginner in music theory so please bear with me. I was looking up a document which talks about transposing music and I understand a few things I think about transposing music. But if I, for example, have a sequence of these notes:




E D# E D# E E D# E F# G# F# G# A B A# B A# B



  • how do I determine which key they are in?

  • how do I transpose them to a key of D? Is this online tool accurate? https://transposr.com/










share|improve this question





























    14














    I am a beginner in music theory so please bear with me. I was looking up a document which talks about transposing music and I understand a few things I think about transposing music. But if I, for example, have a sequence of these notes:




    E D# E D# E E D# E F# G# F# G# A B A# B A# B



    • how do I determine which key they are in?

    • how do I transpose them to a key of D? Is this online tool accurate? https://transposr.com/










    share|improve this question



























      14












      14








      14


      1





      I am a beginner in music theory so please bear with me. I was looking up a document which talks about transposing music and I understand a few things I think about transposing music. But if I, for example, have a sequence of these notes:




      E D# E D# E E D# E F# G# F# G# A B A# B A# B



      • how do I determine which key they are in?

      • how do I transpose them to a key of D? Is this online tool accurate? https://transposr.com/










      share|improve this question















      I am a beginner in music theory so please bear with me. I was looking up a document which talks about transposing music and I understand a few things I think about transposing music. But if I, for example, have a sequence of these notes:




      E D# E D# E E D# E F# G# F# G# A B A# B A# B



      • how do I determine which key they are in?

      • how do I transpose them to a key of D? Is this online tool accurate? https://transposr.com/







      theory scales key transposition






      share|improve this question















      share|improve this question













      share|improve this question




      share|improve this question








      edited 22 hours ago









      Dom

      35.5k18101217




      35.5k18101217










      asked yesterday









      learnerXlearnerX

      22419




      22419






















          4 Answers
          4






          active

          oldest

          votes


















          30














          (It's going to be tough to explain all of this in a single answer. If you're interested in this, I strongly recommend finding a music theory text, either online or in hard copy. But I'll do my best to address it all here!)



          When it comes to major and minor keys, the best way to determine tonality, in my opinion, is to determine the location of half steps. (You can also determine the location of the tritone, but really that's just a fancier way of determining the half steps.)



          Major scales have a pattern of WWHWWWH, where H is a half step and W is a whole step (two half steps). Minor scales are a bit trickier, because there are three uses of minor—natural minor, harmonic minor, and melodic minor—but we can skip that for this answer.



          Looking at your example, there are half steps between E and D♯, between G♯ and A, and between A♯ and B. (There's also a half step between A and A♯, but we'll address that in the next paragraph.) If we try to compare this to our WWHWWWH pattern, we see that the best fit starts on E. E to F♯ is a whole step, F♯ to G♯ is a whole step, G♯ to A is a half step, and so on.



          The only trouble is the appearance of A♯. Here's where it gets tricky, but not too tricky, because we have a rule in tonal music: each note name will only appear once in a major scale. If another version of that note name appears, it will be a chromatic pitch. So since A makes sense in our E-major scale, we can view the A♯ as a chromatic pitch. All of this tells us that these pitches are likely in E major, with a brief move towards (what we call a tonicization of) B.



          (Note: B major fits just as well as E major, and we could call the A a chromatic pitch in B major. My decision of E major comes from years of experience with tonal music, where it's a very common move for music to begin in the original key and move to the fifth scale degree. This is also more common than the ♭7 that would be the A at the beginning of a B-major excerpt.)



          As for transposition, the quickest method (again, just my opinion) is to think in terms of scale degrees. In E major, the pitches you wrote are 1 7 1 7 1 1 7 1 2 3 2 3 4 5 ♯4 5 ♯4 5. Now we can just think in D major—D E F♯ G A B C♯ D—and write out those scale degrees in D to transpose. This results in D C♯ D ♯ D D C♯ D E F♯ E F♯ G A G♯ A G♯ A.






          share|improve this answer























          • Nice answer. Just to point out: taking the original to be in E major means that the altered note is a #11, which is a common alteration, but taking B major to be the key means that the alteration is a b7, which would seem less common.
            – David Bowling
            yesterday






          • 1




            Seems more likely in key E, with the B/A# copying the E/D#.
            – Tim
            yesterday






          • 2




            So, the same melody may be in several different tonalities at once?
            – Barafu Albino
            23 hours ago






          • 1




            @BarafuAlbino Not exactly, but close. A melody is usually in one tonality, but it can have passing references to other keys. We call these passing references "tonicizations."
            – Richard
            19 hours ago






          • 1




            Very nice, concise description. I was thinking the same thing myself. Another reason for preferring E Major is the strong establishment of E with the opening phrase. It's just screaming "E Major!"
            – absmiths
            16 hours ago



















          15















          how do I determine which key they are in?




