What variables should I consider when selecting a key?

When I begin to compose a piece, i'm actually not quite sure what key I should choose. I understand that you may need to select a key for reasons such as instrument ranges and ease of play but is their something technical for choosing a key. I mean I compose a lot for piano but I generally choose C major or c minor, just becuase those are keys that are familiar to me.

Thanks

1. do you like the key?
2. does it fit the difficulty of the piece you're writing?
3. does your piece *fit* in that key?

Some composer's swear that different keys and chords portray different degrees of emotions...

Not really my whole thing... but which key makes you the happiest?

Lol.

Well the thing is that I'm not sure what being "happiest" or what "*fits*" means. They tune sounds the same in all keys in piano (unless it is too high or to deep). Perhaps it's that, being to high or too deep - the key that gets the richest, even sound.

Yes, that's about it. On a keyboard with equal temperament there are only two differences between keys (supposed you don't have absolute pitch): How comfortable they are for playing and how high they are. And possibly a very vague third aspect: The psychological connotations to certain keys of the performer: For example, because of culturally established connotations a piece in Db minor would by many performers be interpreted as darker and duller than the same piece in C minor, even if the latter would sound exactly the same, just a half-tone lower. This isn't of course audible to a listener who doesn't know what key a piece stands in, but it -may- affect how the performer plays the piece (next to the differences that come from what C minor and Db minor feel like for the pianists hands).

On other instruments, depending on how they are tuned, there can be more or less pronounced actual differences between the various keys.

But yes, generally I'd mainly look for those two things you already mentioned: Ease of playing for that particular instrument and whether the key is just right in terms of "low" and "high".

I also think different instruments resonate better depending on the key. With stringed intruments it's obvious. A violin has G D A E strings, and when you play any of those notes, the intrument rings and it tends to sound better (assuming the player played in tune). So strings like keys that don't interfere with the open strings.

But I have also noticed that the instruments are made to sound good when the strings are tuned to the right tones. Example, my friend who plays cello, decided to tune all his strings exactly a half step lower than normal. We noticed that the instrument did not cooperate the same way as it did when he played it when tuned correctly.

This leads me to conclude that woodwinds and brass instruments like flats more than strings for more reasons than just habit. The instruments are made to sound good in those keys.

I also think you should play around with the keys before finalizing your piece. Concentrate on how you feel when you hear it in the different keys. Some keys just seem to "fit" better, like the previous person was saying. Every piece has some sort of character to it, that you the composer has created. And some keys work, when others do not. So just play around with it.

Another thing to think about, is the performers. Who are you planning on having play this? Is it a professional group, a high school group, or a junior high? Some keys are just easier to play in, I mean not many people like to play in C# major, and some would not be able to play well in that key, especially at the beginning levels.

So when you think of a key, you need to consider the instrumentation, the character, and the performers. Atleast, that's what I do.

Unless I'm writing something for someone using a 4-string bass (only goes down to a low E), I try to write the piece in the key I thought of it in. I just hum the notes and then pluck it out on the piano, and whatever key I imagined it in should be the key it's written in. Of course, you can have key changes and such, and you might end up with a different key all together if you want a clarinet solo in a certain register or something like that....

~Kal

Originally Posted by theOmaster

I also think different instruments resonate better depending on the key. With stringed intruments it's obvious. A violin has G D A E strings, and when you play any of those notes, the intrument rings and it tends to sound better (assuming the player played in tune). So strings like keys that don't interfere with the open strings.

Not so. String players generally go to great lengths to avoid playing open strings (except in multiple stops, when directed, or of course playing their lowest written note).

They like the open string notes, usually it will be fingered. But the note rings when it is hit on another string, which is what I meant by strings liking open strings. Not that they like to play the open string itself.

Originally Posted by flint-wwrr

Not so. String players generally go to great lengths to avoid playing open strings (except in multiple stops, when directed, or of course playing their lowest written note).

Not true.

Not all string players do this. This is generally true on violins. William Primrose often suggested to play open strings and use open harmonics in the place of stopping notes in more situations then most people advised because of the instrument projects these notes better.