What do people mean when they say a song is in a key?

Answer 1

The key of a song represents the "home base" or "one" chord of a collection of chords that sound good together in a song. This "home base" chord is also called the "root" chord - the words "key" and "root" are synonymous in this way. This root chord, which literally names the key, can be described technically in many different ways on paper, but it is often more difficult to describe the feeling that one gets when they hear the root chord among other chords that fit well with it. However, this is the most important aspect of the root chord since music is a hearing art.

So for example, if the root chord is an A major chord, the KEY is A major. If the root chord is a C# minor chord, the KEY is C# minor. The word "key", depending on context, can also refer to a specific list of chords that always sound good when played in a progression of chords that have the root chord as their home base. This list of chords can be thought of as a reliable reference chart that can be used to write or analyze songs. For a deeper dive into the technical "on paper" aspects of this, do a search for the "harmonized major scale" (NOT to be confused with the HARMONIC major scale BTW).

The root chord that gives the key its name is described by many people as a sort of "coming home" or "finished" feeling, similar to the feeling that a period and a pause on the end of a long sentence can give a listener. Consider as well that every chord other than the root chord creates some level of an "unfinished" feeling (much like many commas in a long sentence). That is why these other chords are often described as having varying levels of "tension", while the root chord is the only chord that creates a true "finished" feeling, and is thus referred to traditionally as the "resolution" chord - kind of like having a "resolution" in a conflict.

A good way to hear this effect is to listen to the last chord of almost any song that doesn't end in a fadeout. Although this is not a rock solid guarantee since some songs deceptively end with a fakeout "non resolution" chord, most songs with strong endings traditionally end with the root chord to give the song a finished feeling.

I hope this does the question justice, since as I mentioned above, it's difficult to put the feelings and impressions we get from music into print!

Thanks,

Tyson Farmer

Answer 2

In tonal music, the key defines a piece of music. There are 24 total keys in music (12 of them are minor and 12 of them are major). In each key there is a tonic note that is considered the root of the key. Within songs, certain notes are used to either pull towards or away from the tonic (you can think of it has "home"). This creates tension and release. If we hear or are told the key(s) (some songs move between keys) of the song, then we can better see how this tension and release is used.