          A) Recognise that those notes are the start of the overture to Mozart's The Marriage Of Figaro, but two semitones higher.



          B) Note that that piece is in D major.



          C) Infer that the notes in the question are therefore in E major.



          :-)



          More seriously, I don't think you can say definitively just from the notes.  They don't all fall in the same major or minor (or modal) scale, so either are from some bizarre scale, or include some non-scale notes.  (The A#s, if it's really from Figaro.)  Or it splits into sections, from different scales.  (For example, the first 13 notes are from the E major scale, and the rest from the B major scale, which happens to match the harmonies of Figaro.)






          share|improve this answer








          New contributor




          gidds is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
          Check out our Code of Conduct.














          • 2




            Great job catching that it's Figaro! That didn't even cross my mind since it was in E.
            – Richard
            19 hours ago










          • I'm surprised no-one else spotted it first :-) It doesn't help that the notes don't indicate a rhythm, but immediately after reading them I had the vague feeling of recognition, and it didn't take many moments to identify the piece. (That's good, coz sometimes a tune can go round and round in my head for days without identification…) I don't have perfect pitch, so a change of key makes no difference to me. — Of course, it's a bit of a cheat answer, but someone had to say it! You answer's much more general.
            – gidds
            16 hours ago



















          2















          how do I determine which key they are in?





          1. Learn Major, minor scales and circle of fifth.

          2. Then apply the notes into each Key in the circle of fifth.

          3. Most notes will fit into one key

          4. Most piece will end in key note


          In this case all notes(expcet A) fit into Key B Major and the piece ends in B, so this could be most probably in key of B major.




          how do I transpose them to a key of D?





          1. Find the distance from original key to the new Key in number of semitones.

          2. Increment each note by the distance


          In this case the difference from B to D is 3 semitones.
          And the transposed piece would have the following notes.




          G F G F# G G F# G A B A B C D C# D C# D







          share|improve this answer





















          • I suspect rather strongly that this is in E rather than B. There are more A-sharps than A-naturals, but the A-sharps appear in a context in which chromatic alteration is common, while the A-natural appears in a context in which it is not.
            – phoog
            15 hours ago



















          2














          The piece appears to be in the key of Emaj(1), with a modulation to Bmaj at the end. I speculate this because on the surface it appears that the last 5 notes appear to be a repeat the the first 5, but in the dominant key (i.e. Bmaj(5)). Of course it's impossible to tell without more context.



          Taking the Emaj/Bmaj above to be correct for the sake of argument, the transposition to D would be D as the tonic and A as the dominant, hence:



          D C# D C# D D C# D E F# E F# G A G# A G# A



          Kudos to Richard. Scale degrees is an excellent metaphor for direct transposition.






          share|improve this answer








          New contributor




          John G. is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
          Check out our Code of Conduct.


















          • See gidds' answer for more context. Also, welcome to Music StackExchange!
            – Michael Seifert
            16 hours ago











          Your Answer








          StackExchange.ready(function() {
          var channelOptions = {
          tags: "".split(" "),
          id: "240"
          };
          initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

          StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
          // Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
          if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
          StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
          createEditor();
          });
          }
          else {
          createEditor();
          }
          });

          function createEditor() {
          StackExchange.prepareEditor({
          heartbeatType: 'answer',
          autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
          convertImagesToLinks: false,
          noModals: true,
          showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
          reputationToPostImages: null,
          bindNavPrevention: true,
          postfix: "",
          imageUploader: {
          brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
          contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
          allowUrls: true
          },
          noCode: true, onDemand: true,
          discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
          ,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
          });


          }
          });














          draft saved

          draft discarded


















          StackExchange.ready(
          function () {
          StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fmusic.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f78380%2fwhich-key-are-these-notes-and-how-to-transpose-it-to-the-key-of-d%23new-answer', 'question_page');
          }
          );

          Post as a guest















          Required, but never shown

























          4 Answers
          4






          active

          oldest

          votes








          4 Answers
          4






          active

          oldest

          votes









          active

          oldest

          votes






          active

          oldest

          votes









          30














          (It's going to be tough to explain all of this in a single answer. If you're interested in this, I strongly recommend finding a music theory text, either online or in hard copy. But I'll do my best to address it all here!)



          When it comes to major and minor keys, the best way to determine tonality, in my opinion, is to determine the location of half steps. (You can also determine the location of the tritone, but really that's just a fancier way of determining the half steps.)



          Major scales have a pattern of WWHWWWH, where H is a half step and W is a whole step (two half steps). Minor scales are a bit trickier, because there are three uses of minor—natural minor, harmonic minor, and melodic minor—but we can skip that for this answer.



