Members wades_keys Posted May 4, 2012 Members Share Posted May 4, 2012 I keep hearing that from people who I trust and I keep not quite understanding what that means. B dorian is STILL key of A major, at least in the "traditional" sense. As one of the guys over there pointed out, there was a movement in comp. to get away from key signatures but I think that's more of a blip on the radar. Your tone center would be B dorian.... It's just a matter of avoiding confusing. If you say "key of B dorian", I might think you mean "Key of B, dorian MODE", which would then be C# dorian... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Lee Knight Posted May 6, 2012 Moderators Share Posted May 6, 2012 Got it. I suppose I was having a misunderstanding because some will use a D/Bm key sig but stipulate B Dorian somewhere in the chart and you'll see a G# accidental throughout the piece. But yeah, I get you. Good explanation, thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wades_keys Posted May 6, 2012 Members Share Posted May 6, 2012 My "understanding" of this whole issue, which jibes with that of learned musical scholars that I respect, seems to fall on one thing: communication amongst musicians. So there's not so much a "wrong" or a "right" as there are conventions. But then those conventions differ among genre and background. I'd wager that those that play a lot of modal music would not have a problem at all with "A Dorian", whereas those that don't, might have to settle or agree on a method of communication. This is just one of many examples of musical concepts that don't "make it" into standard notation, per se. "tone center" arguments as it were can get real interesting along these lines: one can make a very reasoned argument for "changing" the key signature as it were, to "better" convey the tone center of the piece. This happens a lot on "weak" resolutions, where it can be argued, for example, that it's not a "V, IV, I", but rather a "I, b7, IV" (EG: "Sweet Home Alabama"). So in that case, the key sig would change from G major to D major with an accidental (b7). *Yes, I'm in the camp that believes the "tone center" of SHA is D major. But the traditional "key signature" would be G major, as the "rules" for key signatures favor ease of reading and familiarity: in particular in the avoidance of accidentals. * Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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