Is it possible to write a song without a key?

Question

Is it possible to say "This song has no key"? Are there songs that have/follow no key? Is it possible to create song without adhering a key?

Answer 1

Yes, this would likely then be considered atonal music, which is music written without a tonal center. In fact, there is much music outside of the Western realm, that does not follow any of our written rules and structures for music. There are often different scales and intervals than we are used to.

As much as we have rules that are followed in Western music, there are just as many songs that break all of those rules so there are certainly songs written without keys, or without the intention of a key, though many theorists are likely to analyze the music and try to make it fit a key even if that is not what the composer intended.

Answer 2

It sure is! In the middle of the 20th century the so-called Second Viennese School pioneered what we today call serial music, or 12-tone music which was essentially not in a key. Arnold Schoenberg came up with a method of composing where pitches were related only to themselves, and not to a key center. Some called it "atonal," meaning it did not have a tonal center, but Schoenberg preferred the term "pan-tonal," meaning that they belonged to all tonal centers simultaneously. For a great example of this take a listen to Schoenberg's Op. 11 piano pieces. Though this work wasn't serial, it is most certainly atonal. Later on composers such as Pierre Boulez, Elliott Carter, and Milton Babbitt took Schoenberg's ideas even further. Others, like Olivier Messiaen wrote music that was atonal but not serial, but still stunningly beautiful. Listen to Messiaen's Piano preludes, or his "Vingt Regards sur l'enfant-Jésus" for some beautiful atonality.

Answer 3

Yes. In western musical tradition, the 12-tone matrix is the go-to technique for composing atonal (keyless) music. It ensures that all 12 tones in the octave are used with equal importance. Arnold Schoenberg was a pioneer of this technique, and a lot of his music is composed this way.