          Looking at your example, there are half steps between E and D♯, between G♯ and A, and between A♯ and B. (There's also a half step between A and A♯, but we'll address that in the next paragraph.) If we try to compare this to our WWHWWWH pattern, we see that the best fit starts on E. E to F♯ is a whole step, F♯ to G♯ is a whole step, G♯ to A is a half step, and so on.



          The only trouble is the appearance of A♯. Here's where it gets tricky, but not too tricky, because we have a rule in tonal music: each note name will only appear once in a major scale. If another version of that note name appears, it will be a chromatic pitch. So since A makes sense in our E-major scale, we can view the A♯ as a chromatic pitch. All of this tells us that these pitches are likely in E major, with a brief move towards (what we call a tonicization of) B.



          (Note: B major fits just as well as E major, and we could call the A a chromatic pitch in B major. My decision of E major comes from years of experience with tonal music, where it's a very common move for music to begin in the original key and move to the fifth scale degree. This is also more common than the ♭7 that would be the A at the beginning of a B-major excerpt.)



          As for transposition, the quickest method (again, just my opinion) is to think in terms of scale degrees. In E major, the pitches you wrote are 1 7 1 7 1 1 7 1 2 3 2 3 4 5 ♯4 5 ♯4 5. Now we can just think in D major—D E F♯ G A B C♯ D—and write out those scale degrees in D to transpose. This results in D C♯ D ♯ D D C♯ D E F♯ E F♯ G A G♯ A G♯ A.






          share|improve this answer























          • Nice answer. Just to point out: taking the original to be in E major means that the altered note is a #11, which is a common alteration, but taking B major to be the key means that the alteration is a b7, which would seem less common.
            – David Bowling
            yesterday






          • 1




            Seems more likely in key E, with the B/A# copying the E/D#.
            – Tim
            yesterday






          • 2




            So, the same melody may be in several different tonalities at once?
            – Barafu Albino
            23 hours ago






          • 1




            @BarafuAlbino Not exactly, but close. A melody is usually in one tonality, but it can have passing references to other keys. We call these passing references "tonicizations."
            – Richard
            19 hours ago






          • 1




            Very nice, concise description. I was thinking the same thing myself. Another reason for preferring E Major is the strong establishment of E with the opening phrase. It's just screaming "E Major!"
            – absmiths
            16 hours ago
















          30














          (It's going to be tough to explain all of this in a single answer. If you're interested in this, I strongly recommend finding a music theory text, either online or in hard copy. But I'll do my best to address it all here!)



          When it comes to major and minor keys, the best way to determine tonality, in my opinion, is to determine the location of half steps. (You can also determine the location of the tritone, but really that's just a fancier way of determining the half steps.)



          Major scales have a pattern of WWHWWWH, where H is a half step and W is a whole step (two half steps). Minor scales are a bit trickier, because there are three uses of minor—natural minor, harmonic minor, and melodic minor—but we can skip that for this answer.



          Looking at your example, there are half steps between E and D♯, between G♯ and A, and between A♯ and B. (There's also a half step between A and A♯, but we'll address that in the next paragraph.) If we try to compare this to our WWHWWWH pattern, we see that the best fit starts on E. E to F♯ is a whole step, F♯ to G♯ is a whole step, G♯ to A is a half step, and so on.



          The only trouble is the appearance of A♯. Here's where it gets tricky, but not too tricky, because we have a rule in tonal music: each note name will only appear once in a major scale. If another version of that note name appears, it will be a chromatic pitch. So since A makes sense in our E-major scale, we can view the A♯ as a chromatic pitch. All of this tells us that these pitches are likely in E major, with a brief move towards (what we call a tonicization of) B.



          (Note: B major fits just as well as E major, and we could call the A a chromatic pitch in B major. My decision of E major comes from years of experience with tonal music, where it's a very common move for music to begin in the original key and move to the fifth scale degree. This is also more common than the ♭7 that would be the A at the beginning of a B-major excerpt.)



          As for transposition, the quickest method (again, just my opinion) is to think in terms of scale degrees. In E major, the pitches you wrote are 1 7 1 7 1 1 7 1 2 3 2 3 4 5 ♯4 5 ♯4 5. Now we can just think in D major—D E F♯ G A B C♯ D—and write out those scale degrees in D to transpose. This results in D C♯ D ♯ D D C♯ D E F♯ E F♯ G A G♯ A G♯ A.






          share|improve this answer























          • Nice answer. Just to point out: taking the original to be in E major means that the altered note is a #11, which is a common alteration, but taking B major to be the key means that the alteration is a b7, which would seem less common.
            – David Bowling
            yesterday






          • 1




            Seems more likely in key E, with the B/A# copying the E/D#.
            – Tim
            yesterday






