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I am an adult student and am having trouble figuring what key s piece is in. My main trouble is figuring if something is in a major or minor key. For example, if it has 1 flat is it in the key of f major or d minor Is there a easy way to figure that out. What I am doing right now has only one cleft. I try to play a chord with it but I still have trouble.

If you don't have the score... then its just a matter of hearing the difference. Try listening to major pieces and minor, it gets very easy to differentiate them after a while, just by the feel of the piece.

If you have the score, a good trick is to look at the last chord, which should be a chord based on the tonic.

Minor pieces will often have accidentals as well. For instance, a piece in d minor will often have a C# added to make the harmonic minor.

Ideally, you want to learn to hear the differences. In Western music, the 3rd and 6th tones are a whole step higher than the 2nd and 5th tones, but when moving to a minor mode, they are only a half step higher. We generally say that in a minor mode, the 3rd and 6th tones are lowered a half step.

When examining a manuscript, first check the key signature. Say the KS has 3 flats, Bb, Eb, and Ab. You say, ah ha, it's in Eb major or c minor (c being the 6th tone, which the minor is built on). Now, how to differentiate?

One of the characteristics of Western music is that the 7th tone is almost always a half step lower than the tonic (first tone). So, if the piece were in Eb major, the 7th tone would be D; if the piece were in c minor, the 7th tone would be B. But the key signature has a B flat sign, so if it's in c minor, there would be a lot of natural signs in front of all the Bs in the piece.

The suggestion to check the final chord is a good one, but not entirely reliable. Many composers move to major to end a piece; others end on the 5th. So it's best to use a combination and judgment.

you mentioned that you play chords with it. if you know already how to recognize the chords, and which ones to play, your answer would be most often hidden in the first and last chord (or cadence) of the piece. meaning if a piece starts with a F chord or a cadence that leads to a F chord, and the song ends on a F chord....that's your key. I hope that its helpful.

Some pieces starts off in a minor key and ends in the final bar/measure/chord in it's tonic major, like some of Bach's pieces (on top of my head, D minor prelude from WTC Book 2) Is there a term for this?

Obviously you still say it's a piece in minor key even though it ends in a major key.

I hate that, and continue to blame Michael Picardy for starting that trend. I refuse to celebrate his birthday later this month (29th).

oh my gosh, it can be so beautiful when a final resolves a piece to hopefulness.

You're right, of course. And that's probably why Michael Picardy III has so eclipsed Michael Picardy Sr and Michael Picardy Jr.

Okay, I'll bite. Who are these three giants in music?

John,

I guess the old rule applies, when you gotta explain your joke it wasn't a good one.

The senior Picardy was followed by the junior Picardy who was followed by the..........rimshot..............Picardy Third.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picardy_third

and just so you don't have to explain your explanation...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rimshot

And here I thought it had to do with the third of the Picardy brothers, who was elevated in rank by a half step while maintaining his degree. The previous sombre mood turned into joviality all round - a cheery ending indeed, and the final one.

Dan, thanks. How is it possible that studying and teaching music for so many decades this term totally slipped my conscious mind? Well, it just goes to show that you always have something new to learn!

when a joke fools me, it's a good one.

I admit it. I googled Michael Picardy.

John has given an excellent (if wordy) description of
major/minor key identification ... but for those with a mathematical disposition, might I offer another approach.

Here’s a diagram of major and minor scales showing that
the minor scale starts 3 semitones lower than the major scale.
(ie A below Middle C)

By cross relating, only one note in each scale fails to match
1. Leading note to the minor scale
2. Dominant to the major scale

PS It will be noted that the 12 basic notes have been numbered
to simplify reading the cross-relationship between scales.

The opening LH bass note is invariably a clue to the keynote ... (as is the closing note to a complete passage) ...
use of flattened mediants, say Eb over C, tells of a minor key ... while E over C points to a major key.

Wow, btb, just.....wow.

I'll have to print that and stare at it for a while.

Maybe I can talk beginner-to-beginner to the OP.

I see two ways to tell. One is by the scale, and the other is by the chord. Theoretically they relate, but practically they are pretty separate.

The melody in normal western music is going to follow a scale. Maybe with some skips, but usually the scale is there and recognizable. If it's a doe-a-deer scale, it's major. If the third degree of the scale is low, minor. In church I get fooled by the occasional modal one but most of them are major or minor and fairly obvious from the melody. (church is a very good place to practice theory and listening, if you have traditional hymns; I try identifying each chord as quickly as I can while I'm waiting)

The other is by the chord. 1-3-5 is major, 1-b3-5 is minor.

In both cases your ear should recognize the difference faster than your eye.

If the thing is full of accidentals it's probably beyond us beginners figuring it out anyway so put it in your bucket to worry about later.

It’s good to know that a doubty Engineer appreciated the diagram ... by representing all 12 basic notes (instead of the alphabetic 7) a neat relationship of the major and minor scales emerges ... but perhaps only for the merry few who like mathematics.

I liked your reference to The Sound of Music “doh-a-deer” ... had never thought of traditional hymns as being anything but in the major mode (ie. “Onward Christian Soldiers”). .. lyrics of church music is largely supported by a limited set of LH chords ... so your identification dodge (while “waiting”) couldn’t have been too taxing.

Nice chatting ... kind regards.

"waiting" <grin> I am not trying to claim more skill than I have. As I look at the hymnal before singing, I'm trying to visually identify the chords and put a name to them. The standard is to be able to do it in real time - at the tempo you'll sing it. That way if you need to simplify the chords to something more playable you can do so. I can do that for the obvious ones - say, D and A in the left hand, D and F# in the right, an extremely common pattern. But many are not obvious; there are some that seem to be different chords in left and right hands, and I always struggle to interpret those.

In my hymnal (Episcopal 1982) most are major, some are minor, and a few are neither so must be modal. We tend to stumble sight singing those.