          • 2




            So, the same melody may be in several different tonalities at once?
            – Barafu Albino
            23 hours ago






          • 1




            @BarafuAlbino Not exactly, but close. A melody is usually in one tonality, but it can have passing references to other keys. We call these passing references "tonicizations."
            – Richard
            19 hours ago






          • 1




            Very nice, concise description. I was thinking the same thing myself. Another reason for preferring E Major is the strong establishment of E with the opening phrase. It's just screaming "E Major!"
            – absmiths
            16 hours ago














          30












          30








          30






          (It's going to be tough to explain all of this in a single answer. If you're interested in this, I strongly recommend finding a music theory text, either online or in hard copy. But I'll do my best to address it all here!)



          When it comes to major and minor keys, the best way to determine tonality, in my opinion, is to determine the location of half steps. (You can also determine the location of the tritone, but really that's just a fancier way of determining the half steps.)



          Major scales have a pattern of WWHWWWH, where H is a half step and W is a whole step (two half steps). Minor scales are a bit trickier, because there are three uses of minor—natural minor, harmonic minor, and melodic minor—but we can skip that for this answer.



          Looking at your example, there are half steps between E and D♯, between G♯ and A, and between A♯ and B. (There's also a half step between A and A♯, but we'll address that in the next paragraph.) If we try to compare this to our WWHWWWH pattern, we see that the best fit starts on E. E to F♯ is a whole step, F♯ to G♯ is a whole step, G♯ to A is a half step, and so on.



          The only trouble is the appearance of A♯. Here's where it gets tricky, but not too tricky, because we have a rule in tonal music: each note name will only appear once in a major scale. If another version of that note name appears, it will be a chromatic pitch. So since A makes sense in our E-major scale, we can view the A♯ as a chromatic pitch. All of this tells us that these pitches are likely in E major, with a brief move towards (what we call a tonicization of) B.



          (Note: B major fits just as well as E major, and we could call the A a chromatic pitch in B major. My decision of E major comes from years of experience with tonal music, where it's a very common move for music to begin in the original key and move to the fifth scale degree. This is also more common than the ♭7 that would be the A at the beginning of a B-major excerpt.)



          As for transposition, the quickest method (again, just my opinion) is to think in terms of scale degrees. In E major, the pitches you wrote are 1 7 1 7 1 1 7 1 2 3 2 3 4 5 ♯4 5 ♯4 5. Now we can just think in D major—D E F♯ G A B C♯ D—and write out those scale degrees in D to transpose. This results in D C♯ D ♯ D D C♯ D E F♯ E F♯ G A G♯ A G♯ A.






          share|improve this answer














          (It's going to be tough to explain all of this in a single answer. If you're interested in this, I strongly recommend finding a music theory text, either online or in hard copy. But I'll do my best to address it all here!)



          When it comes to major and minor keys, the best way to determine tonality, in my opinion, is to determine the location of half steps. (You can also determine the location of the tritone, but really that's just a fancier way of determining the half steps.)



          Major scales have a pattern of WWHWWWH, where H is a half step and W is a whole step (two half steps). Minor scales are a bit trickier, because there are three uses of minor—natural minor, harmonic minor, and melodic minor—but we can skip that for this answer.



          Looking at your example, there are half steps between E and D♯, between G♯ and A, and between A♯ and B. (There's also a half step between A and A♯, but we'll address that in the next paragraph.) If we try to compare this to our WWHWWWH pattern, we see that the best fit starts on E. E to F♯ is a whole step, F♯ to G♯ is a whole step, G♯ to A is a half step, and so on.



          The only trouble is the appearance of A♯. Here's where it gets tricky, but not too tricky, because we have a rule in tonal music: each note name will only appear once in a major scale. If another version of that note name appears, it will be a chromatic pitch. So since A makes sense in our E-major scale, we can view the A♯ as a chromatic pitch. All of this tells us that these pitches are likely in E major, with a brief move towards (what we call a tonicization of) B.



          (Note: B major fits just as well as E major, and we could call the A a chromatic pitch in B major. My decision of E major comes from years of experience with tonal music, where it's a very common move for music to begin in the original key and move to the fifth scale degree. This is also more common than the ♭7 that would be the A at the beginning of a B-major excerpt.)



          As for transposition, the quickest method (again, just my opinion) is to think in terms of scale degrees. In E major, the pitches you wrote are 1 7 1 7 1 1 7 1 2 3 2 3 4 5 ♯4 5 ♯4 5. Now we can just think in D major—D E F♯ G A B C♯ D—and write out those scale degrees in D to transpose. This results in D C♯ D ♯ D D C♯ D E F♯ E F♯ G A G♯ A G♯ A.







          share|improve this answer














          share|improve this answer



          share|improve this answer








          edited yesterday

























          answered yesterday









          RichardRichard

          37.7k684161




          37.7k684161












          • Nice answer. Just to point out: taking the original to be in E major means that the altered note is a #11, which is a common alteration, but taking B major to be the key means that the alteration is a b7, which would seem less common.
            – David Bowling
            yesterday






          • 1




            Seems more likely in key E, with the B/A# copying the E/D#.
            – Tim
            yesterday






          • 2




            So, the same melody may be in several different tonalities at once?
            – Barafu Albino
            23 hours ago






          • 1




            @BarafuAlbino Not exactly, but close. A melody is usually in one tonality, but it can have passing references to other keys. We call these passing references "tonicizations."
            – Richard
            19 hours ago






          • 1




            Very nice, concise description. I was thinking the same thing myself. Another reason for preferring E Major is the strong establishment of E with the opening phrase. It's just screaming "E Major!"
            – absmiths
            16 hours ago


















          • Nice answer. Just to point out: taking the original to be in E major means that the altered note is a #11, which is a common alteration, but taking B major to be the key means that the alteration is a b7, which would seem less common.
            – David Bowling
            yesterday






          • 1




            Seems more likely in key E, with the B/A# copying the E/D#.
            – Tim
            yesterday






          • 2




            So, the same melody may be in several different tonalities at once?
            – Barafu Albino
            23 hours ago






          • 1




            @BarafuAlbino Not exactly, but close. A melody is usually in one tonality, but it can have passing references to other keys. We call these passing references "tonicizations."
            – Richard
            19 hours ago






          • 1




            Very nice, concise description. I was thinking the same thing myself. Another reason for preferring E Major is the strong establishment of E with the opening phrase. It's just screaming "E Major!"
            – absmiths
            16 hours ago
















          Nice answer. Just to point out: taking the original to be in E major means that the altered note is a #11, which is a common alteration, but taking B major to be the key means that the alteration is a b7, which would seem less common.
          – David Bowling
          yesterday




          Nice answer. Just to point out: taking the original to be in E major means that the altered note is a #11, which is a common alteration, but taking B major to be the key means that the alteration is a b7, which would seem less common.
          – David Bowling
          yesterday




          1




          1




          Seems more likely in key E, with the B/A# copying the E/D#.
          – Tim
          yesterday




          Seems more likely in key E, with the B/A# copying the E/D#.
          – Tim
          yesterday




          2




          2




          So, the same melody may be in several different tonalities at once?
          – Barafu Albino
          23 hours ago




          So, the same melody may be in several different tonalities at once?
          – Barafu Albino
          23 hours ago




          1




          1




          @BarafuAlbino Not exactly, but close. A melody is usually in one tonality, but it can have passing references to other keys. We call these passing references "tonicizations."
          – Richard
          19 hours ago




          @BarafuAlbino Not exactly, but close. A melody is usually in one tonality, but it can have passing references to other keys. We call these passing references "tonicizations."
          – Richard
          19 hours ago




          1




          1




          Very nice, concise description. I was thinking the same thing myself. Another reason for preferring E Major is the strong establishment of E with the opening phrase. It's just screaming "E Major!"
          – absmiths
          16 hours ago




          Very nice, concise description. I was thinking the same thing myself. Another reason for preferring E Major is the strong establishment of E with the opening phrase. It's just screaming "E Major!"
          – absmiths
          16 hours ago











          15















          how do I determine which key they are in?




          A) Recognise that those notes are the start of the overture to Mozart's The Marriage Of Figaro, but two semitones higher.



          B) Note that that piece is in D major.



          C) Infer that the notes in the question are therefore in E major.



          :-)



          More seriously, I don't think you can say definitively just from the notes.  They don't all fall in the same major or minor (or modal) scale, so either are from some bizarre scale, or include some non-scale notes.  (The A#s, if it's really from Figaro.)  Or it splits into sections, from different scales.  (For example, the first 13 notes are from the E major scale, and the rest from the B major scale, which happens to match the harmonies of Figaro.)






          share|improve this answer








          New contributor




          gidds is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
          Check out our Code of Conduct.














          • 2




            Great job catching that it's Figaro! That didn't even cross my mind since it was in E.
            – Richard
            19 hours ago










          • I'm surprised no-one else spotted it first :-) It doesn't help that the notes don't indicate a rhythm, but immediately after reading them I had the vague feeling of recognition, and it didn't take many moments to identify the piece. (That's good, coz sometimes a tune can go round and round in my head for days without identification…) I don't have perfect pitch, so a change of key makes no difference to me. — Of course, it's a bit of a cheat answer, but someone had to say it! You answer's much more general.
            – gidds
            16 hours ago
















          15















          how do I determine which key they are in?




          A) Recognise that those notes are the start of the overture to Mozart's The Marriage Of Figaro, but two semitones higher.



          B) Note that that piece is in D major.



          C) Infer that the notes in the question are therefore in E major.



          :-)



          More seriously, I don't think you can say definitively just from the notes.  They don't all fall in the same major or minor (or modal) scale, so either are from some bizarre scale, or include some non-scale notes.  (The A#s, if it's really from Figaro.)  Or it splits into sections, from different scales.  (For example, the first 13 notes are from the E major scale, and the rest from the B major scale, which happens to match the harmonies of Figaro.)






          share|improve this answer








          New contributor




          gidds is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
          Check out our Code of Conduct.














          • 2




            Great job catching that it's Figaro! That didn't even cross my mind since it was in E.
            – Richard
            19 hours ago










          • I'm surprised no-one else spotted it first :-) It doesn't help that the notes don't indicate a rhythm, but immediately after reading them I had the vague feeling of recognition, and it didn't take many moments to identify the piece. (That's good, coz sometimes a tune can go round and round in my head for days without identification…) I don't have perfect pitch, so a change of key makes no difference to me. — Of course, it's a bit of a cheat answer, but someone had to say it! You answer's much more general.
            – gidds
            16 hours ago














          15












          15








          15







          how do I determine which key they are in?




          A) Recognise that those notes are the start of the overture to Mozart's The Marriage Of Figaro, but two semitones higher.



          B) Note that that piece is in D major.



          C) Infer that the notes in the question are therefore in E major.



          :-)



          More seriously, I don't think you can say definitively just from the notes.  They don't all fall in the same major or minor (or modal) scale, so either are from some bizarre scale, or include some non-scale notes.  (The A#s, if it's really from Figaro.)  Or it splits into sections, from different scales.  (For example, the first 13 notes are from the E major scale, and the rest from the B major scale, which happens to match the harmonies of Figaro.)






          share|improve this answer








          New contributor




          gidds is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
          Check out our Code of Conduct.










          how do I determine which key they are in?




          A) Recognise that those notes are the start of the overture to Mozart's The Marriage Of Figaro, but two semitones higher.



          B) Note that that piece is in D major.



          C) Infer that the notes in the question are therefore in E major.



          :-)



          More seriously, I don't think you can say definitively just from the notes.  They don't all fall in the same major or minor (or modal) scale, so either are from some bizarre scale, or include some non-scale notes.  (The A#s, if it's really from Figaro.)  Or it splits into sections, from different scales.  (For example, the first 13 notes are from the E major scale, and the rest from the B major scale, which happens to match the harmonies of Figaro.)







          share|improve this answer








          New contributor




          gidds is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
          Check out our Code of Conduct.









          share|improve this answer



          share|improve this answer






          New contributor




          gidds is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
          Check out our Code of Conduct.









          answered yesterday









          giddsgidds

          2512




          2512




          New contributor




          gidds is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
          Check out our Code of Conduct.





          New contributor





          gidds is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
          Check out our Code of Conduct.






          gidds is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
          Check out our Code of Conduct.








          • 2




            Great job catching that it's Figaro! That didn't even cross my mind since it was in E.
            – Richard
            19 hours ago










          • I'm surprised no-one else spotted it first :-) It doesn't help that the notes don't indicate a rhythm, but immediately after reading them I had the vague feeling of recognition, and it didn't take many moments to identify the piece. (That's good, coz sometimes a tune can go round and round in my head for days without identification…) I don't have perfect pitch, so a change of key makes no difference to me. — Of course, it's a bit of a cheat answer, but someone had to say it! You answer's much more general.
            – gidds
            16 hours ago














          • 2




            Great job catching that it's Figaro! That didn't even cross my mind since it was in E.
            – Richard
            19 hours ago










          • I'm surprised no-one else spotted it first :-) It doesn't help that the notes don't indicate a rhythm, but immediately after reading them I had the vague feeling of recognition, and it didn't take many moments to identify the piece. (That's good, coz sometimes a tune can go round and round in my head for days without identification…) I don't have perfect pitch, so a change of key makes no difference to me. — Of course, it's a bit of a cheat answer, but someone had to say it! You answer's much more general.
            – gidds
            16 hours ago








          2




          2




          Great job catching that it's Figaro! That didn't even cross my mind since it was in E.
          – Richard
          19 hours ago




          Great job catching that it's Figaro! That didn't even cross my mind since it was in E.
          – Richard
          19 hours ago












          I'm surprised no-one else spotted it first :-) It doesn't help that the notes don't indicate a rhythm, but immediately after reading them I had the vague feeling of recognition, and it didn't take many moments to identify the piece. (That's good, coz sometimes a tune can go round and round in my head for days without identification…) I don't have perfect pitch, so a change of key makes no difference to me. — Of course, it's a bit of a cheat answer, but someone had to say it! You answer's much more general.
          – gidds
          16 hours ago




          I'm surprised no-one else spotted it first :-) It doesn't help that the notes don't indicate a rhythm, but immediately after reading them I had the vague feeling of recognition, and it didn't take many moments to identify the piece. (That's good, coz sometimes a tune can go round and round in my head for days without identification…) I don't have perfect pitch, so a change of key makes no difference to me. — Of course, it's a bit of a cheat answer, but someone had to say it! You answer's much more general.
          – gidds
          16 hours ago











          2















          how do I determine which key they are in?





          1. Learn Major, minor scales and circle of fifth.

          2. Then apply the notes into each Key in the circle of fifth.

          3. Most notes will fit into one key

          4. Most piece will end in key note


          In this case all notes(expcet A) fit into Key B Major and the piece ends in B, so this could be most probably in key of B major.




          how do I transpose them to a key of D?





          1. Find the distance from original key to the new Key in number of semitones.

          2. Increment each note by the distance


          In this case the difference from B to D is 3 semitones.
          And the transposed piece would have the following notes.




          G F G F# G G F# G A B A B C D C# D C# D







          share|improve this answer





















          • I suspect rather strongly that this is in E rather than B. There are more A-sharps than A-naturals, but the A-sharps appear in a context in which chromatic alteration is common, while the A-natural appears in a context in which it is not.
            – phoog
            15 hours ago
















          2















          how do I determine which key they are in?





          1. Learn Major, minor scales and circle of fifth.

          2. Then apply the notes into each Key in the circle of fifth.

          3. Most notes will fit into one key

          4. Most piece will end in key note


          In this case all notes(expcet A) fit into Key B Major and the piece ends in B, so this could be most probably in key of B major.




          how do I transpose them to a key of D?





          1. Find the distance from original key to the new Key in number of semitones.

          2. Increment each note by the distance


          In this case the difference from B to D is 3 semitones.
          And the transposed piece would have the following notes.




          G F G F# G G F# G A B A B C D C# D C# D







          share|improve this answer





















          • I suspect rather strongly that this is in E rather than B. There are more A-sharps than A-naturals, but the A-sharps appear in a context in which chromatic alteration is common, while the A-natural appears in a context in which it is not.
            – phoog
            15 hours ago














          2












          2








          2







          how do I determine which key they are in?





          1. Learn Major, minor scales and circle of fifth.

          2. Then apply the notes into each Key in the circle of fifth.

          3. Most notes will fit into one key

          4. Most piece will end in key note


          In this case all notes(expcet A) fit into Key B Major and the piece ends in B, so this could be most probably in key of B major.




          how do I transpose them to a key of D?





          1. Find the distance from original key to the new Key in number of semitones.

          2. Increment each note by the distance


          In this case the difference from B to D is 3 semitones.
          And the transposed piece would have the following notes.




          G F G F# G G F# G A B A B C D C# D C# D







          share|improve this answer













          how do I determine which key they are in?





          1. Learn Major, minor scales and circle of fifth.

          2. Then apply the notes into each Key in the circle of fifth.

          3. Most notes will fit into one key

          4. Most piece will end in key note


          In this case all notes(expcet A) fit into Key B Major and the piece ends in B, so this could be most probably in key of B major.




          how do I transpose them to a key of D?





          1. Find the distance from original key to the new Key in number of semitones.

          2. Increment each note by the distance


          In this case the difference from B to D is 3 semitones.
          And the transposed piece would have the following notes.




          G F G F# G G F# G A B A B C D C# D C# D








          share|improve this answer












          share|improve this answer



          share|improve this answer










          answered yesterday









          BruceBruce

          2996




          2996












          • I suspect rather strongly that this is in E rather than B. There are more A-sharps than A-naturals, but the A-sharps appear in a context in which chromatic alteration is common, while the A-natural appears in a context in which it is not.
            – phoog
            15 hours ago


















          • I suspect rather strongly that this is in E rather than B. There are more A-sharps than A-naturals, but the A-sharps appear in a context in which chromatic alteration is common, while the A-natural appears in a context in which it is not.
            – phoog
            15 hours ago
















          I suspect rather strongly that this is in E rather than B. There are more A-sharps than A-naturals, but the A-sharps appear in a context in which chromatic alteration is common, while the A-natural appears in a context in which it is not.
          – phoog
          15 hours ago




          I suspect rather strongly that this is in E rather than B. There are more A-sharps than A-naturals, but the A-sharps appear in a context in which chromatic alteration is common, while the A-natural appears in a context in which it is not.
          – phoog
          15 hours ago











          2














          The piece appears to be in the key of Emaj(1), with a modulation to Bmaj at the end. I speculate this because on the surface it appears that the last 5 notes appear to be a repeat the the first 5, but in the dominant key (i.e. Bmaj(5)). Of course it's impossible to tell without more context.



          Taking the Emaj/Bmaj above to be correct for the sake of argument, the transposition to D would be D as the tonic and A as the dominant, hence:



          D C# D C# D D C# D E F# E F# G A G# A G# A



          Kudos to Richard. Scale degrees is an excellent metaphor for direct transposition.






          share|improve this answer








          New contributor




          John G. is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
          Check out our Code of Conduct.


















          • See gidds' answer for more context. Also, welcome to Music StackExchange!
            – Michael Seifert
            16 hours ago
















          2














          The piece appears to be in the key of Emaj(1), with a modulation to Bmaj at the end. I speculate this because on the surface it appears that the last 5 notes appear to be a repeat the the first 5, but in the dominant key (i.e. Bmaj(5)). Of course it's impossible to tell without more context.



          Taking the Emaj/Bmaj above to be correct for the sake of argument, the transposition to D would be D as the tonic and A as the dominant, hence:



          D C# D C# D D C# D E F# E F# G A G# A G# A



          Kudos to Richard. Scale degrees is an excellent metaphor for direct transposition.






          share|improve this answer








          New contributor




          John G. is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
          Check out our Code of Conduct.


















          • See gidds' answer for more context. Also, welcome to Music StackExchange!
            – Michael Seifert
            16 hours ago














          2












          2








          2






          The piece appears to be in the key of Emaj(1), with a modulation to Bmaj at the end. I speculate this because on the surface it appears that the last 5 notes appear to be a repeat the the first 5, but in the dominant key (i.e. Bmaj(5)). Of course it's impossible to tell without more context.



          Taking the Emaj/Bmaj above to be correct for the sake of argument, the transposition to D would be D as the tonic and A as the dominant, hence:



          D C# D C# D D C# D E F# E F# G A G# A G# A



          Kudos to Richard. Scale degrees is an excellent metaphor for direct transposition.






          share|improve this answer








          New contributor




          John G. is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
          Check out our Code of Conduct.









          The piece appears to be in the key of Emaj(1), with a modulation to Bmaj at the end. I speculate this because on the surface it appears that the last 5 notes appear to be a repeat the the first 5, but in the dominant key (i.e. Bmaj(5)). Of course it's impossible to tell without more context.



          Taking the Emaj/Bmaj above to be correct for the sake of argument, the transposition to D would be D as the tonic and A as the dominant, hence:



          D C# D C# D D C# D E F# E F# G A G# A G# A



          Kudos to Richard. Scale degrees is an excellent metaphor for direct transposition.







          share|improve this answer








          New contributor




          John G. is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
          Check out our Code of Conduct.









          share|improve this answer



          share|improve this answer






          New contributor




          John G. is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
          Check out our Code of Conduct.









          answered 22 hours ago









          John G.John G.

          212




          212




          New contributor




          John G. is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
          Check out our Code of Conduct.





          New contributor





          John G. is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
          Check out our Code of Conduct.






          John G. is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
          Check out our Code of Conduct.












          • See gidds' answer for more context. Also, welcome to Music StackExchange!
            – Michael Seifert
            16 hours ago


















          • See gidds' answer for more context. Also, welcome to Music StackExchange!
            – Michael Seifert
            16 hours ago
















          See gidds' answer for more context. Also, welcome to Music StackExchange!
          – Michael Seifert
          16 hours ago




          See gidds' answer for more context. Also, welcome to Music StackExchange!
          – Michael Seifert
          16 hours ago


















          draft saved

          draft discarded




















































          Thanks for contributing an answer to Music: Practice & Theory Stack Exchange!


          • Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

          But avoid



          • Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

          • Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.


          To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.





          Some of your past answers have not been well-received, and you're in danger of being blocked from answering.


          Please pay close attention to the following guidance:


          • Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

          But avoid



          • Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

          • Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.


          To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.




          draft saved


          draft discarded














          StackExchange.ready(
          function () {
          StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fmusic.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f78380%2fwhich-key-are-these-notes-and-how-to-transpose-it-to-the-key-of-d%23new-answer', 'question_page');
          }
          );

          Post as a guest















          Required, but never shown





















































          Required, but never shown














          Required, but never shown












          Required, but never shown







          Required, but never shown

































          Required, but never shown














          Required, but never shown












          Required, but never shown







          Required, but never shown







          Popular posts from this blog

          1300-talet

          1300-talet

          Display a custom attribute below product name in the front-end Magento 1.9.3.8